Bryan Nichols is a pianist, composer, and educator based in Minneapolis. Often found playing jazz and improvised music, but at home in a variety of musical worlds, he leads and composes for his own trio, quintet, and nonet in addition to performing, recording, and touring with forward-thinking artists like Nicole Mitchell and Ron Miles, and groups like the Gang Font and Dead Man Winter. Bryan was awarded a 2010-11 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, a prestigious and competitive award given to Minnesota musicians. His work also earned him a 2004 residency from Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead program at the Kennedy Center, given to outstanding, emerging jazz performer/composers, and a 2009 subito grant from the American Composers Forum. Bryan has released two recordings as a leader, Bright Places, containing nine original compositions for his quintet, and Looking North, a record of solo piano works. Minneapolis Star Tribune called him “a versatile, daring and inventive keyboardist in lead and accompanying roles, [he has] established himself as one of the Twin Cities’ most respected jazz players.”