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Biography
Kerry Politzer started picking out melodies on a toy piano at the age of three. The following year, she started playing the real thing. She studied classical piano for fourteen years, attending the North Carolina School of the Arts and summer programs at Tanglewood and Interlochen. She entered the New England Conservatory of Music with the intention of continuing her classical studies, but fell in love with jazz after attending a concert in Keller Hall. She studied with jazz guru Charlie Banacos, who inspired her to begin composing, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Piano Performance.
In 1996, Kerry was one of six finalists in the American Pianists Association's 3rd Biennial Jazz Piano Competition. Half of the contestants were from New York City, so she decided to try her luck there. She soon discovered a brand-new love, Brazilian music, which began to inform her jazz compositions. Her composition Rhodes Rage won Third Prize, Jazz Category in the 2005 International Songwriting Competition. Her composition "Begin The Baiao" won Third Prize, Jazz Category in the 2000 Mid-Atlantic Song Competition and an Honorable Mention in the 2000 John Lennon Songwriting Competition.
