Overlooked pianists

[fasstrack]

52 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

I'll second Joel on Schneiderman. Nice mainstream recordings on Reservoir (IIRC) with Brian Lynch and/or Ralph Moore.

His first was with Slide Hampton.

[Mark Stryker]

I heard Schneiderman for three nights in Urbana when I was in school in January 1983 with a Rufus Reid Quartet including Bob Rockwell and Victor Lewis. Rob was a sub -- these might may have been his first nights with the band -- for Jim McNeely, who was supposed to have been on the gig. We had been especially looking forward to Jim because it would have been a homecoming, since he went to school in Champaign-Urbana. Rob sounded good those nights, very bebop oriented and, in fact, I recall a particularly hip and groovy block-chord solo on  "Visitation" -- not in a Red Garland style with right hand octaves and maybe a fifth stuck in the middle, but full chords in both hands and all  the voices shifting as he went. I have tapes of those nights ... 

[T.D.]

+1 on Schneiderman. I originally bought Dark Blue (Reservoir), an old-fashioned hard bop session, not knowing what to expect, and was stunned at how good it was. Now have and enjoy several more Reservoir titles. His chops and technique (in addition to arranging) have really grown on me with repeated listenings.

Apparently Schneiderman went back to grad school "as a grown man", having already established himself as a musician, and got a math Ph.D. (at Berkeley, no less). That's very difficult to accomplish!

Edited December 4, 2015 by T.D.

[Peter Friedman]

Rob Schneiderman has 10 CDs out on the Reservoir label. 5 are trio dates, the other 5 have a horn or 2 or 3.

All are quite good. Schneiderman is one the better jazz piano players around these days, in my opinion.

[John Tapscott]

15 hours ago, Peter Friedman said:

Rob Schneiderman has 10 CDs out on the Reservoir label. 5 are trio dates, the other 5 have a horn or 2 or 3.

All are quite good. Schneiderman is one the better jazz piano players around these days, in my opinion.

I have all those Schneiderman CD's and enjoy them very much. He 's one of my favorite pianists. Tardo Hammer, too. 

[fasstrack]

I want to say a word about my old friend Tardo Hammer. He is at the top of his game. His trio of himself, Jimmy Wormworth (drums), and Lee Hudson (bass) had a fabulous blend (at Smalls last Saturday night) that only comes with being a working group. His repertoire consists of composers like Monk, Dameron, Strayhorn, Kenny Dorham, and others.

I was standing in the back with Michael Kanan, pianist; Neal Miner, bassist; and Chris Flory, guitarist---and those in the know will tell you these guys are very far from slouches---and we were marveling at the music we were hearing.

Even Barry Harris knows Tardo is one of the greats on today's scene.

Edited December 23, 2015 by fasstrack

[Larry Kart]

Yes, he's excellent.

And let me add someone I've known about for years but whose music I just recently reintroduced myself to -- the late Eddie Higgins. His album "Haunted Heart" (Sunnyside) is a particular gem.

[HutchFan]

I discovered Bob Degen recently. I think he has a very singular, unique voice.

[Deadman]

On ‎9‎/‎15‎/‎2015 at 7:26 PM, Don Brown said:

Eddie Costa

Lorraine Geller

Terry Pollard

John Lewis

When I first thought of overlooked pianists, two of the first ones that came to mind were Eddie Costa and Lorraine Geller. Both had excellent lps on the Dot label. I'll add several more pianists that had little known lps on Dot... Larry Novak (DLP 25576) & Muriel Roberts (DLP 3173).  Then there's Elmo Hope who may be my favorite jazz pianist of all time, and in my opinion, quite underrated. Hope's lp on the Hifi Jazz label, a trio session with Jimmy Bond & Frank Butler is outstanding!

[clifford_thornton]

On 12/23/2015 at 0:38 PM, HutchFan said:

I discovered Bob Degen recently. I think he has a very singular, unique voice.

the things I've heard have all been very good.

[Hardbopjazz]

Oliver Jones. Just discovered him. 

[soulpope]

On 20.7.2015 at 7:40 PM, BeBop said:

Another I like: Rein deGraff.

Seconded ....

[BillF]

21 hours ago, soulpope said:

Seconded ....

[BeBop]

On 12/4/2015 at 6:39 PM, Hardbopjazz said:

Tchangodei.

