Meet David Paquette, one of the players at this year's Piano Night. Here he is doing Irving Berlin's "Walking Stick & Something"; there's some biographical information below.

From Paquette's Reverbnation page:
David Paquette is an International Jazz Pianist whose career has spanned the decades as well as the globe. He has recorded more than 45 albums and highlights of his colourful career include touring the European Jazz circuit, establishing an annual 5-day Jazz Festival on New Zealand’s Waiheke Island, and a stint as the Musical Director for Sydney Australia's Four Seasons Hotel. David now devotes a lot of his time to his Charitable Trust, the "Paquette Jazz Foundation" which supports both upcoming and existing talent through a scholarship, mentoring program and a musician’s residence retreat on Waiheke Island. He also still enjoys playing regularly at international festivals and Jazz Clubs.

Here's a lengthier bio from the Waiheke Island festival page, which contains an explaination of his connection to New Orleans music:
David was born in Connecticut but was introduced to the music of New Orleans at an early age. Due to his parents’ musical background his family home was often full of musicians and as a teenager he had the privilege to experience a number of jam sessions with musicians like Kid Sheik, Louis Nelson, Sammy Penn, Billie and Dede Pierce, right in their living room. Frequent family holidays to New Orleans resulted in his family moving to the city and this inspired David to teach himself to play the piano. They had an old player piano (a pianola) at home and he used to follow it to learn the chords.