South Side Jazz pianist tours with stellar percussionist Elvin Jones' Jazz Machine. He began his career on a national hit record -- Eddie Harris' 1961Exodus, and has played with James Moody, Roy Eldridge, Max Roach... In between, he has accompanied hundreds of visiting soloists, led innumerable groups, and made many appearances at the Chicago Jazz Festival (including one in 1997), as well as teaching music in the Chicago public schools... His performance is straight-ahead, and utterly stable -- with dense chords, percussive attack, and flying solos -- echoing the artistry of McCoy Tyner. Lately, he's matured as both a soloist and bandleader, letting the space between the notes speak. While he's not as showy as many of the younger folks, he always puts on a nice show.
He plays an annual Yuletide concert, and in 1998 released a new album, the surprisingly original A Jazz Christmas (Southport Records) with Nicholas Payton, Larry Gray, and Robert Shy.
Says the Chicago Tribune's Howard Reich, "With his large & complex chords, his great splashes of color and dissonance in the right hand and his barrelhouse octaves in the left, Pickens never let the dramatic intensity flag." The Chicago Reader's jazz critic Neil Tesser comments, "Pickens' most exuberant solos all but take flight from the keyboard's runway."
For more information, visit their website: http://williepickens.org
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