In teaching, I strive to help students grow their musical abilities, and through this increase mindfulness.

Mindfulness of what we are doing, from our fingers to our jaw to our feet, and where our thoughts are.

Developing abilities to listen to what we are playing, to adjust and refine, to create an immersive musical experience for the performer and listener. Developing abilities to play beautifully with strength and ease, to understand the history and theory of what we play.

I love helping people experience the joy of dedication and improvement, 
appreciating that the process of creating beautiful music is continual.

And teaching the tools that let that happen.

I have been teaching piano for over three decades. In the tens of thousands of hours I’ve taught, I’ve learned how to help students continually improve in their abilities to create, understand, and play music. My first great teacher was my mother, Jacquelyn Patricia. I’m a second generation teacher. Other piano and composition teachers I’m grateful to have studied with include Joan Wildman, Ellsworth Snyder, Roscoe Mitchell, Fred Hersch, Marilyn Crispell, Ursula Oppens, Denman Maroney, and Mark Dresser. In music theories, I’ve studied Schenkerian analysis at Mannes and post-tonal theory at CUNY Graduate Center. I’ve performed or recorded with many artists, including Laura Andel Orchestra, Tyshawn Sorey Quartet, Brett Sroka’s Ergo, and the Momenta Quartet. My quintet, Floriculture, has performed in the US and Europe, and has two critically acclaimed releases on Between the Lines (Germany) and Firehouse 12 (US).

  • Ben Ratliff, New York Times

    Nearly all jazz balances improvisation against composition, but a band like Floriculture makes you realize how many degrees there are of striking that balance. That’s because it takes each side to extremes, and pulls together some far-apart traditions…. And at some point in the set each player got some solo space to make an expressive statement outside what these focused, well-controlled compositions asked for…. Some of the best things about Floriculture’s music came through its furtive but deep rhythmic patterns, which were generated from any and all the players at various times.

  • David Kane, Cadence Magazine

    … it’s not often I do a single review but in the case of Carl Maguire’s new CD, I felt it really needed its own space. True to the group name, Maguire has cultivated a fascinating garden full of beautifully strange musical flora and fauna. With his dedicated and virtuosic group consisting of reeds, viola, keyboards, bass and percussion he has broken new ground in improvisational music- something these days that is very difficult to do. (cont…)

  • (cont…) His idiom defies categorization- always a good sign- but while there are recognizable elements of AACM style improv, classical music of the post- Webernian variety and minimalism amongst more conventional jazz modes, Maguire has taken these elements and crafted something genuinely new with them. This is one of the few records I’ve heard where it is virtually impossible to differentiate the composed sections from the improvised sections. That in of itself in not necessary a great accomplishment but in fact, Maguire, as he himself notes, has created distinct musical environments with each track. (cont…)

  • (cont…) Each environment is a self-contained world with its own peculiar features and its own rules. Seemingly random events and textures suddenly coalesce into unexpected musical epiphanies. Abstract ostinati gradually reveal unexpected aspects that evolve subtly over time, sometimes through ingenious metrical modulation and sometimes through more mysterious means, that then give seamless rise to improvisation that again organically moves into more (seemingly) composed sections. Virtually every track reveals a compelling musical vision crafted by a confident hand and stunningly played by these great musicians. (cont…)

  • (cont…) I consider this CD to be a major artistic statement, impressive in both conception and execution. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard something that truly excited me as a listener, despite my work here at Cadence where I am exposed to prodigious quantities of good (and bad) music. Sided Silver Solid stands out as an important musical achievement and represents the best of what’s possible in the Avant-garde. My highest recommendation.

  • The New Yorker

    Floriculture pulls off its new-jazz improvisation and lyrical abstraction with panache.

  • The Penguin Guide to Jazz

    **** … it's clear from the opening 'Egocentric' that these men know each other and work together well. Maguire's writing is too complex to allow anything else. His exchanges with bassist Dunn on that track are breathtaking... As exciting a debut release as any in the last few years.

  • Donald Elfman, All About Jazz

    Here’s a downtown jazz quartet that knows the patterns and traditions of the mainstream but has used it to create something quite different. Maguire’s compositions are complicated and dense, but not inaccessible. Reflecting grooves, minimalism and a strong sense of melody, this music demands repeated listenings…. These are exceptional players, but each man’s every note is at the service of making brilliant, involving music.