This is a very fine album. Three For Freedom"  With Archie Shepp & Mal Waldron

Agree.  I inadvertently ended up as a Tchangodei completist.  The sides with Archie Shepp are particularly good. ("Eagle's Flight" and "Ginseng" on Volcanic) as well as those with Steve Lacy.  ...and "Pure Blues".

[Cyril]

Was Jutta Hipp mentioned?

[Pim]

2 hours ago, BeBop said:

Agree.  I inadvertently ended up as a Tchangodei completist.  The sides with Archie Shepp are particularly good. ("Eagle's Flight" and "Ginseng" on Volcanic) as well as those with Steve Lacy.  ...and "Pure Blues".

Mentioned him a couple of times last week. He is a wonderful pianist indeed! Unfortunately the Volcanic label is defunct so releases are more to get, especially on cd.

[mhatta]

Was Yancy Korrosy(Jancy Körössy) mentioned?  His only MPS date ("Identification", 1969) contains one of the most distinctive piano I've ever heard.  He was the sideman of one obscure Zoot Sims live date from 1981, and the playing there is also very very good.   Is he still alive?

https://youtu.be/0FiD0qigOSg

[soulpope]

1 hour ago, mhatta said:

Was Yancy Korrosy(Jancy Körössy) mentioned?  His only MPS date ("Identification", 1969) contains one of the most distinctive piano I've ever heard.  He was the sideman of one obscure Zoot Sims live date from 1981, and the playing there is also very very good.   Is he still alive?

https://youtu.be/0FiD0qigOSg

Iancsy Körössy died in 2013,. There were some recent releases on 7 Dreams Records (a Romanian Jazz Label run by Nicolas Simion), but haven`t heard any of these ....

[mhatta]

4 hours ago, soulpope said:

Iancsy Körössy died in 2013,. There were some recent releases on 7 Dreams Records (a Romanian Jazz Label run by Nicolas Simion), but haven`t heard any of these ....

Thanks for info.  RIP Mr. Korossy.

w.r.t. his recent works, I have "Yancy Korosi Plays The Beatles" Vol. 1-3.  I guess it was recorded in 2002.  Not bad, beautiful solo piano interpretation of Beatle tunes, but a bit monotonous.

Edited November 7, 2017 by mhatta

[mhatta]

Harold Corbin was also a pianist who had a lot of potential, but died too young and little known.

He recorded only one leader album ("Soul Brother", 1962) just before his untimely death.  Seems there were several air checks from Birdland.  I hope someday I could hear some of these...

https://youtu.be/78Q6-obS5YU

[Hardbopjazz]

6 hours ago, mhatta said:

Harold Corbin was also a pianist who had a lot of potential, but died too young and little known.

He recorded only one leader album ("Soul Brother", 1962) just before his untimely death.  Seems there were several air checks from Birdland.  I hope someday I could hear some of these...

https://youtu.be/78Q6-obS5YU

I have to check him out. I am not familiar with him at all. 

 

 

[mhatta]

Paul Moer is yet another overlooked stylist I think.  I am surprised he was born in 1916 -- he sounds very modern.  Or maybe Wikipedia is wrong.  I guess he was born in 1926 or such.

 

Edited November 8, 2017 by mhatta

[Niko]

I looked a bit on familysearch.org, and the dates for Moer given on wikipedia seem plausible (i.e., there was indeed a Paul Moerschbacher with that birth year who was a musician, living in Florida in the 40s, and a Paul Moerschbacher with these dates in his death certificate)

[mhatta]

On 2017/11/8 at 11:02 PM, Niko said:

I looked a bit on familysearch.org, and the dates for Moer given on wikipedia seem plausible (i.e., there was indeed a Paul Moerschbacher with that birth year who was a musician, living in Florida in the 40s, and a Paul Moerschbacher with these dates in his death certificate)

Thanks for research!  I thought WIkipedia might be wrong since it says he graduated from Univ. of Miami in 1951(so he was 35), but well, it's not uncommon to go school (or maybe grad school) later.

'70s Mingus Band always had talented pianists -- the most famous one would be Don Pullen -- but somehow others kept a low profile. 

John Foster was one of them, in the band between 1971-72.  He is really great, powerful player, but seems died too young (I don't know when he died).  I guess he didn't record any leader album.  Trumpeter Charles Sullivan wrote a tune "Good-Bye Sweet John".

 

Edited November 9, 2017 by mhatta

[Niko]

Here you see his army enlistment details from 1941 when he was in his mid-twenties. He lists "4 years of high school "  as his highest educational attainment and musician as occupation... sounds like a GI bill story to me...