Herbie Nichols
Herbie Nichols | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Herbert Horatio Nichols |
| Born | January 3, 1919 San Juan Hill, Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
| Died | April 12, 1963 (aged 44) New York City |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Labels | Blue Note, Bethlehem |
Herbert Horatio Nichols (3 January 1919 – 12 April 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who wrote the jazz standard "Lady Sings the Blues". Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics.[1]
Life[]
He was born in San Juan Hill, Manhattan in New York City, to parents from St. Kitts and Trinidad, and grew up in Harlem.[2]:156, 174 During much of his career, he took work as a Dixieland musician while working on the more adventurous kind of jazz he preferred.[2]:155–56 He is best known today for these compositions, program music that combines bop, Dixieland, and music from the Caribbean with harmonies from Erik Satie and Béla Bartók.
His first known work as a musician was with the Royal Barons in 1937, but he did not find performing at Minton's Playhouse a few years later a very happy experience. The competition didn't suit him. However, he did become friends with pianist Thelonious Monk.
Nichols was drafted into the Army in 1941. After the war, he worked in various settings, beginning to achieve some recognition when Mary Lou Williams recorded some of his songs in 1952.[2]:165 From about 1947, he persisted in trying to persuade Alfred Lion at Blue Note Records to sign him up.[2]:168 He finally recorded some of his compositions for Blue Note in 1955 and 1956, some of which were not issued until the 1980s. His tune "Serenade" had lyrics added, and as "Lady Sings the Blues" became firmly identified with Billie Holiday. In 1957 he recorded his last album as leader for Bethlehem Records.
Nichols died from leukemia in New York City at the age of 44.
One of the four essays in A.B. Spellman's Four Lives in the Bebop Business (also known as Four Jazz Lives, 1966) is about Nichols.[3] A biography, Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist's Life, written by Mark Miller, was published in 2009.[4]
Influence[]
Nichols' music was energetically promoted by Roswell Rudd, who worked with Nichols in the early 1960s. Rudd recorded or programmed at least three albums featuring Nichols' compositions, including The Unheard Herbie Nichols (1996) and a book The Unpublished Works (2000).[5]
In 1984, the Steve Lacy quintet with George E. Lewis, Misha Mengelberg, Han Bennink and performed the music of Nichols at the Ravenna Jazz Festival in Italy.[6]
A New York group, the Herbie Nichols Project (part of the Jazz Composers Collective) has recorded three albums largely dedicated to unrecorded Nichols' compositions, many of which Nichols had deposited in the Library of Congress.[7]
Discography[]
As leader[]
- 1952: Herbie Nichols Quartet (Savoy; first LP issue: Various Artists I Just Love Jazz Piano - Down And Out (1957), session sometimes reissued with the Gigi Gryce album Nica's Tempo)
- 1955: The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 1 (Blue Note) with Art Blakey (drums), Al McKibbon (bass)
- 1955: The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 2 (Blue Note) with Art Blakey (drums), Al McKibbon (bass)
- 1956: Herbie Nichols Trio (Blue Note) with Max Roach (drums), Al McKibbon or Teddy Kotick (bass)
- 1957: Love, Gloom, Cash, Love (Bethlehem) with Dannie Richmond (drums), George Duvivier (bass)
As sideman[]
- 1953: Rex Stewart and his Dixielanders Dixieland Free-For-All (Jazztone, 1956)
- 1958: Vic Dickenson & Joe Thomas, Mainstream (Atlantic)
References[]
- ^ Johnson, David Brent; Miller, Mark (5 April 2010). "Night Lights: Herbie Nichols' Third World". Indiana Public Media. WFIU Public Radio. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Spellman, A.B. (1985). Four Lives in the Bebop Business. New York: Limelight Editions. ISBN 0879100427.
- ^ Wilson, John S. (November 20, 1966). "Jazzmen's Quartet". The New York Times. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
- ^ Miller, Mark (2009). Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist's Life. Toronto: Mercury Press Publishers. ISBN 978-1-551-28146-9.
- ^ Kelsey, Chris. "Roswell Rudd". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
- ^ Layne, Joslyn. "Misha Mengelberg". AllMusic. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
- ^ Corroto, Mark (1 November 2001). "Strange City: The Herbie Nichols Project". All About Jazz. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 29 November 2008.
Further reading[]
- Nichols, Herbie; Rudd, Roswell (2000). The Unpublished Works of Herbie Nichols: 27 Jazz Masterpieces. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Gerard & Sarzin Pub. Co. ISBN 978-1-930-08000-3. OCLC 45456453.
- Miller, Mark (2009). Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist's Life. Toronto: Mercury Press Publishers. ISBN 978-1-551-28146-9. OCLC 705897987.
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- 1919 births
- 1963 deaths
- People from Manhattan
- American people of Trinidad and Tobago descent
- American jazz composers
- American male jazz composers
- American jazz pianists
- American male pianists
- Bebop pianists
- Dixieland pianists
- Blue Note Records artists
- Jazz musicians from New York (state)
- 20th-century American male musicians
- 20th-century American pianists
- Bethlehem Records artists
- 20th-century jazz composers