Johnny O'Neal

Johnny O'Neal is an American jazz pianist and vocalist, a revered storyteller of the bebop and swing tradition. Born in 1956 in Detroit and largely self-taught, he came up in the city's rich piano lineage and moved to New York in 1981, joining Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers from 1982 to 1983. He has accompanied and shared stages with a long roster of greats, from Dizzy Gillespie and Ray Brown to Wynton Marsalis, and provided the piano for the role of Art Tatum in the film Ray. He leads his own trio and quartet, holding residencies at New York clubs such as Smalls and Smoke.