- Phineas Newborn, Jr.
Phineas Newborn, Jr. (born
December 14 ,1931 inWhiteville, Tennessee -diedMay 26 ,1989 inMemphis, Tennessee ) was an American jazz pianist, whose principal influences wereArt Tatum ,Oscar Peterson andBud Powell . Newborn came from a musical family with his father being ablues musician and his brother (Edwin)Calvin Newborn (bornApril 27 ,1933 ) being a jazz guitarist. Phineas studied piano as well as trumpet, and tenor and baritone saxophone.Before moving on to work with
Lionel Hampton ,Charles Mingus , and others, Newborn first played in an R&B band led by his father (Phineas Newborn, Sr.) on drums,Tuff Green on bass and his brother Calvin on guitar, a line-up which accompaniedB. B. King on his first recordings in 1949. Among his earliest recordings, from the early 1950s, are forSun Records with blues harmonica playerBig Walter Horton .From 1956 he began to perform in
New York City , making his first album as a leader in that year. He created enough interest internationally to work as a single inStockholm in 1958 and inRome the following year.Subsequently moving to
Los Angeles around 1960, he recorded a sequence of piano trio albums for the Contemporary label. However, some critics found his playing style rather facile, and Newborn developed emotional problems as a result, necessitating his admission to the Camarillo State Mental Hospital for some periods. He also suffered a hand injury which hindered his playing.Newborn’s later career was intermittent due to ongoing health problems. This is most true of the period from the mid-1960s to mid-1970s when he faded from view. He would make a partial comeback in the late 1970s and early 1980s, [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E4DE143BF934A15756C0A962948260 New York Times article] ] , although this return apparently failed to benefit his financial situation. He died in 1989 after the discovery of a growth on his lungs and was buried in Memphis National Cemetery in a pauper's grave. According to Jazz historian Nat Hentoff, Newborn's plight spurred the 1989 founding of the Jazz Foundation of America, a group dedicated to helping with the medical bills and other financial needs of retired jazz greats.
Despite his setbacks many of his records, such as
The Great Jazz Piano of Phineas Newborn, Jr , remain highly regarded.Leonard Feather once said of him "In his prime, he was one of the three greatest jazz pianists of all time." [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DE4DF1E3EF93BA15756C0A96F948260 New York Times Obituary] ]References
External links
*amg|id=11:rza9qjmyoj0a|label=Phineas Newborn, Jr.
* [http://www.jazzdisco.org/newborn/dis/c/ Discography from jazzdisco.org]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzX2S3rfJ_Q Phineas Newborn Jr. performing "Oleo" (from You Tube)]
* [http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0820,keeping-jazz-makers-alive,440915,4.html Nat Hentoff on the plight of impoverished jazz musicians]
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