“Hagen, soloed deftly, his lines moving gracefully in and out of the composition's subtle corners. ” - Zan Stewart

— LOS ANGELES TIMES

“An excellent modern mainstream pianist, Hagen, who is influenced by Bill Evans and Tommy Flanagan but mostly sounds like himself, ... although Hagen has impressive technique, he uses it to serve the music.” - Scott Yanow,

— ALL MUSIC GUIDE

Pianist GERARD HAGEN lives in Paris with his wife, vocalist LESLIE LEWIS. His recordings have received critical acclaim, international radio airplay and have been distributed in the U.S. as well as Japan and Europe. His tours have taken him to Europe, Asia, Africa and throughout the U.S. including venues in London, Paris, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Prior to moving to Paris he lived in the Los Angeles area where he lead a trio with drummer JERRY KALAF and bassist DOMENIC GENOVA for seventeen years.

In addition to his trio recordings, “Far Horizons” on Resurgent Music, “Stay Tuned” on Sea Breeze Jazz Records and “Song For Leslie”on Surf Cove Jazz, Gerard has produced and arranged five recordings as music director for Leslie. Their first recording “Of Two Minds” (Surf Cove Jazz 2008) features Leslie with the Gerard Hagen Trio and several of Los Angeles' finest jazz musicians including Gary Foster, Ron Stout and Larry Koonse. It was released in Japan on SSJ Inc. where it received 5 stars in Swing Journal magazine.

In 2010 they released a follow up recording “Keeper Of The Flame” (Surf Cove Jazz) which features Brazilian Jazz music and was programmed on Sirius XM radio. Following the critical success of their previous recordings, their third CD "Midnight Sun” was released in 2012. In addition Leslie and Gerard are featured on a track on "From California With Love" (SSJ Records) a recording featuring number of California based jazz artists that was released in Japan as a vehicle to raise funds for Japanese Earthquake/ Tsunami relief efforts. A New York City performance provided them with an opportunity to make a piano/vocal duo recording and a 2013 release called “Leslie Lewis & Gerard Hagen in New York”. In 2017 they released “Fragile”, which was recorded in Paris with their European band and features 1970’s music.

Gerard was born in Bismarck, N.D. and has earned a Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Music. He was an associate professor of jazz piano at Saddleback College in southern California and currently teaches at IMEP College of Music in Paris.

Press Photos

Gerard Hagen Trio w/ Gary Foster

Gerard Hagen Trio video

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