The legendary pianist Hank Jones, 91, an eloquent and lyrical soloist and accompanist to every major name in jazz since the 1940s, died May 16 in New York City.
Mr. Jones was known for his light touch and his embrace of bebop's fast pace and complex phrasing. He played “as though he were plucking the piano's strings instead of striking its keys, and his gracefully restrained single-note style are a reformulation of their aesthetic in modern jazz.," wrote David Rosenthal in “Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955-1965."
He made his New York debut in 1944 with jazz trumpeter Oran “Hot Lips" Page at the Onyx Club on 52nd Street in New York. He went on to make hundreds of recordings with the likes of Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald, playing venues from nightclubs to Broadway.
Mr. Jones was known for his light touch and his embrace of bebop's fast pace and complex phrasing. He played “as though he were plucking the piano's strings instead of striking its keys, and his gracefully restrained single-note style are a reformulation of their aesthetic in modern jazz.," wrote David Rosenthal in “Hard Bop: Jazz and Black Music, 1955-1965."
He made his New York debut in 1944 with jazz trumpeter Oran “Hot Lips" Page at the Onyx Club on 52nd Street in New York. He went on to make hundreds of recordings with the likes of Charlie Parker and Ella Fitzgerald, playing venues from nightclubs to Broadway.
