Paul
Nagel

Biography

Paul Nagel is a jazz pianist and composer whose career spans five decades. He got his start on the road with guitarist Robben Ford (1971–72), backing blues legend Jimmy Witherspoon at venues including the Monterey Jazz Festival and a Madison Square Garden benefit for Angela Davis.

Paul co-founded the quartet The Hytones and helped open the now-legendary Kuumbwa Jazz Center, where he had the chance to play with visiting artists like Dave Liebman. He went on to work with bassist Ray Drummond's quartet and received a 1979 NEA performance grant.

After relocating to the Bay Area in 1979, Paul worked with artists including Joe Henderson, Sonny Stitt, Bobby Hutcherson, Eddie Marshall, and Ray Brown, and began a long musical partnership with vocalist Bobby McFerrin in 1980, performing regularly at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall and opening for Chick Corea at Davies Hall. He later rejoined McFerrin in the band "Bang! Zoom!," touring major festivals worldwide and appearing on the group's 1995 Blue Note release. In the 1980s he also recorded two albums with saxophonist/vocalist Cornelius Bumpus and toured nationally.

Before moving east in 2000, Paul formed the trio NLS, which worked as a rhythm section for Bay Area singers and instrumentalists. A meeting with Boz Scaggs led to a long collaboration: Paul arranged and played piano on But Beautiful — Standards Vol. 1 (2003), which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts, followed by international touring with Scaggs through 2008. He also toured with vocalist/guitarist Madeleine Peyroux and Mike Zilber’s quartet with drummer Steve Smith.

Today, Paul continues to perform and compose, leading a jazz piano trio and building a catalog of original compositions rooted in the harmonic language he's developed over the years.