The piano has always been the focal point of pianist Carter Graham’s life from the time he was 6 year’s old. However, it was not until later in life, that he discovered his true musical passion: improvisation. Combining both composition and spontaneously creating music with others, jazz offered a special vehicle that no other style of music could match.

Years of dedicated study and discovery culminated in giving the Winnipeg-based musician the privilege to perform with some of the world’s most distinctive voices in jazz, including Jon Gordon, Rodney Whitaker, Randy Napoleon, Quincy Davis, Derrick Gardner and Jamie Bond, in venues all across North America. Some highlights include performing at the Detroit Jazz Festival, headlining the Canadian Online Jazz Festival for Jazz Winnipeg, Winnipeg International Jazz Festival, the Michigan Jazz Festival, Cliff Bell’s Club in Detroit and the Gin Mill in New York City. His style is heavily steeped in the bebop and hard bop traditions, along with the modality of the 1960’s and beyond. His playing has been described as “sensitive, lively, and always musical”

Currently based in Winnipeg, Carter leads his own trio, Free Time, a group dedicated to breathing new life into familiar standards as well as creating new and exciting original music.