George Wallington

George Wallington was one of the first and best bop pianists, ranking up there with <a href="spotify:artist:5pKOfv4XsvzGu3jZW02YKp">Al Haig</a>, just below <a href="spotify:artist:570vCzcespB48HIQyTbDO6">Bud Powell</a>. He was also the composer of two bop standards that caught on for a time: "Lemon Drop" and "Godchild." Born in Sicily, Wallington and his family moved to the U.S. in 1925. He arrived in New York in the early '40s and was a member of the first bop group to play on 52nd Street, <a href="spotify:artist:5RzjqfPS0Bu4bUMkyNNDpn">Dizzy Gillespie</a>'s combo of 1943-1944. After spending a year with <a href="spotify:artist:5WuO1eeXQHAeMTKuXacaUw">Joe Marsala</a>'s band, Wallington played with the who's who of bop during 1946-1952, including <a href="spotify:artist:4Ww5mwS7BWYjoZTUIrMHfC">Charlie Parker</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1Ic9vseHq7wmDPdsZyjMdv">Serge Chaloff</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0jGE4sLBqWRqaGPBKzUyvW">Allan Eager</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1kYYk4lJ7ZWbyy3zDYOl6h">Kai Winding</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4vc7AQ05GYmIYTzly9xjbp">Terry Gibbs</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1Cn3vVFZK2dzSYUpuR9wbJ">Brew Moore</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4yPUoMbYxVJ6XNJWZVJV7Y">Al Cohn</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6l40OFJhuTbHQ9V12evc9K">Gerry Mulligan</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1pwr5rTWLVfqhvHfB7Reap">Zoot Sims</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:4tIG3p7d799xi5qJbMddl8">Red Rodney</a>. He toured Europe with <a href="spotify:artist:2PjgZkwAEk7UTin4jP6HLP">Lionel Hampton</a>'s ill-fated big band of 1953, and during 1954-1960 he led groups in New York that included among its up-and-coming sidemen <a href="spotify:artist:3ZUZYvTkSr7kJQyAXVpqaL">Donald Byrd</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1lB7KbOr9xdPK1CuasxmeA">Jackie McLean</a> (the latter succeeded by <a href="spotify:artist:6G4hVmXKJ9NW5JecncK89f">Phil Woods</a>). Then, in 1960, Wallington gave up on the music business altogether and retired to work in his family's air-conditioning company. 24 years later he re-emerged, recording three albums of original material before time ran out. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi