Lara Driscoll works as a pianist, composer, and educator whose reputation rests on her refined take on post-bop jazz. Active in Chicago’s jazz community from the 2000s onward, she attracted broader notice after issuing her first album under her own name, Woven Dreams, in 2020.
She spent her childhood in Prospect Heights, a Chicago suburb, in a household shaped by her French mother and American father. Piano study began at age seven and continued through her school years with both classical and jazz instruction. At Aebersold jazz camps she encountered trombonist Brian Jacobi, who directed her toward recordings by Errol Garner, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, Keith Jarrett, and others. After high school she completed an undergraduate degree in jazz studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where pianist and professor Chip Stevens served as her mentor. She later pursued graduate studies in jazz piano performance at McGill University in Montreal.
Her playing has been recognized with the University of Illinois John Garvey Jazz Scholarship and an outstanding soloist award at the North Texas Jazz Festival. As a performer she has appeared alongside Terell Stafford, Jim Pugh, Fred Wesley, Dick Oates, Chip McNeill, Larry Gray, Jean-Michel Pilc, and additional artists. She maintains teaching positions on the music faculties of Loyola University, DePaul University, and Harold Washington College. In 2020 she released her debut leader album Woven Dreams, documenting her trio with bassist Paul Rushka and drummer Dave Laing; the same year she also issued the duo album Firm Roots alongside pianist Chris White.
