Duke Pearson - born Columbus Calvin Pearson, Jr. on August 17, 1932, in Atlanta,
Georgia - was a jazz pianist and composer who played hard bop jazz with an
assortment of major players in concert performances and on recordings. His 1960
song “Jeannine” was recorded by Cannonball Adderley on his Them Dirty Blues
album and went on to become a jazz standard, later recorded by Donald Byrd and,
in a singing version, Manhattan Transfer. Duke Pearson learned to play trumpet
and piano as a young man but after military service, where he met pianist Wynton
Kelly, he focused solely on the pi...