Tommy Flanagan (musician)

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Tommy Flanagan

Thomas "Tommy" Lee Flanagan (born March 16, 1930 in Detroit , † November 16, 2001 in New York City ) was an American jazz pianist of mainstream jazz .

Live and act

Flanagan received clarinet lessons from the age of six; at the age of 11 he switched to the piano. In 1945 Tommy Flanagan made his first professional appearance in Dexter Gordon's company when he was only 15 . As a teenager he already developed a "reputation as a sensitive and stimulating companion". He then worked with local groups in Detroit , including Lucky Thompson , Rudy Rutherford, and Billy Mitchell . After his military service in the Army (1951–53) he played again with Mitchell and then with Kenny Burrell ; In 1956 he came to New York.

He made his New York debut in 1956 when he stood in for the ailing Bud Powell at the last minute . Miles Davis was so impressed by his playing that he invited him to his next recording session ( Collectors' Items ). He also worked with Oscar Pettiford . The first recordings were made in March 1956 under the direction of Kenny Burrell. In the next 20 years Flanagan released albums under his own name, especially for the labels New Jazz, Prestige, Savoy and Moodsville; In August 1957 he recorded in Stockholm with his trio of Wilbur Little and Elvin Jones for the first time under his own name. Sessions with Curtis Fuller ( Blues-ette , 1959), Dexter Gordon , Gigi Gryce , Coleman Hawkins ( Today and Now , 1962), Freddie Hubbard and Wilbur Harden stand out for his participation in Sonny Rollins ' saxophone Colossus (1956), Giant Steps ( 1959) by John Coltrane and The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery .

As a piano accompanist of Ella Fitzgerald Tommy Flanagan acted in two longer periods 1962-1965 and 1968-1978, and in between he worked for Tony Bennett and worked on the Impulse! Session by Roy Haynes ( Out of the Afternoon ) with. In 1978, after surviving a heart attack, Flanagan limited his work largely to his own trio (sometimes with George Mraz and Kenny Washington or with Peter Washington and Lewis Nash ). Let's from 1993 became known to a larger circle . In the same year he received the highly endowed Jazzpar Prize , and in 1996 the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship . He was also involved in the recording of Steve Coleman and on Joe Henderson 's last album Porgy and Bess (1997). In the field of jazz, according to Tom Lord , he was involved in 404 recording sessions between 1950 and 2001, most recently with Marlene and Billy VerPlanck .

Brian Priestley praised his "surprisingly delicate touch in combination with rhythmic elasticity" as a "refinement of the" bebop "piano."

Discographic notes

Lexigraphic entries

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Brian Priestley in Jazz Rough Guide , p. 206
  2. ↑ Tommy Flanagan (NPR)
  3. ↑ Tom Lord : The Jazz Discography (online, accessed November 1, 2019)
personal data
SURNAME Flanagan, Tommy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Flanagan, Thomas Lee (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz pianist
DATE OF BIRTH March 16, 1930
PLACE OF BIRTH Detroit , Michigan
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 2001
Place of death New York City , New York