Bernie Leighton
Bernie Leighton (born January 30, 1921 in West Haven , Connecticut as Bernard Sidney Leighton , † September 16, 1994 in Coconut Creek , Florida ) was an American jazz pianist .
Live and act
Leighton's family moved to New York in 1930; he began his musical career in the late 1930s in Bud Freeman's band , which performed at Kelly's Stables . In the early 1940s he played with Raymond Scott , Leo Reisman , Raymond Scott (1940), Benny Goodman (1940/41) and Enric Madriguera before doing his military service in World War II. After his release in 1946, he studied at the Yale School of Music and then worked primarily as a studio musician, a. a. with Dave Tough (1946), Billie Holiday / Gordon Jenkins ("Crazy He Calls Me", 1949), Charlie Parker ( Charlie Parker with Strings , 1950), Neal Hefti (1951), again with Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw (1953 ), John Serry Sr. ( Squeeze Play 1956), Jack Teagarden ( Think Well of Me 1962), James Moody (1963) and Bob Wilber (1969). Leighton has also been involved in the recordings of Louis Armstrong , Tony Bennett / Ralph Burns , Roy Eldridge , Joe Williams / Jimmy Jones , Oscar Brown, Jr. , Carol Sloane and the Glenn Miller Orchestra ( Ghost Band ).
In 1962 he was the organist on Mark Murphy's album That's How I Love the Blues . In 1969 he accompanied Maxine Sullivan on her album Close as Pages in a Book ; In 1972/73 he went on tour with Tony Bennett . In the course of his career he has also made a number of recordings under his own name, including releases on Keynote (1946), Mercury (1950) and LPs on Columbia Records (1950), Brunswick (1951), Disneyland and Capitol in 1957, followed by an Ellington tribute album in 1974. His instrumental cover version of the Connie Francis hit "Don't Break The Heart That Loves You" on the Colpix label reached # 101 on the Billboard charts in 1962 .
Leighton made a cameo in the 1985 Woody Allen film Hannah and Her Sisters .
Discographic notes
- Johnny Guarnieri / Bernie Leighton: Piano Stylings (EmArCy, 1945) with Hy White , Trigger Alpert , Dave Tough
- Piano Contrasts (Keynote, 1946)
- Eastside Rendezvous (Columbia, 1950)
- Squeeze Play (Dot Records, 1956) with John Serry Sr.
- Soft Lights, Sweet Music (Columbia)
- Bernie Leighton / Sylvia Syms : In a Sentimental Mood (Movietone, 1967)
- Plays Duke Ellington (1974) with Howie Collins, Milt Hinton , Ronnie Bedford
Web links
Lexical entry
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
Individual evidence
- ^ The Billboard December 1, 1956, p. 22
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Leighton, Bernie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Leighton, Bernard Sidney (maiden name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 30, 1921 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | West Haven , Connecticut |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 16, 1994 |
| Place of death | Coconut Creek , Florida |