Herbie Nichols

American jazz pianist and composer

Born January 3, 1919 in New York

Died April 12, 1963, San Juan Hill, Manhattan, New York.

Nichols made his living performing in traditional jazz groups, but in the 1950s managed to record in trio format some of his own highly original compositions, which combine bop and Caribbean music with harmonies derived from [a=Erik Satie] and [a=Béla Bartók], but the albums gained only limited interest at the time. His pieces have been recorded by [a=Roswell Rudd] and [a=The Herbie Nichols Project], including many which he was unable to record himself.