Lara Driscoll, M.M.

About

A Chicago native of French-American descent, Lara Driscoll has been praised for her “captivating style and uncluttered finesse” (CKVL-FM, Montreal). Downbeat’s Suzanne Lorge noted the “understated arrangements and meltingly delicious voicings” of Lara’s 2020 trio debut Woven Dreams. After earning her Bachelor’s in Jazz Piano from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, she went on to graduate with a Master’s in Jazz Performance from McGill University’s Schulich School of Music on a full-tuition scholarship under the tutelage of Jan Jarcyzk. She taught jazz keyboard and theory while at McGill as well, before going on to her current faculty positions at Loyola University, Harold Washington College and DePaul University (C.M. Division). She has received the Luminarts Graduate Jazz Composition, Performance and People’s Choice awards, and has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival, Jazz Education Network Conference, The Jazz Showcase, Andy’s Jazz Club, The Rex Jazz and Blues Bar, Upstairs Jazz Bar, the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and more. She is busy as a freelance pianist in the Chicago area, and in addition to her trio and the Firm Roots Duo, (album Firm Roots released in 2021), she can be heard as pianist and arranger on vocalist Nancy Lane’s Let Me Love You, as well as recordings by the groups Bossa Nuevo and Tango Espejo.

Degrees

M.M. Jazz Piano Performance, McGill University

B.M. Jazz Piano Performance, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign