Music
Hugh Lawson
1935–1997
· jazz pianist
Detroit pianist who was Yusef Lateef's keyboard partner for more than a decade from 1957 and later toured with Charles Mingus.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
White Plains, New York
aged 61- Detroit years
- 1935–late 1950s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Hugh Lawson grew up in Detroit in the generation that followed Tommy Flanagan and Barry Harris, and he shaped his style on Bud Powell, Hampton Hawes and Bill Evans. He first came to wide notice in 1957 in the Detroit band of multi-reed player Yusef Lateef, then one of the most adventurous groups in the city, and played on Lateef's run of Savoy and Prestige albums that year, from Jazz for the Thinker to Prayer to the East. He stayed with Lateef for more than ten years, following him to Riverside, Impulse! and Atlantic, including Yusef Lateef's Detroit (1969). He also recorded with Harry "Sweets" Edison, Jimmy Forrest and fellow Detroiters Doug Watkins and Roy Brooks. In 1972 he was one of the seven pianists in The Piano Choir on Strata-East, and he toured with Charles Mingus in 1975 and 1977. Later he recorded with Charlie Rouse and George Adams and co-founded Bebop Quintessence with Lonnie Hillyer. He died of colon cancer in 1997.
Highlights
- Yusef Lateef's pianist for more than ten years from 1957
- On Lateef albums from Jazz for the Thinker (1957) to Yusef Lateef's Detroit (1969)
- Member of The Piano Choir (Strata-East, 1972)
- Toured with Charles Mingus in 1975 and 1977