Artist Harris Lemberg

Dammit if New Jersey native Harris Lemberg doesn’t seem like one of the coolest guys in Madison. The professional jazz pianist does stuff like posts videos of rather incredible improvised works and then apologizes afterward for not wearing a shirt while he played. Or he’ll set his brilliant, bouncy “Lang’s Hang,” from his 2007 album Lost In My Own Little World, to a weird clip of him speaking of existentialism with his cat. But most importantly, after 40-plus-years of non-stop playing, he can make the wonderful seem easily possible, all while never while never letting his beautiful talent go to his head.

Updated 12/22/2011