Herbie Nichols

• Name — Herbie Nichols • Birth Name — Herbert Horatio Nichols • Born — 3 January 1919 • Birthplace — San Juan Hill, Manhattan, New York, U.S. • Died — 12 April 1963 • Place of death — New York, U.S. • Genre — Jazz • Occupation — Musician, composer • Instrument — Piano • Label — Blue Note, Bethlehem

Herbie Nichols was born in San Juan Hill, Manhattan, New York, United States, to parents from St. Kitts and Trinidad, and grew up in Harlem. During much of his career, he took work as a Dixieland musician while also pursuing the more adventurous kind of jazz he preferred. He is best known today for music that combines bop, Dixieland, and music from the Caribbean with harmonies from Erik Satie, Béla Bartók and other modernist composers. 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, as the competitive environment did not 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. From about 1947, he persisted in trying to persuade Alfred Lion at Blue Note Records to sign him up. 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 identified with Billie Holiday. In 1957, he recorded his last album as leader for Bethlehem Records. Nichols died of leukemia in New York City at the age of 44. He was interred at Long Island National Cemetery. 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. A biography, Herbie Nichols: A Jazzist's Life, written by Mark Miller, was published in 2009.

• Recording date — Title — Label — Year released — Notes • 1955–05–06 — The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 1 — Blue Note — 1955 — Trio, with Al McKibbon (bass), Art Blakey (drums) • 1955–05–13 — The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 2 • 1955–08–01, 1955–08–07, 1956–04–19 — Herbie Nichols Trio — Blue Note — 1956 — Trio, with Al McKibbon and Teddy Kotick (bass; separately), Max Roach (drums) • 1957–11 — Love, Gloom, Cash, Love — Bethlehem — 1958 — Most tracks trio, with George Duvivier (bass), Dannie Richmond (drums); one track solo piano Omnibus • Hampton Hawes, John Mehegan, Herbie Nichols, Paul Smith I Just Love Jazz Piano! (Savoy, 1957)[LP] – recorded in 1952 Compilation • The Complete Blue Note Recordings of Herbie Nichols (Mosaic, 1987)[5LP/3CD] – reissued as The Complete Blue Note Recordings (Blue Note, 1997)[3CD]

• 1953: Rex Stewart and his Dixielanders, Dixieland Free-For-All (Jazztone, 1956) • 1958: Vic Dickenson & Joe Thomas, Mainstream (Atlantic, 1959)

Herbie Nichols is recorded as composer, jazz musician and pianist. Recorded at birth as Herbert Horatio Nichols.