Dick Hyman
| Dick Hyman | |
|---|---|
Dick Hyman (Eugene, Oregon, 2005)
|
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Richard Hyman |
| Born |
March 8, 1927 New York, New York, U.S. |
| Genres | Jazz, swing, lounge, stride piano |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Website | www |
Richard "Dick" Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 60-year career, he has functioned as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, and, increasingly, as a composer. He will be a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters fellow in 2017.
Hyman was born in New York City. He trained classically by his mother's brother, the concert pianist Anton Rovinsky, a fixture of the pre-war art scene in New York, noted for having premiered some of Charles Ives's works, such as The Celestial Railroad in 1928. Hyman said of Rovinsky, "He was my most important teacher. I learned touch from him and a certain amount of repertoire, especially Beethoven. On my own I pursued Chopin. I loved his ability to take a melody and embellish it in different arbitrary ways, which is exactly what we do in jazz. Chopin would have been a terrific jazz pianist. His waltzes are in my improvising to this day." Dick's older brother, Arthur, introduced him to the music of Bix Beiderbecke, Louis Armstrong, Teddy Wilson, and others. By high school, he was playing in dance bands throughout Westchester County.
Hyman completed his freshman year at Columbia University, and in June 1945, he enlisted in the Army, transferred to the Navy, and began playing in the band department. When he returned to Columbia, he won an on-air piano competition, earning him 12 free lessons with Teddy Wilson, the Swing Era pianist who a decade earlier had broken the race barrier as a member of the Benny Goodman Trio. A few years later, Hyman himself became Goodman's pianist.
While developing a facility for improvisation in his own piano style, Hyman has also investigated ragtime and the earliest periods of jazz and has researched and recorded the piano music of Scott Joplin, Jelly Roll Morton, James P. Johnson, Zez Confrey, Eubie Blake and Fats Waller which he often features in his frequent recitals. Hyman recorded two highly regarded ragtime albums under the pseudonym "Knuckles O'Toole", and included two original compositions. In 1952, he played with Charlie Parker on the only television appearance Parker ever made; the band included Dizzy Gillespie and played Hot House.
...
Wikipedia