Veteran bassist, composer and bandleader Aaron Liao fuses contemporary R&B and alternative rock influences with a classical and jazz pedigree. Beginning as a session player and artist in various musical outfits, Liao has since become an in-demand songwriter-producer for others, including rising soul-R&B upstarts Raveena and Sid Sriram. He’s also an integral part of Moses Sumney’s live band.
Notably he co-wrote and tracked bass for Raveena’s 2018 and 2019 releases “Shanti” and “Lucid,” which have garnered over 100 million plays worldwide and praise from NPR, The FADER, and NYMag’s The Cut. He joined the R&B singer on her 2019 U.S. tour, and for headlining sets at the Java Jazz Festival in Indonesia and on NPR’s Tiny Desk series. Liao graduated from Berklee College of Music in 2013 on full scholarship. Previously he served as musical director for the headlining acts at Boston's Beantown Jazz Festival -- Meshell Ndegeocello in 2013, and Sheila E in 2014. He has performed in the U.K., Canada, Germany, Norway, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Japan, and at some of the most iconic venues in the U.S., including the Kennedy Center, alongside Grammy winner Terri Lyne Carrington at the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival in 2016, and Denver’s panoramic Red Rocks Amphitheatre alongside Victoria Canal in 2019.
Liao is currently based in Los Angeles.