Onaje Allan Gumbs

Pianist/keyboardist/producer/arranger/songwriter Onaje Allan Gumbs (pronounced Oh-Nah-Jay) is one of the music industry's most respected and talented music collaborators. Gumbs has worked almost three decades with top talent in the musical fields of jazz, R&B/soul, and pop to hone his considerable skills. A partial list includes <a href="spotify:artist:0yvEf1tqWWPiZu4ZbjyKGs">Woody Shaw</a>, Nat Adderly, <a href="spotify:artist:54bbmw5qZiMf23TTmm6ojR">Norman Connors</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:07CTbCcLVHYwZqp1YMdf4t">Angela Bofill</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5swBKHtsRDaCBmdpYRYOg1">Jean Carn</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6TZ5t4kclsmGWHqb3mGyha">Cassandra Wilson</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:0hirZ8kPPdM9pzXpoagB4w">Marlena Shaw</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2hGDAhezELu9olOncSWZYI">Sadao Watanabe</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3oqSDVaf6RoBGreqOlgUpv">Phyllis Hyman</a> ("The Answer Is You" from his 1979 Somewhere in My Lifetime album), <a href="spotify:artist:2mBoEYescv3YHDG5rH6uKd">Stanley Jordan</a>, Denise Williams, <a href="spotify:artist:5Oe8V83r2RhPPuhnRH5saQ">Vanessa Rubin</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5qUHCOUsvVKUpVrMMmztMK">Jeffrey Osborne</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1Zq8pfBl4ejCMrWdeAdphc">Eddie Murphy</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:4FRnFYyWy6yzCXQySCsOfb">Rebbie Jackson</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3bhckpkRmz8mqONUceSutp">Gerald Albright</a> (Live at Birdland West).

On <a href="spotify:artist:69k2JfIQxMpBbc1wtmHWZY">Will Downing</a>'s 1991 album A Dream Fulfilled, he contributed heavily to four tracks that received massive airplay: "For All We Know," "Something's Going On," a cover of <a href="spotify:artist:6EJmqnuK0r6qiAevFFiNNR">Paul Davis</a>' "I Go Crazy," and "No Love Intended." The Harlem-Queens native was encouraged by his parents to join the church choir when he was a child; later, he started taking piano lessons. His taste for jazz was cultivated by the jazz-based background music scored by <a href="spotify:artist:2EExdpjU4SK3xnJHO5paJf">Henry Mancini</a> for the '60s TV series Peter Gunn. Gumbs studied music in school and college, taking some courses at the Manhattan School of Art.

With the majority of his music-theory studies being classical-based, Gumbs actually picked up playing jazz by listening to <a href="spotify:artist:0kbYTNQb4Pb1rPbbaF0pT4">Miles Davis</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2hGh5VOeeqimQFxqXvfCUf">John Coltrane</a>, and others. Not aiming to be a musical purist, Gumbs continued to listen to other forms of music. His appreciation of various musical genres made him a much in-demand session player, arranger, and producer and has led him to be an on-the-go sideman for some top acts.

In 1974, Gumbs enjoyed one of the highlights of his arranging career when he created a special arrangement of "Stella By Starlight" for the New York Jazz Repertory Company as a part of a concert honoring <a href="spotify:artist:0kbYTNQb4Pb1rPbbaF0pT4">Miles Davis</a> at Carnegie Hall. That same year, Gumbs performed on <a href="spotify:artist:0yvEf1tqWWPiZu4ZbjyKGs">Woody Shaw</a>'s Moon Moontrane. Later, he joined forces with trumpeter <a href="spotify:artist:7KjjSmSX5wCE1KYOerEf6D">Nat Adderley</a> and his quintet, contributing to the group's recordings on Atlantic and Steeplechase. Nils Winter of the latter label was impressed by Gumbs' solo improvisations on several of <a href="spotify:artist:5v74mT11KGJqadf9sLw4dA">Adderley</a>'s performances and approached the young pianist that same year to record a solo piano album, Onaje. In 1985, Gumbs further heightened his visibility by contributing his arrangement of "Lady in My Life" to guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2mBoEYescv3YHDG5rH6uKd">Stanley Jordan</a>'s enormously successful album Magic Touch. The record held the number one spot on Billboard's jazz charts for 37 weeks. The pianist recorded two albums for MCA: That Special Part of Me and 1991's Dare to Dream. ~ Ed Hogan, Rovi