Johnny O'Neal

After forty-plus years as a professional pianist, vocalist, and entertainer, JohnnyO’Nealhas earned the title of “master” with fellow musicians and audiences around the world.

Highlights of his awe-inspiring career include stints with a brown, Milt Jackson and Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, as well as a CarnegieHall debut in 1985 on solo piano opening for Oscar Peterson and induction into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame in 1998. There is little wonder he was tapped to play virtuoso pianist Art Tatum in the Academy Award-winning Ray Charles biopic Ray.

While playing with Blakey, he accompanied some of the great jazz divas, including Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae. Johnny has also been tapped for appearances by Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Pass, Nancy Wilson, Anita O’Day, Lionel Hampton, Kenny Burrell, Sonny Stitt, Benny Golson, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, and Clark Terry, among others. Performances on the festival circuits in Canada, Europe, Australia, Japan, Israel, and South Africa have gained him an international following.

The Detroit native considers himself a piano player first but was encouraged to sing in his sets more by Joe Williams. Johnny recalls Williams advising him, “If you’ve got it, flaunt it!” Astonishingly, he is largely self-taught. His playing evokes the influences imbued in him by his idols Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum, and he has reshaped these elements into his own very swinging and melodic approach. In live performances, he is apt to catch his audience off-guard with his blues shouting or soulfully rendered yet unpretentious vocalizations.

Johnny explains, “I’m a tune guy. I know 1,500 songs. My father was a pianist and singer who emphasized that learning lyrics creates dynamics and a better interpretation of melody. I rehearse so that the bassist, drummer and I can getfamiliar with each other’s styles—not to set the songs we’ll play.” Hence, no two sets are ever alike. As the aptly named title of Johnny’s Fall 2017 release on Smoke Sessions Records suggests, he is trulyin the moment. Johnny O’Neal In the Moment, featuring special guests the late great Roy Hargrove and Saxophonist Grant Stewart, alongside drummer Itay Morchi and bassist Ben Rubens