Allan Zavod, Australian pianist, Died at 71

  Music

Allan Zavod was born on October 16, 1945, Melbourne, Australia and died on November 29, 2016.

He was an Australian pianist, composer, jazz musician and occasional conductor.

Allan career had mainly been in America.

He completed a music degree from the Melbourne Conservatorium, the University of Melbourne in 1969.

Zavod’s talent as a pianist was recognized by Duke Ellington, who arranged for him to study at the Berklee College of Music, Boston – where Zavod was later a professor of music.

During his career, he has collaborated with some well-known international musicians such as Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway, George Benson, Eric Clapton, Jean-Luc Ponty and Frank Zappa, as well as Australian musicians the drummer Des McKenna, Wilbur Wild, Red Symonds and Daryl on Hey Hey Its Saturday James Morrison, Kate Ceberano and Judith Durham.

Zavod has performed for the Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales and several Heads of State.

He was based in the US for 20 years, where he played, toured and recorded with some of the world’s biggest names like the Glenn Miller Orchestra.

When he was not on the road, Zavod scored more than 30 US and Australian films and TV shows.

He was a pioneer in a compositional style that combines classical and jazz genres, where musicians from both worlds share the same concert platform equally.

He was classically trained at the University of Melbourne Conservatorium after being awarded the prestigious full Ormond scholarship.

During the late 1960s, he was discovered by Duke Ellington, who arranged for him to further his jazz studies at famed Berklee College of Music, Boston, Massachusetts, US, where Allan later held a post as professor.

Throughout his long and eclectic career as performer, composer, music director, arranger, producer, conductor, he appeared on American and Australian talk shows and music programs worldwide.

He was married to author-artist Christine Zavod, he had one son, Zak.

He died due to brain cancer.

Allan Zavod passed away at 71 years old.