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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Favourite Dish
Jazz - Released by classics & more on 18 mei 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fabulous Creature
Jazz - Released by classics & more on 1 mei 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fun And Sophistication
Jazz - Released by Records on 31 mrt. 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Lets Have A Drink
Jazz - Released by obligat music on 25 nov. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Long Play
Jazz - Released by playersparty remastered on 6 nov. 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Under The Christmas Tree
Jazz - Released by The Christmas Tree on 25 nov. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Just at the Turn of the Tide
Jazz - Released by turn of the tide on 25 apr. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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A Prairie Windstorm
Jazz - Released by prairie windstorm on 4 feb. 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
St. Nicholas - For Young Folks
Jazz - Released by St. Nicholas Day on 11 dec. 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo