Lafayette Gilchrist

Baltimore-based pianist, keyboardist and composer leads his own bands, New Volcanoes and Sonic Trip Masters, and is a member of the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra under the leadership of centenarian Maestro Marshall Allen.

Lafayette Gilchrist is a Baltimore-based pianist, composer, and bandleader whose music channels the urgency of go-go, funk, and the avant-garde into a groove-powered call for unity in turbulent times. A dynamic voice on today’s jazz landscape and a new member of the legendary Sun Ra Arkestra under Maestro Marshall Allen, Gilchrist embodies the Bride’s legacy of experimentation, resilience, and collective uplift. His music has been featured in David Simon’s acclaimed series The Wire, The Deuce, and Treme, and his playing draws on the full span of jazz history—from stride to free improv—while absorbing hip-hop swagger, D.C. go-go, piledriver funk, vigorous swing, and deep-bottom grooves. Gilchrist leads his own bands, New Volcanoes and Sonic Trip Masters, and is a longtime collaborator of saxophone giant David Murray, with whom he toured extensively in his quartet. Fearless, eclectic, and rooted in community, Gilchrist creates music that affirms jazz as a living archive of resistance and renewal.