Lucas Kadish is a NYC based jazz guitarist, composer, and teacher. Born and raised in northeast Ohio, Lucas fell in love with the guitar at a young age. Around then he began to acquire real world experience, sitting in with bands on the local scene. Soon after, Lucas began to lead his own projects, performing in bars and venues around Ohio. Also around this time he discovered his second love: the drums. "Rhythm is a tremendous force in my life and my music." Lucas’s original music grows out of the jazz and blues tradition, with influences from a wide array of other musics."
Lucas has performed alongside artists such as Les McCann, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Braxton Cook, Jonathan Barber's Vision Ahead, George Kontrafouris, Aaron Burnett, Dominick Faranacci, Bobby Selvaggio, Nathan-Paul Davis, and many more. He’s toured his own music and other's nationally and internationally. He has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Ventspils Groove Festival (Latvia), Uzutrakio Vakarai Festival (Lithuania), Winnipeg TD Jazz Festival (Manitoba, Canada), Capital Jazz Festival (Columbia, MD), Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (D.C.), Blue Note Beijing, Blue Note Shanghai, Blue Note Tokyo, Tri-C Jazz Festival (Cleveland), Rubber City Jazz Festival (Akron), New World Stage (Miami), Jazz at Lincoln Center's Appel Room, Jassmine (Warsaw, Poland), Ronnie Scott's (London, UK), Le Duc des Lombards (Paris, FR), Blue Note Milano (Milan, IT), Alcazar Live (Rome, IT), Sghetto Club, (Bologna, IT) and many other venues and clubs around the world. He has also performed at numerous venues in NYC such as The Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, The Jazz Gallery, Cornelia St. Cafe, Nublu, Baby's All Right, Café Bohemia, Ornithology Jazz Club, The Owl Music Parlor, Bar Bayeux, and many more.
In his formative years Lucas discovered a deep love for all sorts of music. By his mid-teens he was focused on becoming a jazz musician and began studying with Bob Fraiser, Theron Brown, Dan Wilson, Bobby Selvaggio, and other staples of the jazz scene. By graduation he was named a National YoungArts finalist and a semi-finalist in the United States Presidential Scholars of the Arts for jazz guitar. After high school, Lucas was admitted to The New School for Jazz on the President’s Scholarship and moved to NYC. In his first year of college, he was selected for the Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Residency for composition. There he worked and studied under Jason Moran, Eric Harland, Carmen Lundy, JD Allen, Andre Hayward, Cyrus Chestnut, and Eric Revis. Lucas is a graduate from the New School for Jazz.
Lucas’s trio consists of himself alongside bassist Kanoa Mendenhall and drummer Timothy Angulo. The trio released its first album, Tundra, in 2023. The music is inspired by many contrasting backgrounds and explores different rhythms, grooves, and moods. The trio takes a sensitive and dynamic approach to playing that is best experienced in the moment.
Lucas has performed alongside artists such as Les McCann, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Braxton Cook, Jonathan Barber's Vision Ahead, George Kontrafouris, Aaron Burnett, Dominick Faranacci, Bobby Selvaggio, Nathan-Paul Davis, and many more. He’s toured his own music and other's nationally and internationally. He has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Bern Jazz Festival (Switzerland), Ventspils Groove Festival (Latvia), Uzutrakio Vakarai Festival (Lithuania), Winnipeg TD Jazz Festival (Manitoba, Canada), Capital Jazz Festival (Columbia, MD), Kennedy Center Millennium Stage (D.C.), Blue Note Beijing, Blue Note Shanghai, Blue Note Tokyo, Tri-C Jazz Festival (Cleveland), Rubber City Jazz Festival (Akron), New World Stage (Miami), Jazz at Lincoln Center's Appel Room, Jassmine (Warsaw, Poland), Ronnie Scott's (London, UK), Le Duc des Lombards (Paris, FR), Blue Note Milano (Milan, IT), Alcazar Live (Rome, IT), Sghetto Club, (Bologna, IT) and many other venues and clubs around the world. He has also performed at numerous venues in NYC such as The Blue Note, Smalls Jazz Club, The Jazz Gallery, Cornelia St. Cafe, Nublu, Baby's All Right, Café Bohemia, Ornithology Jazz Club, The Owl Music Parlor, Bar Bayeux, and many more.
In his formative years Lucas discovered a deep love for all sorts of music. By his mid-teens he was focused on becoming a jazz musician and began studying with Bob Fraiser, Theron Brown, Dan Wilson, Bobby Selvaggio, and other staples of the jazz scene. By graduation he was named a National YoungArts finalist and a semi-finalist in the United States Presidential Scholars of the Arts for jazz guitar. After high school, Lucas was admitted to The New School for Jazz on the President’s Scholarship and moved to NYC. In his first year of college, he was selected for the Betty Carter’s Jazz Ahead Residency for composition. There he worked and studied under Jason Moran, Eric Harland, Carmen Lundy, JD Allen, Andre Hayward, Cyrus Chestnut, and Eric Revis. Lucas is a graduate from the New School for Jazz.
Lucas’s trio consists of himself alongside bassist Kanoa Mendenhall and drummer Timothy Angulo. The trio released its first album, Tundra, in 2023. The music is inspired by many contrasting backgrounds and explores different rhythms, grooves, and moods. The trio takes a sensitive and dynamic approach to playing that is best experienced in the moment.