Collection: Horace Parlan

Born Horace Louis Parlan on 19 January 1931 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At age five he contracted polio, resulting in partial paralysis of his right hand and leg. He began piano lessons at age eight as a form of physical therapy. He studied with James Miller, who also taught Ahmad Jamal. Miller encouraged Parlan to develop his left hand. Through church organist studies he discovered jazz. He adapted his playing style to his disability, developing particularly pungent left-hand chord voicing style for melodies and harmonic foundations, while comping with highly rhythmic, angular phrases with the right hand using his pinky, pointer, and thumb. His style was infused with blues, gospel, and R&B influences.

In 1957 he moved to New York and was quickly hired by Charles Mingus, joining the Mingus Jazz Workshop from 1957 to 1959. He appeared on Mingus's landmark albums Blues & Roots and Mingus Ah Um, both from 1959. On Mingus Ah Um his driving piano helped propel "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat", "Fables of Faubus", "Boogie Stop Shuffle", and "Better Git It in Your Soul". A stint with Lou Donaldson's band followed. In 1960, while still working with Donaldson, he recorded Movin' and Groovin', the first of seven albums as leader for Blue Note between 1960 and 1963. The follow-up, Speakin' My Piece, reunited Parlan with fellow Pittsburghers Stanley and Tommy Turrentine. By the mid-1960s he freelanced with Dexter Gordon, Clark Terry, Coleman Hawkins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Booker Ervin. In 1973 he moved to Copenhagen, Denmark. He recorded extensively for the Copenhagen-based SteepleChase label. He recorded two highly regarded gospel-imbued duet albums with Archie Shepp, Goin' Home (1977) and Trouble in Mind (1980). In later years he developed diabetes and lost his eyesight. His final recording, My Little Brown Book, appeared in 2007. He died on 23 February 2017 at a nursing home in Naestved, Denmark, aged 86.