Pianist Johnny O’Neal seemed destined for success when he moved from his native Detroit to New York in 1981 and scored a regular gig at the Blue Note, where he played behind heavies including Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, and Nancy Wilson, among others. A year later he was working in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers—a virtual finishing academy for some of hard bop’s most respected figures, and in 1985 he opened for fellow pianist Oscar Peterson at Carnegie Hall.…
Pianist Johnny O’Neal seemed destined for success when he moved from his native Detroit to New York in 1981 and scored a regular gig at the Blue Note, where he played behind heavies including Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, and Nancy Wilson, among others. A year later he was working in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers—a virtual finishing academy for some of hard bop’s most respected figures, and in 1985 he opened for fellow pianist Oscar Peterson at Carnegie Hall.…