  • Bruce Lee Gallanter, Downtown Music Gallery

    Carl Maguire is one of the best pianists and composers to emerge from the downtown network over the past few years... Carl's strong writing and playing make the most from this entire quartet, who sound spirited and consistently creative throughout. Excellent work from some of my favorite local heroes.

  • Nic Jones, All About Jazz

    … the complexity of this music is entirely free of self-consciousness, and experience suggests that this is an achievement in itself; it makes demands at the same time as it rewards close attention... this is music that possesses an overwhelming percentage of the attributes that make for stimulating listening.

  • Brian Olewnick, JazzCorner.com

    ... one helluva impressive performance. Carl Maguire's compositions... sounded highly original and were all viscerally involving... pieces that interspersed written and improvised passages in unexpected sequences, the themes bubbling to the surface at surprising intervals. Underneath it all, the writing had a strong melodic sense even at its most abstract... Each of the group's members was outstanding... One of the most enjoyable jazz performances I've seen in quite a while.

  • Downtown Music Gallery, Sided Silver Solid review

    This is the second release from Carl Maguire's Floriculture band and one of this month's finest under-recognized treasures. We got this promo a couple of months ago so I've played it quite a bit and am still amazed by its fascinating arrangements and playing. It is also one of those complex gems that has taken me a while to fully appreciate…. Everything seems to build in waves with logical lines connecting the parts and the players…. For me, this is the future of progressive music: music which we continue to marvel at with each close listen since there are so many layers of ideas buried beneath the surface…. Be patient & pay attention and the treasures will be revealed.

  • Stef Gijssels, Free Jazz, Sided Silver Solid review

    … The most astonishing aspect of the music is its great musical vision and coherence, with many changes in orchestration, rhythms, moods, even within one piece, yet it all fits in the overall sound. It is nothing you've heard before, a wonderful mix of many known things, but then just not. It is different, and no matter how much you listen to it, you will discover new things. The musical world Maguire creates is not always a pleasant one: it is full of tension, agony, fear and dramatic evolution, yet beauty abounds. A great record.

  • Time Out New York, Critic’s Pick

    Carl Maguire - an artist whose fascinating work is perched somewhere among avant-garde jazz, contemporary-classical chamber music and some formless space for which a catchy tag has yet to be coined—presents a new Roulette- commissioned work.

  • Michale G. Nastos, AllMusic , Sided Silver Solid review

    Carl Maguire has a theorem on acoustic or electric piano that is hard to define, and even more elusive to determine in regards to his influences.… During certain points in the recording you can be absorbed by this music, surrounded by its opulence, but at others there's a sense that you are saturated with these innovative tones to the point where it can be either utterly fascinating, or somewhat disturbing... Floriculture certainly play provocative, groundbreaking music, something unlike any thing else that preceded them, and deserve attention in that they refuse to stand still or be static. Maguire's futuristic concept is one highly recommended to all creative music fans, with great promise for more to come.

  • Budd Kopman, All about Jazz

    … The first delicate notes of Carl Maguire's piano in 'Egocentric' repeat odd phrases that move in and out of phase with each other, but when the rest of the band enters, powerfully amplifying and filling out the theme, you know that you are in for a trip…. the composed sections appear, then blend into the improvisations, which then mutate back into composition. No sharp lines demarcate anything, and 'Denizen Green' is a major statement of compositional technique and improvisational ability.” (cont…)

  • (cont…) The band shows itself to be an organic unit that evolves with the music. Each piece gives no hint where it is going to go, creating a palpable tension as the record proceeds, since the sense of compositional unity created by the theme keeps building, while at that same time that same feeling is being pulled apart by the improvisation of the players. Floriculture most definitely exudes the mark of an extremely confident composer in Carl Maguire, who has a deep feel for the freedom that jazz allows. His bandmates obviously enjoy bringing his music to life, and I thoroughly enjoyed taking the trip with them.

  • Dr. Ana Isabel Ordonez, JazzReview

    … You get caught immediately by the complicatedness of Maguire's amazing compositions... In a way, Maguire's virtuosity is a good example of temperance and it guarantees a purer and fuller pleasure. Floriculture is such a free pleasure, which makes enjoying it only better: because it also enjoys its own freedom!