Landon Knoblock is a pianist, a composer, and an improviser. He also plays keyboards, like the Wurlitzer electric piano, the Fender Rhodes, and the MS2000 synthesizer. The first music Knoblock ever played was improvised. He was three. After that came beginner songs and classical music. At the age of 10, he taught himself the music of Billie Joel and Elton John. It was around this time that his Uncle Wayne gave him a large collection of vinyl records, containing such classics as Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, Steely Dan’s “The Royal Scam”, and Van Halen “5150”. After absorbing these paramount albums of music history, Knoblock rediscovered improvisation, with some like minded middle school band mates. Forming a band in 7th grade with a drummer and bass player, Knoblock and friends likened themselves after the Grateful Dead torchbearers Phish, and other groups that incorporated rock songs and improvisation. Sometime during the next six years of religiously holding band practice in the garage every Sunday, Knoblock discovered jazz. It was Coltrane “Giant Steps”, Miles “Kind of Blue”, and other seminal albums of the tradition. Next came some schooling, a couple of degrees, and a seven year stint in the sub tropics of Miami. In a wedding band.

Fortunately, all that wedding band money financed a move to New York, NY, where Knoblock has lived since 2007. He no longer plays weddings, but performs new music colored by his past with an eye towards the future. He is an explorer, searching a world of sound. Knoblock has performed with Ben Allison, Michael Blake, Ron Horton, Frank Kimbrough, Matt Wilson, Jeff Lederer, Katie Bull, Kendra Shank, Chris Speed, George Schuller, and Michael Bates, among others. His groups have performed at Cornelia St. Café in NYC, Chris’s Jazz Café in Philadelphia, The Boston Music Festival, and Young Jazz In Town in Umbria, Italy. Knoblock has released four albums as a leader. His latest album, “Gasoline Rainbow” on Fractamodi Music, is a duo with drummer and long time collaborator Jason Furman. Bruce Lindsay from All About Jazz writes “Gasoline Rainbow is unpredictable, energetic, beautiful, loud, soft, subtle and surprising.” Knoblock’s other band is Ca Caw, an organic and sometimes fierce trio with drummer Jeff Davis and saxophonist Oscar Noriega. Angular free jazz, rock, and some filthy synth bass inform Ca Caw’s music. "They certainly can build up the intensity" writes Shaun Brady of the Philadelphia City Paper. Knoblock is currently working on new compositions for his band, a new improvised solo piano concept, black and white photography, hiking at Bear Mountain, and trap shooting. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.