Caili O'Doherty
Caili O’Doherty (pronounced “KAY-lee oh-DOE-er-TEE”) is a New York-based pianist, composer, arranger, and educator known for integrating the structures of language into her compositions and improvisational approach.
Her latest release, Quarantine Dream (Posi-Tone, 2022), features Nicole Glover on saxophone, Tamir Shmerling on bass, and Cory Cox on drums. Named for the pandemic-era challenges surrounding its creation, the album presents eight original compositions alongside three influential reinterpretations, marking an impressive progression in this rising artist’s career. O’Doherty’s 2015 debut album, Padme, received international acclaim and launched regional tours.
Over the past decade, O’Doherty has toured extensively across the US, Israel, China, Europe, South America, and Africa, performing in clubs, concert halls, masterclasses, and festivals. Her project, Caili O’Doherty: Celebrating Lil Hardin Armstrong, earned a 2021 Chamber Music America Presenters Consortium for Jazz Grant, in partnership with The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and Alabama Women in Jazz Festival, resulting in three virtual concerts in spring 2022.
She has toured with saxophonists Lihi Haruvi, Caroline Davis, and Hailey Niswanger, and was one of five female jazz pianists selected for the inaugural Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Emerging Artists Workshop at the Kennedy Center, culminating in a performance at the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival.
Currently, O’Doherty performs regularly throughout New York City and tours as both a bandleader and side musician. She works in the education department at Jazz at Lincoln Center, serving as piano accompanist for the WeBop early childhood jazz education program and leading educational performances on jazz, democracy, and civil rights with the Jazz for Young People program. She has been a faculty member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop since 2012 and also teaches at Litchfield Jazz Camp and the University of Wisconsin Madison Summer Music Clinic.
Raised in Portland, Oregon, O’Doherty moved east over a decade ago to advance her music education and career. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Berklee College of Music (2013) and a Master of Music in Performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College (2019). She has received national awards for piano performance and composition from the ASCAP Foundation and DownBeat magazine.
Caili O’Doherty (pronounced “KAY-lee oh-DOE-er-TEE”) is a New York-based pianist, composer, arranger, and educator known for integrating the structures of language into her compositions and improvisational approach.
Her latest release, Quarantine Dream (Posi-Tone, 2022), features Nicole Glover on saxophone, Tamir Shmerling on bass, and Cory Cox on drums. Named for the pandemic-era challenges surrounding its creation, the album presents eight original compositions alongside three influential reinterpretations, marking an impressive progression in this rising artist’s career. O’Doherty’s 2015 debut album, Padme, received international acclaim and launched regional tours.
Over the past decade, O’Doherty has toured extensively across the US, Israel, China, Europe, South America, and Africa, performing in clubs, concert halls, masterclasses, and festivals. Her project, Caili O’Doherty: Celebrating Lil Hardin Armstrong, earned a 2021 Chamber Music America Presenters Consortium for Jazz Grant, in partnership with The National Jazz Museum in Harlem, the New Orleans Jazz Museum, and Alabama Women in Jazz Festival, resulting in three virtual concerts in spring 2022.
She has toured with saxophonists Lihi Haruvi, Caroline Davis, and Hailey Niswanger, and was one of five female jazz pianists selected for the inaugural Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Emerging Artists Workshop at the Kennedy Center, culminating in a performance at the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival.
Currently, O’Doherty performs regularly throughout New York City and tours as both a bandleader and side musician. She works in the education department at Jazz at Lincoln Center, serving as piano accompanist for the WeBop early childhood jazz education program and leading educational performances on jazz, democracy, and civil rights with the Jazz for Young People program. She has been a faculty member at the Stanford Jazz Workshop since 2012 and also teaches at Litchfield Jazz Camp and the University of Wisconsin Madison Summer Music Clinic.
Raised in Portland, Oregon, O’Doherty moved east over a decade ago to advance her music education and career. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from Berklee College of Music (2013) and a Master of Music in Performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College (2019). She has received national awards for piano performance and composition from the ASCAP Foundation and DownBeat magazine.