Other Obscure Pianists

[sgcim]

Reading the Dennard thread got me thinking about other obscure pianists.

Last night, I did a gig in NYC with a pianist I never heard of before named Johnny Morris. It turned out he played on some small group Buddy Rich sessions back in the 60s, "Playtime" and "Blues Caravan", and went on a State Dept. tour with BR.

i found this on youtube:

He still plays classic swing piano, and I found myself thinking of Teddy Wilson during his solos.

Another guy that I used to work with a lot who's still around is Mike Alterman, a fine musician.

He played on the Woody Herman LP "East Meets West", and has a great solo on an up tempo blues.

He went on the road with Chet Baker for eight months, and it was so traumatic, he refused to talk about it.

I played with the great bass player, Frank Tate, also last night, and he mentioned a guy named Bill Rubenstein (Rubinstein?), whom he described as playing like Bill Evans, before BE started playing like BE.

I did a search on him, and the only recordings he played on were a few Chris Connor LPs, and a Carol Sloane LP, "Live on 30th St."

Anyone familiar with him?

[soulpope]

I played with the great bass player, Frank Tate, also last night, and he mentioned a guy named Bill Rubenstein (Rubinstein?), whom he described as playing like Bill Evans, before BE started playing like BE.

I did a search on him, and the only recordings he played on were a few Chris Connor LPs, and a Carol Sloane LP, "Live on 30th St."

Anyone familiar with him?

http://www.buddyrich.se/leshin.htm

There`s a picture near the bottom of the page featuring him........

[CraigP]

sgcim, what instrument do you play?

[clifford_thornton]

Not totally obscure, but I've really enjoyed seeing Frank Carlberg around town. Very much out of the Paul Bley orbit but with his own thing going on. He has several records out (which I've only heard snippets of), but never seems to get mentioned in the contemporary pantheon. Anyway, wonderful player.

[sgcim]

sgcim, what instrument do you play?

Guitar

[Joe]

Paul Knopf, The Outcat. Sort of Third Stream, but in a very Ran Blake way (though Knopf was on the scene prior to Blake's arrival).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t31cIlmVeco

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/paulknopf

[Larry Kart]

Billy Wallace:

[Steve Reynolds]

John Law

[Larry Kart]

My late friend Bob Wright:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-11-05/features/8603230269_1_bob-wright-dixieland-history-of-jazz-piano

[Joe]

Nico Bunink, perhaps most famous here for his brief stint with Charles Mingus.

http://en.muziekencyclopedie.nl/action/entry/Nico+Bunink

Choice quote: "In an interview with Dutch jazz magazine Jazz Nu the pianist says that he considers Mingus's timing to be somewhat rigid, even like 'the German army'. The best rhythm section he ever played with, so he says in the same interview, consisted of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Connie Kay."

[B. Clugston]

Freddie Gambrell, who did a couple of Pacific Jazz albums (one with Chico Hamilton) in the 1950s. Really interesting player.

[Peter Friedman]

Frank Patchen played with an early version of Howard Rumsey's Lighthouse All Stars.

[JSngry]

Nadi Qamar (used to be known as Spaulding Givens)...still alive and/or playing?

[Joe]

Nadi Qamar (used to be known as Spaulding Givens)...still alive and/or playing?

Mingus really chewed through pianists in the 50s didn't he?

Not sure if he is still alive and / or playing, but I could swear he did a long CADENCE interview in the past decade.

Also, this looks like it merits further investigation:

http://www.folkways.si.edu/nadi-qamar/mama-likembi-instruction-record-thumb-piano/islamica-music-instruction/album/smithsonian

EDIT: Like! http://www.facebook.com/NadiQamarSpauldingGivensOfficialPage

And this recent release on what I presume to be Qamar's private label: http://www.worldcat.org/title/from-spaulding-givens-to-nadi-qamar/oclc/741515919

Edited June 6, 2014 by Joe

[paul secor]

Nadi Qamar (used to be known as Spaulding Givens)...still alive and/or playing?

Mingus really chewed through pianists in the 50s didn't he?

Not sure if he is still alive and / or playing, but I could swear he did a long CADENCE interview in the past decade.

Also, this looks like it merits further investigation:

http://www.folkways.si.edu/nadi-qamar/mama-likembi-instruction-record-thumb-piano/islamica-music-instruction/album/smithsonian

EDIT: Like! http://www.facebook.com/NadiQamarSpauldingGivensOfficialPage

And this recent release on what I presume to be Qamar's private label: http://www.worldcat.org/title/from-spaulding-givens-to-nadi-qamar/oclc/741515919

There was a long interview in Cadence - done by Bill Dixon. I transcribed it and it was long because I didn't feel that it was my right to cut anything. So it was printed as it was.

[JSngry]

Nadi Qamar (used to be known as Spaulding Givens)...still alive and/or playing?

Mingus really chewed through pianists in the 50s didn't he?

He was like the German army in that regard.

[johnblitweiler]

John Gilmore, formerly of Chicago, now plays piano in Mendocino, CA. He was a very fine pianist here in the 1960s when he played with Anthony Braxton, Kalaparusha, Alvin Fielder, and other AACM folk, and with the Brecker brothers. From later years there are at least two recordings, one of him playing inside solos in a supper club, the other (probably a private recording) of him improvising ingenious outside duets with Rafael Garrett. He certainly deserves to be appreciated.

[clifford_thornton]

Michael Cosmic... also a reed player but I dig his piano workouts on Peace In The World.

[HolgerFreimutSchrick]

about Bill Rubenstein, see:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Rubenstein_%28Musiker%29

[AllenLowe]

Larry - was Billy Wallace the pianist on that session with Coltrane on Roulette? If he was, I remember him as a very interesting and percussive player.

[Peter Friedman]

Larry - was Billy Wallace the pianist on that session with Coltrane on Roulette? If he was, I remember him as a very interesting and percussive player.

It was John Maher who was the pianist with Coltrane on the Roulette session.

Another rather obscure pianist is Billy Gardner.I always enjoyed his playing with Charlie Rouse on his recording on Epic.

[Joe]

John Mehegan. Interesting career; I was aware of his role in "Streetcar Named Desire" but not aware of the HUAC connection (further research required).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mehegan

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/04/05/obituaries/john-mehegan-jazz-pianist-wrote-4-volume-textbook.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jgamzc6eIrY

Edited June 6, 2014 by Joe

[AllenLowe]

his wife Gay took over his students after he died; I used to refer to her as the Last of the Mehegans.

[Michael Weiss]

Detroit pianist Will Davis

Made one date as a leader for the Sue label:

Have Mood Will Call

Trio with Will Austin and Oliver Jackson

THIS IS A GREAT RECORD!!!!

The Japanese reissued it on CD.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Michael Weiss

[AllenLowe]

I should mention Bob Neloms, who has not played publicly for many years.