Biography
Mickey Tucker's piano work has appeared on hard bop sessions since the 1960s alongside Junior Cook, James Moody, Frank Foster, Louis Hayes, and additional players. Although piano remains his primary instrument, he has also performed on organ, most notably in the company of Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He first took up the piano around age six, and youthful church performances helped form his musical outlook. In the mid-1960s he accompanied non-jazz acts such as Little Anthony & the Imperials, R&B vocalist Damita Jo, and comedian Timmy Rogers. His jazz profile rose from the late 1960s onward. Between 1969 and 1975 he recorded or toured with saxophonists Moody, Kirk, and Eric Kloss, the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra, drummer Roy Brooks, vocalist Eddie Jefferson, and the group Final Edition. Several early-1970s dates with guitarist George Benson also featured Tucker before the guitarist turned away from straight-ahead jazz. In 1976 he rejoined Kloss and Jefferson while serving as musical director during a European tour with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers. Late in the decade he recorded with Cook, Philly Joe Jones, Billy Harper, and others. The 1980s brought further sessions with flügelhornist Art Farmer and Benny Golson's Jazztet, alto saxophonists Richie Cole and Phil Woods, drummer Louis Hayes, and additional musicians. The 1990s found him working again with Cook, the Jazztet, saxophonist Bob Ackerman, and others. Fellow jazz players regard Tucker as a musician's musician, widely respected even though he remains little known outside the field. Most of his recordings have been made as a sideman, yet he has occasionally led dates, beginning with the 1975 Xanadu album Triplicity.
Albums
