Andrew Hill has been a great and even groundbreaking composer and pianist, yet the relatively circumscribed scale of his innovations might have originally caused him to get lost in the shuffle of the '60s free jazz revolution. While many of his contemporaries were totally jettisoning the rhythmic and harmonic techniques of bop and hard bop, Hill... [+] Read More

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Bobby Enriquez had the nickname of "the Madman," a title he earned through his very hyper piano playing. A virtuoso who was largely self-taught from the age of four, Enriquez was a professional by the time he was 14. In the 1960s, he played in Manila, Hong Kong, and Honolulu, becoming Don Ho's musical director for a time. He arrived on the... [+] Read More

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Soon after he first emerged in the mid-'50s, pianist Cecil Taylor was the most advanced improviser in jazz; five decades later he is still the most radical. Although in his early days he used some standards as vehicles for improvisation, since the early '60s Taylor has stuck exclusively to originals. To simplify describing his style, one could... [+] Read More

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Overshadowed throughout his life by his friends Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk, Elmo Hope was a talented pianist and composer whose life was cut short by drugs. His first important gig was with Joe Morris' R&B band (1948-1951). He recorded in New York as a leader (starting in 1953) and with Sonny Rollins, Lou Donaldson, Clifford Brown, and... [+] Read More

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Errol Parker's music, though largely overlooked by the jazz establishment, was quite fresh and original. Utilizing poly-tonality (playing in two keys at once), simultaneous soloing, and his own drumming (which achieves an African sound by substituting a conga for the snare drum), Parker's tentet sounded unlike any other group. Mostly self-taught... [+] Read More

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Horace Parlan has overcome physical disability and thrived as a pianist despite it. His right hand was partially crippled by polio in his childhood, but Parlan's made frenetic, highly rhythmic right hand phrases part of his characteristic style, contrasting them with striking left-hand chords. He's also infused blues and R&B influences into his... [+] Read More

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While Los Angeles is the power center of the popular music industry, it's always been a backwater as far as jazz is concerned. That's not because L.A. hasn't produced more than it's share of great players: a roll call of major players who made L.A. their home at some point would include Art Pepper, Dexter Gordon, Ornette Coleman, Gerry Mulligan,... [+] Read More

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Acclaimed pianist Misha Mengelberg is the respected leader of the Dutch ensemble ICP Orchestra, yet is equally known for his integral role in the development of the jazz-influenced creative music that sprang up in the Netherlands starting around the 1960s. Most often found in lineups with drummer Han Bennink, Mengelberg has been mixing... [+] Read More

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Composer, arranger, and pianist Muhal Richard Abrams is largely a self-taught musician who was deeply influenced by the bop innovations of the late Bud Powell. Abrams has been a beacon in the jazz community as a co-founder (and first president), in 1965, of Chicago's legendary vanguard music institution, the Association for the Advancement of... [+] Read More

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Yamashita studied piano as a child and has played professionally since the age of 17. He attended Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo from 1962-1967 and played for a time with saxophonist Sadao Watanabe. Yamashita formed a bassless trio in 1969; his Bill Evans-influenced style expanded to include free jazz, a rather radical step given the... [+] Read More

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