News & Updates — Tete Montoliu

The Catalan pianist Tete Montoliu was born in 1933 in Barcelona. He came from a musical family that had Don Byas as a housemate in the family home. Blind since birth, he learned to read Braille music. Influenced by Art Tatum and Duke Ellington, he came out of the conservatory and started touring with Lionel Hampton in '55 and proceeded to become one of the top jazz players in Europe, eventually gaining a solid reputation internationally. He cut a lot of solo records, sometimes played with vocalists or in duo format (with saxophonist George Coleman, for example) but often could...