John Hicks

Pianist John Hicks maintained a longstanding presence in New York City’s jazz community, displaying rare flexibility as he moved without friction between popular standards and experimental forms while preserving the dense tactile force and fierce drive that marked his style. Born December 12, 1941, in Atlanta, Hicks was still an infant when his father, a preacher, moved the family to Los Angeles. He spent most of his teenage years in St. Louis, where one of his classmates was the young Lester Bowie. His mother gave him his first piano lessons; after attending Lincoln University in Missouri he studied at the Berklee School of Music and the Juilliard School. He later named influences that stretched from Fats Waller to Thelonious Monk and Methodist church hymns, noting that his wide-ranging listening habits helped forge his broad command of the instrument.

After touring with bluesman Albert King and hard bop tenor saxophonist Johnny Griffin, Hicks accompanied singer Della Reese during a 1963 residency at a New York club, and the city remained his home for the rest of his life. Following engagements with Kenny Dorham and Joe Henderson, he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1964, working alongside trumpeters Lee Morgan and Freddie Hubbard. Two years later he entered the band of singer Betty Carter, another sharp evaluator of new talent. After leaving Carter’s group in 1968, Hicks spent the balance of the decade with Woody Herman and entered the 1970s as a sought-after sideman. He also taught jazz and improvisation at Southern Illinois University during the early part of that decade.

Following his work on Carter’s 1976 album Now It’s My Turn, Hicks rejoined her ensemble on a full-time basis. The renewed visibility brought fresh attention, leading in 1979 to his first studio album under his own name, After the Morning. On 1981’s Some Other Time, recorded with bassist Walter Booker and drummer Idris Muhammad, Hicks also showed his skill as a composer, writing his best-known piece, “Naima’s Love Song,” for his young daughter. He continued to record frequently, concentrating on solo and small-group settings that included membership in the Power Trio and the Keystone Trio. He served as regular pianist for the Mingus Dynasty Band and led his own big band for a time.

His strongest commercial success arrived through a series of tribute albums honoring his mentors and influences, among them 1998’s Something to Live For, devoted to Billy Strayhorn compositions, 2000’s Impressions of Mary Lou, which paid tribute to Mary Lou Williams, and 2003’s Fatha’s Day, saluting Earl Hines. Hicks’ longest and most satisfying collaboration was his work with flutist Elise Wood, begun in 1983. After several recordings and tours the partnership ended in marriage in 2001, around the release of their duo album Beautiful Friendship. Hicks died suddenly on May 10, 2006. Three days earlier he had given his final performance at Harlem’s St. Mark’s United Methodist Church, where his father had served as a minister before his own death. Hicks was 64.