Transplanted from the East Coast a very young age, Edward Kornhauser grew up in Escondido. He attended SDSU, studying under pianist Rick Helzer, and receiving a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies in 2009.
Primarily a jazz pianist, he has studied the language, vocabulary, and repertoire of classic jazz, as well as those of the modern. In 2012, he held the piano chair for the Matt Smith Neu Jazz Trio, playing on the group's debut recording Shorthanded in 2013.
A deep love of jazz notwithstanding, Kornhauser has played in blues bands off and on over the years, as well as playing with Jucebox, a retro funk quartet. He works as a freelance musician and can be frequently heard backing a variety of musicians around San Diego, including vocalists Amelia Browning, Jonathan Karrant, and Whitney Shay.
An album of all original music dropped via a livestream performance in November 2020, during the pandemic shutdown. The Short Years won Best Jazz Album at the 2021 San Diego Music Awards.
Kornhauser has been the staff accompanist at Unity Way Church in Vista since 2006, and he plays keyboards in local band Soft Limits, along with Charlie Weller.
(Photograph by Robert Sanchez)