John Stetch

John Stechishin, better known as John Stetch (born 1966 in Edmonton, Alberta) is a Canadian jazz pianist. Stetch's family was ethnically Ukrainian, and as a boy, Stetch played in ensembles at Ukrainian weddings and sang in community choirs. He studied reed instruments early on but concentrated on piano from his teenage years onward. After graduating from McGill University in 1991, he relocated to New York City. He most frequently performs solo or in a trio setting, often with longtime collaborators Sean Smith (bass) and Rodney Green (drums). His professional career has included performing and/or recording with Ed Jackson, Jan Jarczyk, Chris Kase, Rufus Reid, Akira Tana, Alain Trudel, Mark Turner, and Johannes Weidenmuller. Stetch won the Du Maurier Grand Prix at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1998, was second place in the 1993 Thelonious Monk Composer's Competition, and has been nominated for five Juno Awards in jazz.