Kirk Lightsey

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Kirk Lightsey (2008)

Kirkland "Kirk" Lightsey (born February 15, 1937 in Detroit ) is an American pianist and composer of modern jazz .

Live and act

Kirk Lightsey had piano lessons as a child and also studied clarinet at school and college . Earl Hines , Fats Waller and Duke Ellington were among his musical role models from this period . He accompanied traveling stars in clubs, performed while serving in the US Army a. a. with Cannonball Adderley and came to New York with Melba Liston , where he worked for Ernestine Anderson . He later went back to Detroit and accompanied many pop singers in the Motown studios, but also worked with jazz musicians such as Yusef Lateef , Dexter Gordon , Betty Carter , and later also with Pharoah Sanders , Bobby Hutcherson , Sonny Stitt and Kenny Burrell . From 1979 to 1983 he was a member of Dexter Gordons Band, otherwise mostly worked as a freelance musician.

Since the 1980s he recorded a number of albums under his own name; thus a duo production with Wayne Shorter compositions was created with Harold Danko in 1984 . Kirk Lightsey also performed often as a solo pianist. He was also a member of The Leaders formation , which also included Lester Bowie , Arthur Blythe , Chico Freeman , Cecil McBee and Famoudou Don Moye . With his rhythm section he formed the Leaders Trio . In the 1980s he was the accompanist for recordings on the Criss Cross Jazz label by Jimmy Raney , Peter Leitch , Brian Lynch and Clifford Jordan .

Kirk Lightsey belongs to the generation of neo-bop and new traditionalism pianists who play in the tradition of McCoy Tyner . Lightsey describes himself as a pianist who combines a Bud Powell awareness, an Art Tatum styling, a bebop feeling and a pianistic conception . He is therefore in the immediate vicinity of Hank Jones or Tommy Flanagan .

The Kirk Lightsey / Don Moye Trio at the INNtöne Jazzfestival 2017

Selection discography

Recordings as a leader

  • 1983 - Kirk Lightsey / Harold Danko Shorter by Two (Sunnyside)
  • 1983 - Kirk Lightsey Trio with Chet Baker Everything Happens to Me ( Timeless )
  • 1985 - Lightsey Live (Sunnyside)
  • 1986 Everything Is Changed (Sunnyside)
  • 1986 - Kirk Lightsey Quintet featuring Marcus Belgrave - Kirk 'N' Marcus (Criss Cross)
  • 1987 - Temptation (Timeless) with Freddie Hubbard
  • 1990 - From Kirk to Nat
  • 1993 - Isotopes (Criss Cross, rec. 1983–1991)
  • 2004 - The Nights of Bradley's (Sunnyside) with Rufus Reid
  • 2006 - Estate (Itinera)
  • 2008 - Louise Gibbs & Kirk Lightsey Everybody's Song But Our Own (33 Records)
  • 2008 - Lightsey To Gladden (Criss Cross Jazz)
  • 2015 - Tibor Elekes , Don Moye, Kirk Lightsey Le Corbu ( Unit Records )
  • 2017 - Marilena Paradisi & Kirk Lightsey Some Place Called Where (Losen Records)

Recordings as a sideman

  • Chet Baker: Groovin ', Comin', Cool Burnin ', Boppin' with the Chet Baker Quintet (Prestige, 1965)
  • Jeri Brown : Unfolding the Peacocks (1992)
  • Sonny Fortune : Monk's Mood (Konnex, 1993)
  • Louis Hayes : The Super Quartet (Timeless, 1994)
  • Clifford Jordan: Two Tenor Winner (Criss Cross, 1984)
  • Harold Land: Mapunzi (Concord, 1977)
  • The Leaders: Mudfoot (Black Saint, 1986)
  • Peter Leitch: Red Zone (Reservoir, 1984/88)
  • Bryan Lynch: Peer Pressure (Criss Cross, 1986)
  • Jimmy Raney: The Master (Criss Cross, 1983)
  • Jim Pepper : Dakota Song (Enja), The Path (Enja)
  • Sahib Shihab : It Couldn't Happen Without You (Soul Note, 1984)
  • Woody Shaw : Solid (Camden, 1974-1987)

literature

Web links

Commons : Kirk Lightsey  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cit. according to Behrendt & Huesmann
  2. ↑ cit. according to Kunzler, p. 706
personal data
SURNAME Lightsey, Kirk
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Lightsey, Kirkland
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist and composer
DATE OF BIRTH February 15, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit