Dick Hyman

Among the most adaptable keyboardists of his era, Dick Hyman explored an unusually wide spectrum of idioms, encompassing classic jazz, stride piano, pre-bop swing, and additional forms; he even issued multiple recordings devoted entirely to electronic keyboards. One such project, Themes and Variations on "A Child Is Born," presented that single composition interpreted across eleven distinct stylistic approaches. He launched his professional life performing as a sideman alongside leading swing ensembles, then circled back to those same traditions—and to stride piano—in later decades, documenting both extensively on disc. As a composer he gained particular recognition for supplying soundtracks to numerous films directed by and starring Woody Allen. Hyman sustained a full schedule well into advanced age, releasing the album Counterpoint in 2019 alongside clarinetist Ken Peplowski.

Born March 8, 1927, in New York, Hyman received his earliest instruction in the classical repertory from his uncle, pianist Anton Rovinsky. An older brother’s jazz collection simultaneously drew him toward improvisation. During World War II he entered the U.S. Army, yet his musical ability soon prompted a transfer to the Navy’s band division, an experience he later credited with supplying disciplined training from more accomplished colleagues. After the war he enrolled at Columbia University and won a contest whose prize consisted of a dozen lessons with pianist Teddy Wilson. Committed to a jazz career, Hyman began recording solo and trio material around 1950, producing several solo albums and the 1955 trio LP The Unforgettable Sound of the Dick Hyman Trio.

He performed with xylophonist/vibraphonist Red Norvo from 1949 to 1950 and with clarinetist Benny Goodman in 1950, then spent most of the ensuing two decades working as a studio musician. During those years he appeared in the sole surviving sound film of Charlie Parker, Hot House from 1952; cut honky-tonk sides under assumed names; played organ and early synthesizers in addition to piano; served as music director for Arthur Godfrey from 1959 to 1962; joined writer Leonard Feather for a series of “History of Jazz” concerts while doubling on clarinet; and performed across rock, pop, rhythm-and-blues, free jazz, and country music, the last with vocalist Marvin Rainwater. His session credits encompass albums by Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Ivory Joe Hunter, and numerous others. On the Command label he issued several Lowrey-organ recordings, among them Electrodynamics, Fabulous, Keyboard Kaleidoscope, and The Man from O.R.G.A.N. Additional projects featured the Moog synthesizer, notably Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman and The Age of Electronicus; these electronic albums achieved modest pop success.

Throughout the latter portion of his career Hyman emerged as a central figure in the revival of classic jazz idioms. In the 1970s he worked with the New York Jazz Repertory Company, established the Perfect Jazz Repertory Quintet in 1976, and began composing scores for Woody Allen films that frequently integrated classic jazz elements with orchestral textures. His film work encompasses eleven Allen projects as well as several for other directors, including Moonstruck from 1987. He has also produced several dozen classical compositions, ranging from solo piano pieces and chamber works to two piano concertos—one of them, “Concerto Electro,” written for electric piano—and vocal and choral pieces. Over recent decades Hyman has recorded frequently, sometimes in duets with Ruby Braff, for Concord, Music Masters, Reference, and additional labels, maintaining a leading position within the classic-jazz domain. He remained active into his nineties. In 2013 he collaborated with vocalist Heather Masse on the Red House collection Lock My Heart, a program of standards. In 2019 he and Peplowski released Counterpoint, an album devoted to Lerner & Loewe material, on the Arbors Records label, which also issued the anthology A Century of Jazz Piano.