Hod O'Brien
Walter Howard "Hod" O'Brien (* 19th January 1936 in Chicago ; † 20th November 2016 ) was an American pianist of modern jazz .
Life
O'Brien played the piano at the age of six and became a professional musician in 1950. At first he had his own ensembles in Chicago. After briefly studying at the Manhattan School of Music , he performed in New York in 1957 in the Oscar Pettiford quintet . He took part in the recordings for the album Three Trumpets by Donald Byrd , Art Farmer and Idrees Sulieman and then played with saxophonist JR Monterose . As a member of Teddy Kotick's band , he accompanied guest soloists such as Phil Woods and Stan Getz in a club on Staten Island . In 1960 he worked on René Thomas ' album Guitar Groove . From 1963 to 1973 he studied mathematics and psychology with a bachelor's degree and worked as a research assistant at New York University . He then opened his own music club, the St. James Infirmary Jazz Club in New York City. From the 1970s on, he mainly worked at Roswell Rudd and Joe Puma . Since the 1980s, albums have been created under his own name, on which musicians such as Pepper Adams , Tom Harrell , Ray Drummond , Kenny Washington and Frank Luther participated. He also recorded with Chet Baker , Ted Brown and Danny D'Imperio .
O'Brien was married to the jazz singer Stephanie Nakasian , with whom he also appeared from the mid-1980s; their daughter Veronica Swift is also a jazz singer.
Discography (selection)
- Opalessence ( Criss Cross , 1984)
- Ridin 'High (Reservoir, 1990)
- So That's How It Is (Reservoir, 1997)
- Fine and Dandy ( Fresh Sound Records , 2004)
- Have Piano Will Swing (Fresh Sound, 2004)
- Live at Blues Alley , Sets 1–3 (Reservoir, 2005-7)
As a sideman
- Roswell Rudd : Flexible Flyer ( Black Saint , 1974)
- Chet Baker: Blues for a Reason (Criss Cross, 1984)
- Joe Puma: Shining Hour (Reservoir, 1984)
- Danny D'Imperio: Blues for Philly Joe (VSOP, 1991), Glass Enclosure (VSOP, 1991)
- JR Monterose: TTT (Storyvielle, 1988)
literature
- Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 1: A – L (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16512). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16512-0 .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD . 6th edition. Penguin, London 2002, ISBN 0-14-051521-6 .
- Bielefeld Catalog 1988.
Web links
- Website by Hod O'Brien
- Portrait side
- Hod O'Brien at Allmusic (English)
- Discography
- Obituary by Marc Myers in Jazzwax
Individual evidence
-
^ RIP Hod O'Brien . Bebop Spoken Here, November 21, 2016, accessed November 23, 2016.
Doug Ramsey : Hod O'Brien, 1936-2016 . Rifftides, November 21, 2016, accessed on November 23, 2016.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | O'Brien, Hod |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | O'Brien, Walter Howard |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American modern jazz pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 19, 1936 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chicago |
| DATE OF DEATH | 20th November 2016 |