Biography
Born John Donald Abney in Baltimore, pianist Don Abney left his mark across jazz history through his keyboard work supporting artists such as Louis Armstrong and Benny Carter as well as the singers Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Eartha Kitt, and Pearl Bailey. He also appeared on dozens of sessions involving lesser-known or developing performers in jazz, rhythm & blues, pop, and doo wop. His Hollywood credits include piano duties in the film Peter Kelly's Blues behind Ella Fitzgerald. Tommy Flanagan took over her band chair after Abney, a detail that illustrates the caliber required for the role. In the final decade of his career he chose to live in Japan, a country where earlier tours had already built a strong following. Three nights each week for several years he played the grand piano at Tokyo’s Sanno Hotel; afterward he worked freelance across the city in saloons and supper clubs and on concerts or tours with visiting jazz musicians. Vocalist Anita O’Day undertook a memorable tour with him in the early ’80s, one performance preserved on a commercially released video that signaled a complete change in her style. For many serious listeners his most distinguished achievement remains the restrained accompaniment he supplied to bassist Oscar Pettiford on the solo album Another One; the title track is sometimes viewed as a nod to the very collectors who would acquire such recordings. Musicians can still rehearse with Abney’s support at home through vintage Music Minus One albums on which he anchors rhythm sections that also feature Pettiford and guitarist Jimmy Raney. He studied at the Manhattan School of Music and doubled on French horn in an Army band. After his discharge he worked with clarinetist Wilbur de Paris, the trombone team of Bill Harris and Kai Winding, guitarist Chuck Wayne, arranger Sy Oliver, and drummer Louis Bellson. He also toured with Jazz at the Philharmonic and ranked among its most flexible accompanists, able to intensify or restrain his playing according to the situation. On the West Coast he served for a time as musical director for Universal Studios/MCA. His death came shortly after he returned to the United States in early 2000. Already on kidney dialysis, he was taken to the hospital after reporting flu symptoms, suffered a heart attack there, lost consciousness, received a pacemaker and angioplasty, yet neither procedure sustained his life.
Albums
