Horace Parlan (January 19, 1931 – February 23, 2017) was an American pianist and composer known for working in the hard bop and post-bop styles of jazz. In addition to his work as a bandleader Parlan was known for his contributions to the Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots.
He was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States and was adopted by a minister and his family and was exposed to church music throughout his youth. Parlan was stricken with polio, resulting in the partial crippling of his right hand.
His first piano teacher was not sympathetic, but after seeing classical pianist Vladimir Horowitz in concert in Pittsburgh, Parlan was drawn back to music. He was about 12 when he began to study with James Miller, who also taught another budding Pittsburgh jazz pianist, Ahmad Jamal. Miller encouraged Parlan to develop his left hand, which led to his idiosyncratic style, with his right hand often pointed at a sharp angle toward the keyboard.
Parlan studied at the University of Pittsburgh, with an eye toward becoming a lawyer, before deciding to pursue a career in music. Between 1952 and 1957, he worked in Washington, D.C., with Sonny Stitt. From 1957 to 1959, Parlan was part of a band led by Mingus, the mercurial bassist and composer then at the height of his creativity. He appeared on two of Mingus’s landmark albums, “Blues and Roots” and “Mingus Ah Um,” both from 1959. On the latter recording, Parlan’s driving piano helped some of Mingus’s best-known tunes, including “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat,” “Fables of Faubus,” “Boogie Stop Shuffle” and “Better Git It in Your Soul.”
Between 1960 and 1963 he recorded seven albums for the Blue Note label, including “Up & Down” and “Speakin’ My Piece,” with such bandmates as guitarist Grant Green and saxophonists Stanley Turrentine and Booker Ervin. Also during the early 1960s, Parlan was in demand as a top sideman .He played with Booker Ervin in 1960 and 1961, then in the Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis-Johnny Griffin quintet in 1962. From 1963 to 1966 Parlan played with Rahsaan Roland Kirk. "The work situation in New York in the late ‘60s, for me at least, was not optimal," said the soft-spoken Parlan in an interview. "I was doing a lot of commercial jobs playing in East Side clubs. I wasn't all that happy."
As musical tastes changed, he found it harder to make a living in jazz and moved in 1972 to Copenhagen, Denmark, where Gordon, Ben Webster and other expatriate jazz stars then lived. Parlan worked primarily in Europe for the rest of his career. He later settled in the small village of Rude in southern Zealand. In 1974, he completed a State Department tour of Africa with Hal Singer. In 1977, he made a well-received recording of spirituals with saxophonist Archie Shepp, “Goin’ Home,” and the two made several appearances over the next few years at jazz clubs and colleges in the United States. The duo later recorded two more albums.
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While living in Denmark, Parlan frequently recorded for the Copenhagen-based SteepleChase label and became a more prolific composer. He became a Danish citizen in 1995. Filmmaker Don McGlynn made a documentary about Parlan in 2000. That year he also received the 2000 Ben Webster Prize awarded by the Ben Webster Foundation. Describing the obstacles he overcame to become a pianist, Parlan told Jazz Times magazine in 2001: “I was not equipped to speak musically in the manner of [Art] Tatum or [Oscar] Peterson or any of the pianists I admire. I had to find a groove of my own.”
His final recording, “My Little Brown Book,” appeared in 2007. He lived for years in the countryside with his wife, Norma Parlan. He died February 23, 2017, at a nursing home in Naestved, Denmark, at the age of 86. He had been suffering from multiple ailments, including diabetes and failing eyesight.
(Edited from Billboard Obit, Wikipedia, AllMusic and All About Jazz)
