Due to its proximity to New York City, the jazz capital of the world, New Jersey has had an interesting history with the genre. The piano as an instrument is particularly important to New Jersey’s relationship with jazz music history because there have been many important jazz pianists who came from this state.
In the early 20th century, the Jersey Shore was a hot spot for young people to gather and listen to new music. Because of this, jazz pianist William Basie, later known by his nickname “Count”, quickly went from playing local venues around his hometown of Red Bank to playing jazz music clubs around Asbury Park. He soon decided to bring his Jersey-style piano rhythms to Harlem, which was the place to be in the mid-20s. Basie eventually established himself as one of the most important big band leaders of the 20th century and helped popularize swing for many years. generations.
Throughout the 1950s, jazz music was patronized by Pannonica of Koenigswater, a wealthy scion of the Rothschild banking family and a resident of Weehawken, New Jersey. She was friends with many of the most important artists in the evolution of bebop, the prevailing jazz tradition to this day. Charlie Parker, the inventor of bebop, died in a hotel room she frequented in the mid-1950s. In addition, Thelonious Monk, the jazz pianist widely known as the “high priest of bop,” would spend his last years her life living quietly with her friend Pannonica in their New Jersey home. Monk’s appreciation for both Pannonica and New Jersey is reflected in some of his song titles, such as “Pannonica,” “Hackensack,” and “Ba-lue Bolivar Ba-lues-are” (the latter being a tribute to another hotel that Pannonica frequented). ). These were all piano jazz pieces written in a bebop style.
In addition to the Pannonica-sponsored musicians, there were other bebop jazz pianists who were born in New Jersey. The first to stand out was Al Haig, famous for helping Charlie Parker create the genre by playing alongside him in his quartet in the mid-1940s. Haig was born in Newark, which at the time was another major center of innovation in music. Jazz music. Finally, renowned jazz pianist Bill Evans, famous for helping Miles Davis create his landmark Kind of Blue album, was born in Plainfield, New Jersey. Evans began playing locally in his brother’s band before moving on to music school and eventually playing in New York City.
There are many other jazz pianists who were born, lived, or played major concerts in this state. While he is often overshadowed by New York City, his connection to such important musicians as Duke Ellington, Al Di Meola, and Pat Metheny, in addition to the many jazz music pianists already mentioned, show just how important the contributions of this been to the history of jazz.