Tommy Flanagan

Tommy Flanagan was one of the greatest pianists of bebop’s second wave. Whether working solo, as a bandleader, or as an accompanist, he could combine the harmonic surprises of Thelonious Monk and the melodic grace of Teddy Wilson with something entirely his own. Born in Detroit in 1930, he learned to play on the family piano and was gigging before he was out of high school. In 1956, he relocated to New York City, where he soon started playing with Thad Jones, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, and his old Detroit cohort Kenny Burrell. Flanagan was the pianist on Rollins’ 1956 classic Saxophone Colossus, and the following year he released Overseas, his first of many albums as a leader. Flanagan worked relentlessly through the rest of the ’50s, recording with Milt Jackson, J.J. Johnson, Herbie Mann, and John Coltrane, to name just a few, helping to push bop forward by playing on the latter’s 1960 milestone Giant Steps. He spent a big chunk of the ’60s and ’70s as Ella Fitzgerald’s accompanist, even while working with Dexter Gordon, Dizzy Gillespie, and others. Through it all, Flanagan maintained his solo career, and he remained in demand through the late ’90s, slowing down after his health began failing. He passed in 2001 at the age of 71, having long since entered into the annals of jazz legend.