Neal Creque

Earl Neal Creque (born April 13, 1940 in Saint Thomas , † December 1, 2000 in Olmsted Falls , Ohio ) was an American jazz pianist who has emerged primarily as a composer of songs.

Live and act

Creque, whose father played classical piano, had piano lessons from the age of five. At the age of nine he appeared on the radio with his father as the Duo Creque & Creque . In 1956 he came to the United States from the Virgin Islands to attend Theil College in Greenville, Pennsylvania . He then spent four years in the Air Force , where he played in a marching band after failing to pursue a career as a pilot. He moved to Miami for two years , where he was in a rock 'n' roll band. Then he went to New York City , where he first became a member of Pucho Brown's Latin Soul Brothers before working with percussionist Mongo Santamaría . He has also recorded with Stanley Turrentine , Teresa Brewer , Leon Thomas , Grant Green , Harold Ousley , Bernard Purdie and Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson . Then he led Carmen McRae's band and put on his own albums before moving to Cleveland with his family in 1973 . There he worked as a music teacher, initially at Cleveland State University and the Cleveland Music Settlement, before he was appointed professor for jazz piano at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in 1988 .

Creque wrote more than 3000 songs. Many of his compositions have been recorded, for example by Pucha Brown, Grant Green , Ramsey Lewis , Johnny Lytle , Ronnie Earl , Leon Thomas and Pink . With Mongo Santamaria he wrote the Grammy- nominated song "Sofrito", which was later featured on the album J.Lo. by Jennifer Lopez . was sampled .

The singer Nina Creque is his daughter.

Discographic notes

• Contrast! ( Cobblestone Records , 1972)
• 1972: Creque (Cobblestone, 1972, later as Black Velvet Rose on Muse Records )
• 1973: The Hand of Time (Muse Records)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Obituary Oberlin

Web links

• Neal Creque at Allmusic (English)
• Neal Creque at Discogs (English)