Jazz pianist Mboya Nicholson was born in Edmonton Canada in 1973. As a child he studied classical piano and had an interest in jazz music at an early age. By the time Nicholson had entered high school, he was slowly developing a mode of teaching himself to play the genre. After studying jazz piano at Grant MacEwan college, Nicholson was soon performing at the Edmonton Jazz City Festival and presenting concerts.
By 1999, Nicholson was studying in New Orleans at the University of New Orleans (UNO). His seven years in the Crescent City included studying with some of the architects of New Orleans jazz of the post war era, including pianist Ellis Marsalis and composer/musician/producer Harold Battiste. Some of the opportunies afforded to Nicholson included performances everywhere from Brazil to Japan. He has shared the stage with some of jazz's luminaries, including saxophonists Sonny Fortune and Wes Anderson, drummers Herlin Riley and Jason Marsalis and trumpeters Jeremy Davenport and Wendell Brunious. His travels have sent his pianistic skills to an eclctic collection of ears from the Ambassador to the Vatican, to the Consul General of the Netherlands. Currently Nicholson is preparing another album and composing.