BIO

Nina Ott is a pianist, organist, keyboardist, composer, and bandleader whose distinct musical voice spans jazz, Afro-Cuban traditions, soul-jazz, funk, and free improvisation. Born in Detroit to a jazz trumpeter father, she grew up immersed in music before earning a degree in Classical Piano Performance from Western Michigan University, where her formal jazz studies began.

Driven to deepen her commitment to jazz, Nina moved East to study with the legendary master teacher Charlie Banacos. Her career took root in Chicago, where she served as the house pianist for the iconic late-night jam sessions at The Green Mill and performed regularly with figures including Jeff Parker, Pat Mallinger, George Fludas, and Robert Barry, before taking her quartet to Singapore for an extended international residency.

Deeply drawn to Latin jazz and salsa, Nina studied percussion under master Robertico Arias to internalize the complex rhythmic foundations of Afro-Cuban music. Over the years, she has performed and recorded alongside acclaimed Latin jazz stalwarts and master musicians, including Carlos De León, Jesús Pagán, Jorge Najarro, Eguie Castrillo, Mark Walker, Bertram Lehmann, Ernesto Diaz, and Manolo Mairena. Her path led to a faculty position at Berklee College of Music and later to San Francisco, where she performed with the John Calloway Latin Collective alongside Jesús Díaz and David Flores, while serving as a guest clinician and educator for SFJAZZ and faculty at the Stanford Jazz Workshop.

Later in her artistic journey, Nina fell deeply in love with the Hammond organ, diving into funk and soul-jazz and adding a raw, physical power to her acoustic piano and analog synth textures. Over the course of her career, she has performed on major festival and concert stages across both coasts, including the San Jose Jazz Festival, Stanford Jazz Festival, Chinatown Jazz Festival, Shalin Liu Performance Center, WGBH’s JazzNow, and the Zeiterion Performing Arts Center.

An award-winning composer supported by artistic grant funding, Nina's original composition is set to be featured in NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington’s forthcoming New Standards 2 collection (101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers published by Berklee Press).
Today, Nina serves as the pianist at Union Baptist Church, honoring its profound history and grounding her weekly work in traditional Black gospel music. She leads four distinct musical projects Nina Ott Trio, Tumbao Real, Hum and the Ott/Lopes Organ and Drum Project alongside key long-time collaborators including bassist/composer Chris Lopes, drummer Steve Langone, guitarist Steve Fell, and saxophonist/modular synthesist John McKenna. Based in her home studio, she hosts intimate salon concerts, directs ensembles, and teaches—dedicating her creative life to deliberate, uncompromising music-making.