Nick Stubblefield began playing (banging) piano before he could walk or talk, but started studying formally when he was nine. He was playing classical pieces at church a few months afterward, and has been playing blues and jazz, pop and show tunes in his family band The Stubblepuppies (www.stubblepuppies.com) ever since. He has logged hundreds of performances in venues as small as rec rooms, as large as ball fields, and just about everything in between. He also plays solo gigs at music venues around Asheville.
In addition to his solo work and gigging with the Stubblepuppies, Nick has recently formed his own jazz trio, Spitfire (www.jazzthatburns.com). Spitfire plays Nick's original compositions at some of Asheville's premiere night spots and hires out for private parties. The band debuted as a presentation of the prestigious Jazz Composers Forum (jazzcomposersform.org) at Asheville's hip venue The Grey Eagle in October, 2005. In January, Nick was pianist in the Alex Han Quintet at the Lapataia International Jazz Festival in Uruguay. He has worked professionally as a cocktail pianist at the world class resort hotel The Grove Park Inn, and with his earnings there, he put together a nice little home recording studio. At age 14, he recorded a CD of his own original tunes and covers, titled TRIED AS AN ADULT, available at CDBaby.com and other outlets.
As a high school senior, Nick is currently looking toward college next year. He has been accepted at Berklee College of Music in Boston, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, one of the top state university music colleges in the country. Ultimately, Nick's interests include not just jazz performance but scoring for film and video. He has already scored one commercially released documentary video, "The Fairbanks House," and has composed music for an as-yet-unproduced movie musical.
