piano

Since basing himself in NYC in 2000, originally hailing from Cos Cob, CT, jazz pianist, organist and accordionist Gary Versace has become one of the busiest and most versatile musicians on the international jazz scene, often featured in bands led by musicians such as John Scofield, John Abercrombie, Maria Schneider, Al Foster, Kurt Elling, Rudy Royston, Rich Perry, Mike Rodriguez, Regina Carter, Ellery Eskelin, Ray Anderson, John Hollenbeck, Ralph Alessi, Michael Blake, Kurt Elling, Anat Cohen, Madeleine Peyroux, Matt Wilson, Ingrid Jensen and many others. Gary appeared twice as a guest on Marian McPartland's acclaimed NPR show 'Piano Jazz,' and McPartland has described him as '...endlessly inventive...(Versace) really has an extraordinary talent.' His latest recording as a leader, Three Track Mind, is a piano trio date featuring bassist Francois Moutin and drummer Rudy Royston and will be released in Spring 2026 on the Sunnyside label. Versace also has several CD's under his own name on the Criss Cross and SteepleChase labels, the most recent releases being two piano trio recordings: ‘Time Frame,’ featuring bassist Jay Anderson and drummer Rudy Royston, and ‘All for Now,’

also featuring bassist Jay Anderson with drummer Obed Calvaire. ‘All for Now’ received a 4 star review in Downbeat Magazine and was included in their list of the best recordings of 2020. Versace, along with bandmates vocalist Kate McGarry and guitarist Keith Ganz, was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2019 for his work on ‘The Subject Tonight is Love,’ the band’s latest trio recording, and has performed on several other Grammy winning and nominated recordings by composers John Hollenbeck and Maria Schneider. Currently Versace is the pianist in Schneider’s orchestra after years of playing accordion with the group, and has also appeared on dozens of recordings as a sideman on various labels over the years with nationally and internationally known jazz artists. 

Versace won the Jazz Jounalists' Association's "Best Instrumentalist – Instruments Rare In Jazz (accordion)" award in 2018, their “Organist of the Year’ award in 2012, and is mentioned yearly in both the readers and critics polls in Downbeat and JazzTimes magazines. Before embarking on his performing career, Versace spent eight years as a tenured Associate Professor at the University of Oregon, and currently teaches in the jazz studies department at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.