Dick Whittington (musician)

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Dick Whittington (* 1936 in Los Angeles ) is an American jazz pianist , music educator and music organizer.

Live and act

Whittington, who grew up in Los Angeles, began playing boogie woogie by ear when he was four . He broke off classical piano lessons and played self-taught songs from the radio. Improvisation and the harmonic basics of bebop were introduced to me at the age of 16 by Sam Saxe; at the age of 19 he received further instruction from Walter Norris . In the mid-1950s, when he was studying education in college, he performed at the Lighthouse Cafe in Hermosa Beach ; Charles Lloyd , Don Cherry , Billy Higgins and Scott LaFaro and Charlie Haden played at times in his band . Sonny Criss became his mentor.

For a year he worked with Dexter Gordon . After touring with him, he moved to Berkeley in 1961 . In the early 1960s he played with Si Zentner & His Orchestra, Joe Gordon ( Lookin 'Good , Contemporary , 1961) and Jimmy Woods . Herb Wong brought him to the city's schools in 1967 to teach jazz. In 1969 he co-founded the Berkeley Schools Jazz Band Program , which later jazz musicians like Benny Green and Joshua Redman also went through. During this time he stepped a. a. with Stan Getz , James Moody , Lee Konitz , Eddie Harris and Chet Baker . In the course of his career he has also worked with Bobby Hutcherson and Barney Kessel , as well as accompanying vocalists such as Anita O'Day , Ernestine Anderson , Dinah Washington and Mel Tormé .

For Concord Jazz he recorded his first album under his own name ( Live in New York ) in 1986 , in a trio with Steve Gilmore and Bill Goodwin . In 1986 Whittington and his wife Marilyn founded the Maybeck Recital Hall , which the Concord label used from 1989 to 1995 for numerous solo piano performances and 52 recordings. There were u. a. Joanne Brackeen , Hal Galper , Alan Broadbent , Steve Kuhn , Buddy Montgomery , Cedar Walton , Jaki Byard and Hank Jones . In the field of jazz he was involved in five recording sessions between 1960 and 1995.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b birthday party 2016
  2. ↑ Event information (Maybeck Studio)
  3. ↑ a b portrait (2012)
  4. ^ History of the Berkeley High Jazz Program
  5. ↑ Maybeck Recital Hall at Discogs
  6. ↑ JazzTimes, No. 22, 1992
  7. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed February 28, 2018)
personal data
SURNAME Whittington, Dick
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH los Angeles