Results for "piano"

Sonny Thompson

Born: August 22, 1923

Alphonso "Sonny" Thompson was born in Centerville, Mississippi, in August of 1916. As a teenager Thompson moved to Chicago and decided to further his musical education at that city's Conservatory of Music. As a budding pianist he was heavily influenced by the piano players of the time, most importantly Earl Hines and Art Tatum. In his late teens he secured a job playing with Erskine Tate. For a time Thompson attended the University of Chicago, and also had gigs with Red Allen, Stuff Smith, and his own combo called The Rhythm Masters. In late 1942 he enlisted in the army and suffered a serious injury which left him hospitalized for a while and time recuperating at home

Joe Robichaux

Born: March 8, 1900

Joe Robichaux - piano (1900 - 1965) Joseph Robichaux was born in New Orleans in 1900, and lived there for most of his life, with spasms of jazz action in Chicago and New York, or touring in Cuba, Europe and Japan. He played piano with Oscar Celestin, in the Black Eagle Band, and also accompanied the excellent Jones/Collins Astoria Hot 8, one of the first bands (1929) to be recorded at home in New Orleans. As a pianist he was a modernizer with a full grasp of New Orleans tradition, and his band played what could be called 'New New Orleans music'. On his Document release, The Rhythm Boys supplied tight, sharp, driving ensemble work, with fierce riffs being interspersed with hard, blazing solos

Luckey Roberts

Born: August 7, 1887

Luckey Roberts - stride pianist, composer (1887 - 1968) He was Harlem's original piano powerhouse, the king of the New York Fast Shout pianists, the grandfather of stride piano. The name Luckey Roberts has become little more than a footnote in the pages of jazz history books. The names of his students are better known today than the master whom they worshipped. And what a list of disciples it is. These musicians include such luminaries as Duke Ellington, Earl Hines, James P Johnson, Eubie Blake, Willie "The Lion" Smith and last but not least George Gershwin. Luckey Roberts was born on August 7, 1887 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Marcus Roberts

Born: August 7, 1963

Marcus Roberts grew up in Jacksonville, Florida where his mother's gospel singing and the music of the local church left a lasting impact on his own musical style. After losing his sight at age five, he began teaching himself to play piano a few years later. He had his first formal lessons at age twelve and ultimately went on to study classical piano at Florida State University with Leonidus Lipovetsky. While at FSU, Roberts won the first of many competitions and awards, the young artist's competition at the 1982 National Association of Jazz Educators annual conference. His many other awards include first prize at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition in 1987, a National Academy of Achievement award in 1995 and the Helen Keller Award for Personal Achievement in 1998

Mike Renzi

Born: April 28, 1946

An immensely talented musician, Renzi was influenced in his early years as a pianist by Bill Evans. After living and working in and around Providence, he graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music in 1973 and Berklee College Of Music the following year. During these years of study he worked with local bands and as accompanist to visiting artists. Among these was Sylvia Sims and it was as a direct result of this engagement that he was hired to work with Mel Tormé. In 1976 he moved to New York City and from the late 70s onwards through the next two decades and into the early years of the twenty-first century, he appeared on scores of albums, sometimes only as pianist but most often also as arranger

Eric Reed

Born: June 21, 1970

When you think of hard-driving swing, daring expression,sophistication and elegance in artistry, formidable techniqueand a thunderous sound, there are only a very small handfulof contemporary pianists you think of and one of them ismost assuredly ERIC REED. But don’t think of him as a justa pianist; Eric is one of his generation’s most advancedthinkers in music.

Born in the musically rich city of Philadelphia, PA. Eric grewup playing in his father’s storefront Baptist church, startingat the age of five: “My father was a minister but he alsoused to sing with a Gospel group in Philly called the BayState Singers. He is my earliest musical influence. I alsowas hit heavily by the sound of Christian and secular musicof the 1970s (most notably Edwin & Walter Hawkins,Andrae Crouch and James Cleveland). “ Soon after, youngReed was bitten by the Jazz bug after hearing recordings byArt Blakey, Ramsey Lewis and Dave Brubeck.

Freddie Redd

Born: May 29, 1928

Freddie Redd that is- consummate improvising keyboardist/composer whose original score on Blue Note for Jack Gelber's searing play "The Connection" reverberates eternally down the marble halls of the charm(ed) school of indelible jazz, thanks to Freddie's bewitching melodicism, nimble pianistic pyrotechnique, and the keening cry of Jacke McLean on alto (there's also a recording of Freddie's score on Felsted acquired on a Japanese cd reissue some years ago, with trumpeter Howard McGhee an extra added ingredient in the original mix, his quintet actually listed as the featured artist, Freddie ghosting his own parts under the moniker "I Ching") Outside of Herbie Nichols, Freddie Redd is one of the greatest unsung ivory-huntin' heroes of jazz and a very nice man for sure

Jason Rebello

Born: March 29, 1969

Jason Rebello is a British jazz pianist, currently part of Sting's live and studio band, who has recorded a handful of albums under his own name. His debut album, A Clearer View was produced by Wayne Shorter. He was voted Most Promising Newcomer of the Year for 1988 in The Wire magazine. Rebello was featured on The Wire cover with a statement: Jason Rebello - the youngest man in jazz. He won several major Jazz Awards including the prestigious Pat Smythe award and The Perrier British Jazz Awards. Rebello did cooperate with Wayne Shorter, Art Blakey, Gary Burton, Branford Marsalis, Sting, Jeff Beck, Chaka Khan, Des'ree, Bud Shank, Tommy Smith, Jean Toussaint, Mica Paris, Carleen Anderson, Joy Rose and Omar. Rebello was asked by Sting to replace Kenny Kirkland after Kirkland's sudden death in 1998

Alton Purnell

Born: April 16, 1911

Starting out as a singer, Alton Purnell took up piano in his youth and became a professional musician in his mid-teens. He worked with a number of well-known bands in his home-town of New Orleans, including those led by Alphonse Picou and Big Eye Louis Nelson, before moving to New York in the mid-40s, where he played in various bands, including those led by Bunk Johnson and George Lewis, with whom he was best associated. In the mid-50s he moved out to the west coast where he played with many leading New Orleans and Dixieland jazzmen such as Kid Ory, Teddy Buckner, Ben Pollack and Barney Bigard

Don Pullen

Born: December 25, 1941

Don Pullen developed an extended technique for the piano and a strikingly individual style, post-bop and modern, but retaining a strong feeling for the blues. He produced acknowledged masterworks of jazz in a range of formats and styles, crossing and mixing genres long before this became almost commonplace. By chance, unfortunately for his future commercial success if not for his musical development, his first contact on arriving on the New York scene was with the free players of the 1960s, with whom he recorded. It was some years later before his abilities in more straight ahead jazz playing, as well as free, were revealed to a larger audience