Tommy Flanagan was as lucid, refined and swinging a pianist as any in the history of jazz. Influenced initially by the light touch and fluent execution of Teddy Wilson and the relentless virtuosity of Art Tatum, he added the harmonic and rhythmic punch of bebop musicians like Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk to his armoury, and emerged as one of the most elegant and fully rounded interpreters in jazz. He spent a large part of his career working as an accompanist to Ella Fitzgerald, a distinction in itself, but one which perhaps served to obscure his own qualities. As he said himself, no one watched the pianist when Ella commanded the stage, but he went on to establish himself as a leader in his own right after leaving the singer in 1978.
He was born Tommy Lee Flanagan in Detroit, a city which became a jazz hot spot in his formative years. He was the youngest of six children, and was encouraged to learn music by his jazz-loving parents, initially playing clarinet, then switching to piano, a conversion which was completed when he heard Art Tatum in concert in 1945.
He shared the busy Detroit scene with musicians like saxophonist Lucky Thompson, vibes player Milt Jackson, pianist Barry Harris, guitarist Kenny Burrell, singer Betty Carter, trumpeter Thad Jones, and drummer Elvin Jones (the third Jones brother, pianist Hank Jones, later cut piano duet albums with Flanagan, and they shared a common musical approach).
He accompanied many visiting musicians to the city, notably at the Blue Bird Inn, and absorbed the bebop innovations of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, both at first hand and on record.
His style remained an amalgam of the swing and bebop eras, and he was equally comfortable recording or performing with a swing era titan like Coleman Hawkins or more modernist players like Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins (with whom he recorded the classic Saxophone Colossus album in 1956) or John Coltrane (he is heard on the epochal Giant Steps in 1959).
He served in the armed forces in Korea, then moved to New York in 1956, where his first job was standing in for an absent Bud Powell at Birdland. It brought an immediate invitation to record with Miles Davis, his first recording session. He played with Ella Fitzgerald that year for the first time, but worked more regularly with the singer in 1963-65, then in an extended spell from 1968-78 (he was accompanist to Tony Bennett in 1966).
He was an exemplary accompanist, complementing and supporting the singer at every turn, but eventually grew tired of the continuous touring, and decided to set up his own trio. He left the singer’s trio in 1978, following a mild heart attack, and largely concentrated on his own piano trio, recording a succession of acclaimed albums, and confirming his status as a major creative artist in his own right. He was awarded the prestigious Jazzpar Prize in 1993.
He was never a flashy pianist, but preferred a more measured and always very sophisticated approach to his material, which consisted mainly of jazz standards. That restraint was also evident in the subtle way in which his trios interacted, both onstage and on record.
Despite suffering from a heart condition, Flanagan continued to perform until shortly before his death from an arterial aneurysm. In an echo of his arrival in New York in 1956, one of his last performances was in a tribute to Bud Powell at Birdland in New York in September. He also played in a John Coltrane 75th Anniversary concert at the San Francisco Jazz Festival in October.
He is survived by his wife, Diane; a son, Tommy, Jr.; two daughters, Rachel and Jennifer; and six grandchildren.
Kenny Mathieson is a freelance writer based in Scotland. His book Giant Steps: Bebop and The Creators of Modern Jazz (1999) is published by Payback Press. E-mail: [email protected]
For more information contact All About Jazz.
