Joe Albany

Joseph Albani, known as Joe Albany (January 24, 1924 – January 12, 1988) was an esteemed American modern jazz pianist. He was among the few white pianists to have played bebop with Charlie Parker.

Life and career
Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, he studied piano as a child and, by 1943, 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 played on an album with Warne Marsh in 1957. 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 this period. He returned to jazz in the 1970s and played on more than ten 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.

Discography

 * The Right Combination (Riverside, 1957) with Warne Marsh
 * Joe Albany at Home (Revelation, 1972)
 * Proto Bopper (Spotlite, 1972)
 * At Home (Spotlite, 1973)
 * Birdtown Birds – Live at Jazzhus Montmartre 1973 (Steeplechase)
 * Two’s A Company (Steeplechase, 1974) with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
 * This Is For My Friends (Musica Records, 1976)
 * Plays George Gershwin & Bruce Lane (Musica Records, 1976)
 * The Albany Touch (Seabreeze, 1977)
 * Live In Paris (Fresh Sound Records, 1977) with Alby Cullaz, Aldo Romano
 * Bird Lives (Storyville, 1979) with Art Davis, Roy Haynes
 * Portrait of an Artist (Elektra, 1982) with George Duvivier (b), Charlie Persip (d), Al Gafa(g)