Herbie Nichols
One of jazz's most tragically overlooked geniuses, Herbie Nichols was a highly original piano stylist and a composer of tremendous imagination and eclecticism. He wasn't known widely enough to exert much influence in either department, but his music eventually attracted a rabid cult following, though not quite the wide exposure it deserved.
Nichols was born January 3, 1919, in New York and began playing piano at age nine, later studying at C.C.N.Y. After serving in World War II, Nichols played with a number of different groups and was in on the ground floor of the bebop scene. However, to pay the bills he later focused on Dixieland ensembles; his own music -- a blend of Dixieland, swing, West Indian folk, Monk-like angularity, European classical harmonies via Satie and Bartók, and unorthodox structures -- was simply too unclassifiable and complex to make much sense to jazz audiences of the time. Mary Lou Williams was the first to record a Nichols composition -- "Stennell," retitled "Opus Z," in 1951; yet aside from the song he wrote for Billie Holiday, "Lady Sings the Blues," none of Nichols' work got enough attention to really catch on.
He signed with Blue Note and recorded three brilliant piano trio albums from 1955-1956, adding another one for Bethlehem in late 1957. Nichols languished in obscurity after those sessions, though; sadly, just when he was beginning to find a following among several of the new thing's adventurous, up-and-coming stars, he was stricken with leukemia and died on April 12, 1963. In the years that followed, Nichols became a favorite composer in avant-garde circles, with tributes to his sorely neglected legacy coming from artists like Misha Mengelberg and Roswell Rudd. He also inspired a repertory group, called the Herbie Nichols Project, and most of his recordings were reissued on CD.
© Steve Huey /TiVo
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In a Dressing Room
Jazz - Released by dressing room on 4 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Happy Hours, Vol. 2
Jazz - Released by Simon & Lion on 26 Mar 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Happy Hours, Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by Simon & Lion on 23 Mar 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Third World / Double Exposure (All Tracks Remastered)
Jazz - Released by Hit Singles Records on 17 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Come Here Again With My Best Music
Jazz - Released by mbw music capital on 28 Jun 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Art of Herbie Nichols
Jazz - Released by SINETONE AMR on 8 Feb 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Prophetic (Original Jazz Sound)
Jazz - Released by Original Jazz Sound on 30 Jul 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Listen This Music
Jazz - Released by Archive Catapult on 23 Jan 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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That's Why The Moon Was Smiling
Jazz - Released by The Moon Was Smiling on 1 May 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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