b. 12 December 1941, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, d. 10 May 2006. Hicks began playing and studying piano while still a very small child, taking piano lessons from his mother. The family lived in Los Angeles, then in St. Louis, and he later attended Lincoln University in Missouri and the Berklee College Of Music. In the early 60s he went to New York where he became a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, recording 'S Make It in the mid-60s. He followed this tough school of learning with another when he became accompanist to that most demanding of singers, Betty Carter. He probably found his next employer, Woody Herman, more easy-going although musically just as demanding. During the late 60s he also recorded with Hank Mobley.

Listen to John Hicks at Finetune.

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