Hank Jones, 91, whose self-effacing nature belied his stature as one of the most respected jazz pianists of the postwar era, died Sunday in New York City.
Jones spent much of his career in the background.
He was primarily a sideman for 35 years, most notably with Ella Fitzgerald; for much of that time he also worked as a studio musician.
His fellow musicians admired his imagination, his versatility and his distinctive style, which blended the urbanity and rhythmic drive of the Harlem stride pianists, the dexterity of Art Tatum and the harmonic daring of bebop. (The pianist, composer and conductor André Previn once called Jones his favorite pianist, "regardless of idiom.")
In 1989, Peter Watrous of the New York Times praised Jones as "an extraordinary musician" whose playing "resonates with jazz history."
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