Alan Broadbent (born 1947) is a New Zealand jazz pianist, composer, and arranger whose career has connected small-group improvisation with orchestral and vocal writing. Born in Auckland, he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston; Berklee records identify him as a 1969 graduate and document his early association with bandleader Woody Herman.
Broadbent joined Herman’s band in 1969, touring and writing for it for three years before settling in Los Angeles in 1972. His work subsequently ranged across jazz performance, studio work, arranging, and conducting. He became pianist and later conductor for Natalie Cole, and he was a member of Charlie Haden’s Quartet West. These collaborations placed his piano playing alongside a substantial body of arrangements for singers and ensembles.
His arrangements of “When I Fall in Love,” recorded by Natalie Cole, and “Lonely Town,” recorded by Shirley Horn with Quartet West, earned two Grammy Awards for Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals. In the 2008 Queen’s Birthday Honours, he was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to jazz music. The Recording Academy’s artist record lists 14 Grammy nominations in total, reflecting the long reach of his work as both performer and arranger.
This profile is awaiting source review; collected books are already linked below.
