After graduating from Northern Illinois University, keyboardist and composer Brian Simpson relocated to Los Angeles where he was soon playing alongside musicians Gerald Albright and Norman Brown and eventually on a world tour with Janet Jackson. In 1990 Simpson received a call from George Duke that led to a decade of touring and production work with the late jazz legend. It was his tenure with George that led to working with a variety of artists, from James Ingram and Anita Baker to Dave Koz and Wayman Tisdale. The popularity of his music world-wide has kept Mr. Simpson on a seemingly endless world tour which in 2019 included Japan, Australia, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, Spain, United Kingdom, Portugal, and South Africa. With writing and performing credits on R&B chart-topping albums and Smooth Jazz Airplay charts, it’s clear why Brian is the veteran Music Director of so many jazz events. Brian is a recording artist with Shanachie Entertainment which released his eleventh CD entitled Soul Connection (2023).