Biography
An underground fixture on the Chicago scene, pianist and talent scout Don Bennett has long gone without the wider acclaim his abilities merit. He began taking piano lessons at age four and had joined the local jazz community by the late 1950s, drawing nightly inspiration from Ahmad Jamal. During the 1960s Bennett relocated to Los Angeles, where he studied under Phineas Newborn and appeared alongside Harold Land, Carmell Jones, Curtis Amy and other musicians active in the area. He recorded an album with Amy toward the end of that decade and later led a trio session upon his return to Chicago, yet neither project has seen release. In 1978 he stepped away from music entirely, spending the next decade in assorted day jobs that included work as a private investigator. Bennett resumed performing in 1988 with his command of the instrument fully intact. After a period in New York he settled in Holland in 1993. The Southport label issued a Chicago date he recorded in 1990 that Candid subsequently re-released; alongside established players such as trumpeter Arthur Hoyle and tenor saxophonist Ed Peterson, the bop-centered set introduced the then-unknown Art Porter on alto and soprano saxophones and contained five originals by the leader.