Joe Albany
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Joseph Albani (Known as "Joe Albany") (January 24, 1924 – January 12, 1988) was a jazz pianist. It is remarked on his being among the few white pianists to have played Bebop with Charlie Parker.
Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, he had studied piano as a child and by 1943 he was working on the West Coast in Benny Carter's orchestra. In 1946 he was playing with Parker and also Miles Davis. He continued for a few years afterward and was on an album by Warne Marsh album in 1958. Despite that most of the 1950s and 1960s saw him battling a heroin addiction or living in seclusion in Europe. He also had several unsuccessful marriages in the period. He returned to jazz in the 1970s and produced a few albums. He died in New York City
He was the focus of a documentary in 1980 titled Joe Albany ... A Jazz Life and his daughter Amy Jo "AJ" wrote the memoir Low Down: Junk, Jazz, and Other Fairy Tales From Childhood concerning him. The book received favorable reviews.
[edit] Discography
- The Right Combination (OJC, 1955) with Warne Marsh
- Birdtown Birds – Live at Jazzhus Montmartre 1973 (Steeplechase)
- Two’s A Company (Steeplechase, 1974) with Niels-Hennig Oersted Pedersen
- This Is For My Friends (Musica Records, 1976)
- Plays George Gershwin & Bruce Lane (Musica Records, 1976)
- Live In Paris (Fresh Sound Records, 1977) with Alby Cullaz, Aldo Romano
- Bird Lives (Storyville, 1979) with Art Davis, Roy Haynes
