John Hicks
Appearances
This is not and cannot be the Complete Cole Porter Songbooks, but it's a marvelous collection of 48 timeless jazz interpretations drawn from the Verve catalog. [more]
- Member Price: $49.98
This Music Masters CD, released in 1991, contains altoist Vincent Herring's earliest recordings (some of which predate his association with Nat Adderley). Actually his [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
Merry Jazzmas features 14 classic Christmas songs interpreted by leading jazz vocalists like Marcus Roberts, Vanessa Rubin, Antonio Hart, Roy Hargrove, Hilton Ruiz, Steve Lacy, and Steve Coleman. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
Even for Paquito D'Rivera, Manhattan Burn is diversity run riot as he spreads his stylistic net even further afield. At first, perhaps in an effort to stir up some sales -- or [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
Trumpeter Roy Hargrove's debut as a leader found him occasionally recalling Freddie Hubbard but already sounding fairly original in the hard bop genre. On a quartet version of [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $11.98
...Ballads dominate the album, accounting for seven of the album's ten tracks; Hargrove generally interprets them in a cool, emotionally detached manner...Compiled from four [more]
- List Price: $16.99
- Member Price: $3.98
![Jazz for the Quiet Times [32 Jazz]](/cache/JHS/d3/130x130_on-sale_d32196o60ix.png)
Jazz giants like Jack McDuff, Sonny Stitt, Kenny Burrell, and Bobby Hutcherson all contribute tracks and brush shoulders with jazz middleweights like Wallace [more]
- List Price: $17.98
- Member Price: $12.98
![Jazz for a Lazy Day [32 Jazz]](/cache/JHS/d6/130x130_on-sale_d690854oi3a.png)
Jazz for a Lazy Day lives up to its name, providing the kind of cool, languid jazz that adds that extra something to a weekend or day off. A mix of standards and [more]
- List Price: $17.98
- Member Price: $11.98
This well-rounded set not only features trumpeter Roy Hargrove with his mid-'90s quintet (tenor saxophonist Ron Blake, pianist Stephen Scott, bassist Rodney Whitaker, and drummer Gregory [more]
- List Price: $14.98
- Member Price: $14.38
Kenny Barron and John Hicks are both well-respected veteran pianists whose styles fall well within the modern mainstream of jazz, initially influenced by [more]
- Member Price: $11.98
Biography
- Born Dec 12th 1941 in Atlanta, GA
- Died May 10th 2006 in New York, NY
- Styles
- Straight-Ahead Jazz
- Instrument(s)
A longtime fixture of the New York City jazz landscape, pianist John Hicks was an artist of uncommon versatility, moving effortlessly from pop standards to the avant-garde while retaining the dense physicality and intense energy that were the hallmarks of his approach. Born December 12, 1941, in Atlanta, Hicks was still an infant when his preacher father relocated the family to Los Angeles. He spent the better part of his teen years in St. Louis, and counted among his classmates there the young Lester Bowie. Hicks' mother was his first piano teacher, and after a stint at Lincoln University in Missouri he attended the Berklee School of Music and the Juilliard School; he later cited influences spanning from Fats Waller to Thelonious Monk to Methodist church hymns, and his catholic listening tastes were instrumental in shaping his far-ranging skills as a player. After touring in support of bluesman Albert King and hard bop tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, Hicks backed singer Della Reese during a 1963 New York club residency, and the city remained his home for the rest of his life. In the wake of stints with Kenny Dorham and Joe Henderson, Hicks joined Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers in 1964, collaborating alongside the likes of trumpeters Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. Two years later, he signed on with singer Betty Carter, like Blakey a keen judge of emerging talent. Upon exiting Carter's band in 1968, Hicks spent the remainder of the decade with Woody Herman and entered the decade to follow as a first-call sideman. He also moonlighted as an educator, and during the early '70s taught jazz and improvisation at Southern Illinois University.
After backing Carter on her 1976 date Now It's My Turn, Hicks returned to her backing group full-time. The exposure vaulted him to new renown, and in 1979 he finally led his own studio effort, After the Morning. With 1981's Some Other Time, cut with bassist Walter Booker and drummer Idris Muhammad, Hicks also emerged as a gifted composer, writing his best-known effort, "Naima's Love Song," in honor of his young daughter. He recorded prolifically in the years to follow, concentrating on solo and small ensemble work including stints as member of the Power Trio and the Keystone Trio. He also served as the regular pianist with the Mingus Dynasty Band and for a time led his own big band. Hicks enjoyed his greatest commercial success with a series of tribute LPs celebrating the music of his mentors and influences, highlighted by 1998's Something to Live For (a collection of Billy Strayhorn compositions), 2000's Impressions of Mary Lou (Williams, of course), and 2003's Fatha's Day (honoring Earl Hines). Hicks' longest and most rewarding collaboration was his partnership with flutist Elise Wood, which launched in 1983 and after several studio sessions and tours culminated in marriage in 2001, around the time of the release of their duo recording Beautiful Friendship. Hicks died suddenly on May 10, 2006. Just three days earlier, he delivered his final performance at Harlem's St. Mark's United Methodist Church, where his father served as a minister prior to his own death. Hicks was 64 years old. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
The Source for Discounted Rare & Essential Jazz Music CDs!
©2010 Jazz Heritage Society. All Rights Reserved.
Jazz Heritage Society - 1710 Highway 35 - Oakhurst, NJ 07755