Joyce Collins

[mjzee]

Traveling down an Internet rabbit hole, I came across someone I've never heard of before: Joyce Collins.  She seems to have had an intriguing career.  She released 4 albums under her own name, in 1960 (on Jazzland, with Ray Brown on bass), 1981 (on Discovery), 1990 (on Audiophile), and 2004 (on a Brazilian label).  She did some work with Bill Henderson, and worked extensively in Hollywood.  Has anyone here heard her?

Wikipedia entry

Discography

[HutchFan]

I'm familiar with her name -- from her Discovery release in the early-80s.  But I'm not familiar with her music.

 

[Niko]

I have one of the Bill Henderson albums, Live at the Times, it's an intriguing line-up I thought with her on piano and former Don Ellis sideman Dave Mackay on Fender Rhodes plus bass, drums and, of course, Henderson's singing... haven't played it in a while but remember it as a special album and quite a good one. 

[mhatta]

I had only heard her name before, but I had never heard her music. It seems that you can listen to her 3 leader dates on some music subscription services, except for the Discovery album. Her rhythm was a little stiff, but I think she had a considerable knowledge of harmony (she played songs by Shorter, for example). The fact that she played piano in the Mary Moore Tyler Show band is a career similar to Michael Wolf (the band leader of the Arsenio Hall Show).

https://www.jazzdisco.org/joyce-collins/catalog/

Edited October 6, 2024 by mhatta

[Stonewall15]

Marian McPartland did a radio show with her in 1984, rebroadcast in 2001. Her LP/CD on Jazzland label "Girl Here Plays Mean Piano" is excellent.

[Chuck Nessa]

While in high school her Jazzland record was one of my first jazz recordings - $0.75 at Walgreen's IIRC.

[clifford_thornton]

I wasn't expecting that solo piano cut on the Jazzland LP to sound so much like Satie.