An active performer of jazz and classical piano music, Luke Gillespie is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 1994 Indianapolis Jazz Festival Competition, best performance from the Indianapolis Star in 1993, and the 1990 Copland Piano Concerto Competition at Indiana University.
He has recorded with the Arts Center Jazz Collective, Jeremy Allen, David Baker, Bruce Bransby, Buselli-Wallarab Jazz Orchestra, James Campbell, Todd Coolman, Steve Davis (drums), Everett Greene, Pat Harbison, Steve Houghton, Sylvia McNair, Dan Perantoni, Rich Perry, John Raymond, Eugene Rousseau, Bill Sears, Walter Smith III, Dominic Spera, Wanda Stafford, Tierney Sutton, Wayne Wallace, and Tom Walsh.
He has performed with Jamey Aebersold, Eric Alexander, Ron Blake, Ralph Bowen, Gene Ess, Benny Golson, Wycliffe Gordon, Bunky Green, Jimmy Heath, Nicole Henry, Robert Hurst, Gene Jackson, Ingrid Jensen, Kelley Johnson, Mutsuko Kawamoto, Pat LaBarbera, David Liebman, Marshall McDonald, James Moody, Ed Neumeister, Brent Nussey, Chris Potter, Rufus Reid, Arturo Sandoval, Jim Snidero, Thomas Taylor, Rodney Whitaker, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and Pablo Ziegler.
Gillespie is included in Jazz Play-Along, Vol. 76, How to Learn Tunes, by David Baker (Aebersold). He has published articles on the aesthetics of jazz and classical music as well as a book, Stylistic II/V7/I Voicings for Keyboardists (Aebersold, 2000, third printing, 2015), endorsed by Danilo Perez, Geoff Keezer, David Liebman, David Baker, and Frank Mantooth. He also adapted the Jamey Aebersold Play-Along Volume 1 for Piano (2015). His solo jazz piano CD, Footprints, was released on RIAX records (2003), and he has released two trio CDs, Live at the Station (2008) and Third Base Line (2011), both on Watercourse Records, and his latest CD, Moving Mists (2019), has been released on Patois Records.
Gillespie is Professor of Music in Jazz Studies/Piano at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he also received his BM and MM degrees in Jazz Piano and DM degree in classical piano, with minors in music history and comparative literature/arts. Visit Indiana University faculty page for more details.