Herbie Nichols Piano Summit

On Sunday afternoon, December 16, 2018, we had the first Herbie Nichols Centennial event, in preparation for Herbie's 2019 Centennial year. This first event, our Herbie Nichols Piano Summit, was at the jazzleadsheets.com rehearsal studio in NYC. This first event laid the groundwork for our Herbie Nichols Centennial Project.

Eleven piano artists were able to attend. Amazingly, the group included at least one artist from every generation, from their 80s to their 20s.

Each artist at our first event got to pick an unrecorded Herbie Nichols composition that they agreed to record sometime during his centennial year at the Van Gelder Studio, on the same Steinway B that Herbie used for his 1955 and 1956 Blue Note recording sessions. Frank Kimbrough played the melodies of all 24 songs in alphabetical order, allowing the other ten pianists to each pick a song to record and giving them a chance to hear one way to interpret them. The Historical Notes tab for each song includes an audio clip of Frank's version from the Piano Summit.

standing L to R: Michael Cochrane, Harris Simon, Bertha Hope, Frank Kimbrough, Helen Sung, Jon Davis, David Berkman, Glenn Zaleski, Isaiah Thompson, Jonny King

seated: Herbie Nichols family members Kurt Boone (cousin, by marriage) and Lawrence Sealey (grand nephew and protector of the Herbie Nichols manuscripts)

Anthony Wonsey, who attended the Piano Summit but had to leave before the event was over, is missing from the photo.