A.J. Khaw is a Philadelphia-based musician who has performed in Uganda, South Africa, China, Mexico and throughout the United States. He is a pianist, organist, composer, accompanist, and educator; his passion is collaborating with musicians, dancers, visual artists, and other storytellers to enact social change and uplift voices who have gone unheard.
Performances include the Immersive Elocution of Literature exhibition and Spelman College’s Embodied Cognition in the Audre Lorde archive collaboration at Princeton University. He performed in Battle Champs at the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop showcase in Times Square. He was Music Director for Diedre Murray’s score in Soil Beneath: An Empirical Decay (2020), an off-Broadway production by Chesney Snow at Primary Stages. A.J. co-composed the score for Snow’s choreopoem, The Unwritten Law. He has performed in the show since its 2017 debut and was Music Director for a development workshop at Two River Theater in 2021. He has collaborated with Playback Memphis, playwright Dennis Moritz, soprano Gian-Carla Tisera (Luminosa Project), singer/songwriter Lucas Kane Hall, and alt-Americana artist Dylan Charles. He performed in the Brooklyn bands, We are Warriors and Hollow Engine. A.J. is an accompanist at Princeton University and faculty member at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy.
A.J. played with several Latin pop groups and started two jazz combos in Miami, Sonido Batido and Rana Prieta Latin Jazz Project, which incorporated Latin and Caribbean influences. He produced Sonido Batido’s album Journey of the Refugee with pieces based on social justice themes.
In Atlanta he founded the jazz/funk quartet Jazznomad, performed in various classical chamber ensembles, and served as house pianist at Churchill Grounds Jazz Club.
A.J. began studying piano at age five and organ at eleven, becoming a church organist at twelve. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Music summa cum laude from Emory University and graduated cum laude with a Medical Doctorate degree from Morehouse School of Medicine. ajkhaw.com