News & Updates — piano
Donny Hathaway / Oct 1, 1945 - Jan 13, 1979
Much respect to the well-loved Donny Hathaway, the great gospel-inspired singer and songwriter, as well as pianist, producer and arranger. His music covered soul, gospel, pop, blues, jazz, Christmas songs, ballads, funk and even Latin, in a nice mix of both originals and covers. Born in Chicago to a gospel-singing family, he grew up in St. Louis. He started singing in church at age 3 and was playing piano young as well. He studied music at Howard University, where he also played in a jazz trio with Ric Powell and rolled with Roberta Flack and Leroy Hutson. He started working as...
Eddie Bo / Sept 20, 1930 - March 18, 2009
One of the New Orleans iconic producers, Edwin Bocage aka Eddie Bo brought a harder, grittier sound to the Crescent City in the '60s & '70s funk world. With his awesome drummer James Black and a stable of ripping vocalists, he cut several classics and remains a local legend. Himself a soulful singer and pianist, he composed, arranged and produced some great R&B, blues and funk over a long career in which he became one of the city's most prolific artists. His family were builders and masons, as well as early NOLA jazz musicians. Bo's influences also include bebop and...
Harry Whitaker / Sept 19, 1942 - Nov 17, 2010
Here's a nod to the underknown pianist Harry Whitaker, on his day of birth. Harry was more of a behind-the-scenes guy, best known for his work with Roy Ayers' Ubiquity (he composed the classic "We Live In Brooklyn Baby") and Roberta Flack (during her peak years). From Pensacola FL, he started playing piano at 5. His family moved later to Detroit, and he got his career started there with local gigs as a teenager. In 1960 he moved to NYC. He played with Slide Hampton in '65 before taking to playing on the road in various bands. He joined Ayers...
John Cage / Sept 5, 1912 - Aug 12, 1992
John Cage was one of the first early experimentalists I discovered. As a teenager I had already made my way through punk & industrial and had discovered Japanese noise and 60's black free-jazz. Coming across folks like Cage, Xenakis, Stockhausen and Harry Partch pushed me into brand new ways of appreciating music and sound. Cage's chance operations strategy appealed to my improv side, accompanying my "zen side". His prepared piano stuff appealed to the noise freak in me and his overall unique way of approaching the world was inspirational to me and my friends. The icing on the cake came...
Memphis Slim / Sept 3, 1915 - Feb 24, 1988
Happy birthday to the great blues pianist/singer/songwriter icon John Chatman aka Memphis Slim. With his permanent move to France in 1963 he may very well have been the first truly international blues superstar. The son of a musician in Memphis, he made his first records at 25 for Okeh under his father's name Pete Chatman. He toured around the South before hitting Chicago in '39, hooking up in a duo with Big Bill Broonzy and working as a session pianist for Bluebird Records. In the mid '40s he started using saxophone and drumkit in his band, now called The House...