Don Abney
John Donald "Don" Abney (born March 10, 1923 in Baltimore , Maryland , † January 20, 2000 in Los Angeles , California ), was an American jazz pianist .
Life
Abney initially studied privately in Baltimore. After his military service, during which he was active as a horn player in the military band, he first played with Buddy Johnson in 1946 and then moved to New York, where he studied piano and harmony at the Manhattan School of Music . He then played Dixieland Jazz with Wilbur de Paris in 1948/49 . In the 1950s he worked as a solo pianist (1950/51) and with Bill Harris / Kai Winding , with Chuck Wayne in 1952 and Oscar Pettiford in 1952, then with Sy Oliver , Thelma Carpenter and Louie Bellson . In 1955, Abney made an appearance in the film Pete Kelly's Blues . With his studio orchestra, in which u. a. Al Cohn, Joe Wilder , Barry Galbraith and Milt Hinton played, he accompanied Marilyn Monroe on her album Moody in 1957 .
He toured Europe several times with Jazz at the Philharmonic . He is with numerous great interpreters of jazz, such as B. Louis Armstrong , Ella Fitzgerald , Sarah Vaughan , Oscar Pettiford, Carmen McRae or Betty Carter . From 1960 he worked as a studio musician at NBC ; In 1962 he moved to Los Angeles , where he played with Benny Carter , Stan Kenton (1966) and various studio bands. From 1969 to 1971 he led a trio; in the 1970s he worked as musical director for Rosemary Clooney . In 1980 he moved to Japan, where he worked as a pianist for almost a decade. Due to illness he had to give up his active music career in 1993; Abney did not return to the United States until shortly before his death.
Don Abney also worked on recordings for Eddie South (1947), Al Sears ( Swings the Thing ! , 1960) and Carol Sloane (1982). He is influenced by Nat Cole , Ellis Larkins, and Art Tatum , according to Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler .
Web links
- Don Abney at Discogs (English)
- Don Abney biography in the All Music Guide
- Don Abney, A Resourceful Pianist in Jazz and Studio Settings Biography at www.jazzhouse.org
Lexical entry
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Abney, Don |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Abney, John Donald (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 10, 1923 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Baltimore , Maryland , United States |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 20, 2000 |
| Place of death | Los Angeles , California , United States |