Alan Broadbent

An unsung hero from the acoustic piano, Alan Broadbent is an extremely lyrical and melodic bebopper/post-bopper that has cited Costs Evans, Wynton Kelly, Tommy Flanagan, Nat “Ruler” Cole, and Red Garland as a few of his beloved pianists. Elevated in New Zealand, he shifted to Boston in 1966 to review at the renowned Berklee University of Music. After keeping on the highway with Woody Herman (for whom he was a article writer, arranger, and soloist) from 1969-1972, he resolved in LA. Broadbent continued to are a sideman for Chet Baker, tenor saxmen Warne Marsh and Gary Foster, as well as the later vocalist Irene Kral within the ’70s, with Bud Shank and arranger Nelson Riddle within the ’80s. The ’90s discovered him writing preparations for Natalie Cole, Marian McPartland, Scott Hamilton, among others, and playing alongside bassist Charlie Haden, tenor saxman Ernie W, and drummer Larance Marable in Haden’s Quartet Western world — a distinctive and conceptual L.A.-structured group that’s known for including items of dialogue from film-noir movies between bop performances. Broadbent’s exceptional trio albums for Breakthrough within the ’80s and Concord within the ’90s inform you that he has a right to be much better referred to as a soloist.