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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Man At His Leisure
Jazz - Released by classics & more on 18 jul. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Secret Meeting
Jazz - Released by classics & more on 30 jun. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Prophetic Herbie Nichols, Vol. 2
Jazz - Released by CoolNote on 1 jan. 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Prophetic Herbie Nicholas, Vol. 1
Jazz - Released by CoolNote on 1 jan. 1955
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Blue Chopsticks
Jazz - Released by A Riff Supreme on 11 jan. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dance Line - Herbie Nichols
Jazz - Released by ISIS on 17 jan. 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Cheaper Tricks
Jazz - Released by tricki masters mind on 2 okt. 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Nightingale
Jazz - Released by oldies and hits for future on 28 mei 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Essential Jazz Masters
Jazz - Released by Vintage Masters Inc. on 15 apr. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hangover Triangle
Jazz - Released by A Riff Supreme on 11 jan. 2007
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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