Horace Parlan

Horace Parlan: Up and Down – 1961

by Marc Davis
June 9, 2016

I have a new hero: Pianist Horace Parlan. Until recently, I had heard of Parlan, but never really heard him. I certainly never knew his back story. It's inspirational--and his music is pretty damn good, too. Parlan had a handicap. As a child, he lost some function in his right hand due to polio. Various bios disagree on the extent of the loss. Some say two fingers, others three. Either way, it's the kind of injury that makes ...

Dexter Gordon: Doin' Allright

by Matt Marshall
August 20, 2009

Dexter Gordon Doin' Allright Blue Note / Music Matters 2009 (1961)

From the first track of this record--in Blue Note's 45rpm double-disc reissue series--tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon certainly seems to be doing just fine. That opener, “I Was Doing All Right," lilts along with a nice 'n' easy, early 1960s treatment of an insistently positive George Gershwin melody. Gordon doesn't rush his solo, but allows it to intensify naturally from the surrounding breeze. He ...

Horace Parlan: The Complete Blue Note Horace Parlan Sessions

by C. Andrew Hovan
August 1, 2000

Aside from the obvious heavyweights who came through the Blue Note fold, there’s that whole cast of musicians who fall under the category of “talent deserving of wider recognition”. Arguably, Blue Note might have been even more proficient at expounding the work of these neglected artists. Although not an exhaustive list, some of the names to be mentioned in this camp would have to include Dodo Greene, Fred Jackson, John Patton, Harold Vick, Tina Brooks, Freddie Roach, George Braith, Bennie ...

Dexter Gordon: Doin' Allright

by Jim Santella
March 1, 1997

Dexter Gordon played smooth jazz before that description took on a whole new meaning. Coming up from the Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins tradition, and playing an active role in the start of bebop, Gordon spent a long, albeit interrupted, career keeping his popular tenor saxophone voice before the jazz public. In May of 1961, when this session took place, Freddie Hubbard had recently signed with Blue Note and had just begun his stay with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers.

This ...

Perfection: Horace Parlan - Up & Down

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 8, 2024

In June 1961, pianist Harlan Parlan recorded the album Up & Down for Blue Note. On the session were Parlan (p), Booker Ervin (ts), Grant Green (g), George Tucker (b) and Al Harewood (d). The title track was composed by Parlan, who on this LP plays superbly. As Leonard Feather wrote in his liner note... “Up & Down," Horace's title number for the album, is so named because of the melodic vacillation of the theme between G and A-flat. At ...
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Backgrounder: Horace Parlan - Movin' & Groovin'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 2, 2023

Horace Parlan is probably best known as the pianist on Dexter Gordon's 1961 Blue Note album Doin' Allright. It's hard to imagine anyone but Parlan playing on that record, adding dramatic zest to songs like Doing All Right, For Regulars Only and Society Red. He also played piano on Charles Mingus's Mingus Ah Um (1959) and Roots & Blues (1959). Stylistically, I'd place his groove between Red Garland and Kenny Drew.  Born in Pittsburgh, Pa, Parlan recorded for Blue Note ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Parlan

Source: Michael Ricci
January 19, 2023

All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Parlan's birthday today!

Horace Parlan has overcome physical disability and thrived as a pianist despite it. His right hand was partially crippled by polio in his childhood, but Parlan's made frenetic, highly rhythmic right hand phrases part of his characteristic style, contrasting them with striking left-hand chords. He's also infused blues and R&B influences into his style, playing in a stark, sometimes somber fashion. Parlan has always cited Ahmad Jamal and Bud Powell as ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Parlan

Source: Michael Ricci
January 19, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Parlan's birthday today!

Horace Parlan has overcome physical disability and thrived as a pianist despite it. His right hand was partially crippled by polio in his childhood, but Parlan's made frenetic, highly rhythmic right hand phrases part of his characteristic style, contrasting them with striking left-hand chords. He's also infused blues and R&B influences into his style, playing in a stark, sometimes somber fashion. Parlan has always cited Ahmad Jamal and Bud Powell as ...
read more

Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Parlan

Source: Michael Ricci
January 19, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Parlan's birthday today!

Horace Parlan has overcome physical disability and thrived as a pianist despite it. His right hand was partially crippled by polio in his childhood, but Parlan's made frenetic, highly rhythmic right hand phrases part of his characteristic style, contrasting them with striking left-hand chords. He's also infused blues and R&B influences into his style, playing in a stark, sometimes somber fashion. Parlan has always cited Ahmad Jamal and Bud Powell as ...
read more

Documentary: Horace Parlan

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 23, 2020

The response to my Horace Parlan post earlier this week was enormous. Parlan really was special and should be thought of as one of the Top-10 post-war piano greats. So why not another post on Parlan. Though I posted the following documentary some years back, I thought I'd post it again for the thousands of readers who are newly minted Parlan fans. A special thanks to Ken Deifik for reminding me about it. Here's Don McGlynn's Horace Parlan By Horace ...
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Horace Parlan: Movin' + Groovin'

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 21, 2020

By now, it's no secret that Bill Evans is my favorite pianist. In second place would have to be Horace Parlan. Born in Pittsburgh, Parlan at a young age contracted polio, which left his right hand partly disabled and disfigured. Two of the fingers in his right hand were out of commission. As a result, his left hand did double duty delivering heavy harmony and bass treatment while the pinky, pointer and thumb of his right hand handled melody improvisation. ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Parlan

Source: Michael Ricci
January 19, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Parlan's birthday today!

Horace Parlan has overcome physical disability and thrived as a pianist despite it. His right hand was partially crippled by polio in his childhood, but Parlan's made frenetic, highly rhythmic right hand phrases part of his characteristic style, contrasting them with striking left-hand chords. He's also infused blues and R&B influences into his style, playing in a stark, sometimes somber fashion. Parlan has always cited Ahmad Jamal and Bud Powell as ...
read more

Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Parlan

Source: Michael Ricci
January 19, 2019

All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Parlan's birthday today!

Horace Parlan has overcome physical disability and thrived as a pianist despite it. His right hand was partially crippled by polio in his childhood, but Parlan\'s made frenetic, highly rhythmic right hand phrases part of his characteristic style, contrasting them with striking left-hand chords. He\'s also infused blues and R&B influences into his style, playing in a stark, sometimes somber fashion... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Horace Parlan

Source: Michael Ricci
January 19, 2018

All About Jazz is celebrating Horace Parlan's birthday today!

Horace Parlan has overcome physical disability and thrived as a pianist despite it. His right hand was partially crippled by polio in his childhood, but Parlan\'s made frenetic, highly rhythmic right hand phrases part of his characteristic style, contrasting them with striking left-hand chords. He\'s also infused blues and R&B influences into his style, playing in a stark, sometimes somber fashion... Read more.

Place our Musician of the Day widget on ...
read more