Justin Highland

Hi there! I'm originally from Denver, Colorado and currently live in Los Angeles, CA. Being blessed with perfect pitch, I started piano at age 7 and guitar at age 12. Originally entering college as a Classical Piano Performance major, after one semester I made the switch to Jazz piano, graduating with a BA in Jazz and Classical Piano Studies from the Metropolitan State University of Denver.  I have over 28 years playing and over 13 years of seasoned teaching experience, teaching all levels and all styles including Classical, Jazz, Rock, Pop, Blues, Gospel, Latin/Brazilian and Contemporary piano styles, as well as Beginner - Intermediate Acoustic and Electric guitar. I strongly believe in helping students have fun and realize their fullest musical potential, with a laid back yet structured approach with lessons being tailored to the individual. I specialize in ear training, transcribing by ear, improvisation, modern piano styles, arranging any song for piano by ear and advanced music theory.

I mentored with Classical pianists Tamara Goldstein and Peter Friesen, along with critically acclaimed jazz piano greats Art Lande, Eric Gunnison, Peter Stoltzman, Peter Martin and keyboardist/pianist extraordinaire Dennis Hamm from the grammy-winning band Thundercat. Since discovering I had perfect pitch in college, I'm an expert with ear training, improvisation, arranging, transcribing and advanced music theory. We can listen to any song and I'll show you how to arrange it for piano instantly! I love nothing more than sharing my passion for music and love teaching students of all ages and levels! Outside of music I enjoy chess,  golf, cooking and traveling.

My originally composed jazz EP received world-wide radio airplay on Denver’s own 89.3 FM KUVO jazz radio station with the project Gemonious Rex, you can listen here: https://open.spotify.com/artist/67jcppgmcigH4gQIk8FtYF?si=bZ50OZdgQw-LpvWG81FgyQ

Inner Stellar is my psychedelic rock jazz fusion band here in LA, our record was just released in early June this year!

https://inner-stellar.bandcamp.com/album/voyager-suites-1-2