Junior Mance

Lore & Background

Mance was born in Evanston, Illinois, and learned stride piano and boogie-woogie from his father. At age ten, he substituted for an ill pianist at a Chicago gig, his first professional performance. He attended Roosevelt College but left after a year because jazz was forbidden by the faculty. In 1947, he played with Gene Ammons and recorded with him that September. In 1949, Lester Young hired Mance to replace Bud Powell for a performance at the Royal Roost in New York. Mance recorded with Young for Savoy Records that year.

Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1951, Mance served in the 36th Army Band at Fort Knox, Kentucky. Discharged in 1953, he worked at the Bee Hive Jazz Club in Chicago, backing Charlie Parker, Coleman Hawkins, and others. Encouraged by Parker, he moved to New York in 1954, where he recorded with Dinah Washington and later joined Cannonball Adderley's first civilian band. After that group disbanded, Mance joined Dizzy Gillespie's band, replacing Wynton Kelly.

Mance's debut album as leader, Junior, was released by Verve in 1959. He recorded six albums for Jazzland/Riverside in the early 1960s and seven with the Eddie 'Lockjaw' Davis/Johnny Griffin quintet. He also recorded for Capitol and Atlantic, including a harpsichord album and a fusion album. In 1967, Hansen House published his book How to Play Blues Piano. He taught at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music from 1988 to 2011, counting Brad Mehldau and Larry Goldings among his students. From 1990 to 2009, he toured Japan with the group '100 Gold Fingers.' Mance and his wife Gloria founded the label JunGlo in 2007. He died in New York on January 17, 2021, from a brain hemorrhage after a fall, aged 92.

Reader's Guide

Junior Mance's significance lies in his long career as both a sideman and leader, bridging the swing and bop eras with a distinctive stride and blues piano style. He worked with major figures such as Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Dinah Washington, Cannonball Adderley, and Dizzy Gillespie, contributing to recordings that are part of the jazz canon. His debut album Junior on Verve launched a prolific recording career that included over a dozen albums as leader and many more as sideman. Mance also influenced later generations through his 23-year teaching tenure at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, where he taught pianists like Brad Mehldau and Larry Goldings. His book How to Play Blues Piano provided a pedagogical resource for aspiring musicians. Mance's later years included international touring with the '100 Gold Fingers' ensemble and running his own label, JunGlo. His legacy is that of a versatile, hard-working musician who maintained a steady presence in jazz for over 60 years.

Did You Know?

• Mance had his first professional gig at age ten, substituting for an ill pianist in Chicago.
• Mance recorded with Dinah Washington, Clifford Brown, Clark Terry, and Max Roach on the live album Dinah Jams in 1954.