Junior Mance

At 96 years old, Junior Mance physical status not available right now. We will update Junior Mance's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Verve Records founder Norman Granz offered Mance his first recording date as leader during one of his sessions with Dizzy Gillespie. Granz set Mance up with bassist Ray Brown, and Gillespie's drummer Lex Humphries completed the trio, which recorded together in April 1959. His debut record Junior was released by Verve later that year. A busy release schedule followed, as Mance went on to record six albums for Jazzland/Riverside in the early '60s, and joined the Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis/Johnny Griffin quintet which released seven albums with Mance during 1960–1961.

Mance recorded for major labels Capitol (1964–1965) and Atlantic (1966–1970), including one date featuring Mance on harpsichord (Harlem Lullaby, 1966) and a fusion album (With a Lotta Help from My Friends, 1970). During a recording session with Benny Carter for the soundtrack to the film A Man Called Adam in 1965, Carter and Mance took in all three sets of an Ornette Coleman performance at the Five Spot Café. Mance cited Carter's broad-mindedness as an inspiration for his own stylistic explorations. Hansen House published his book How to Play Blues Piano in June 1967.

Junior Mance continued to record and perform during the next three decades, albeit at a less intense pace. He made several duet recordings with bassist Martin Rivera, and two solo piano recordings for Canadian label Sackville Records, Junior Mance Special and Jubilation. He also taught at The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music for 23 years, counting Brad Mehldau and Larry Goldings among his students before retiring in 2011.

From 1990 to 2009 Mance was part of a group called "100 Gold Fingers" which frequently toured Japan. The rotating line-up of all star pianists included Toshiko Akiyoshi, Monty Alexander, Geri Allen, Lynne Arriale, Kenny Barron, Joanne Brackeen, Ray Bryant, Bill Charlap, Cyrus Chestnut, Gerald Clayton, João Donato, Tommy Flanagan, Don Friedman, Benny Green, Barry Harris, Gene Harris, Hank Jones, Duke Jordan, Roger Kellaway, John Lewis, Harold Mabern, Dave McKenna, Marian McPartland, Mulgrew Miller, Dado Moroni, Hod O'Brien, Eric Reed, Ted Rosenthal, Renee Rosnes, Mal Waldron, Cedar Walton, James Williams, and Chihiro Yamanaka, with bassist Bob Cranshaw and either Alan Dawson or Grady Tate on drums.

Mance and his wife Gloria formed their own record label, JunGlo, in 2007. Their first release, Live At Café Loup, featured Mance in a trio with Hidé Tanaka on bass and Jackie Williams on drums, with guest vocalist José James. Drummer Kim Garey later took over from Williams, with the addition of saxophonists Ryan Anselmi and Andrew Hadro. Mance toured the U.S., Italy, Japan, and Israel in 2013 accompanied by Tanaka and violinist Michi Fuji (a former New School student of Mance's.) This Mance trio held their Sunday night residency at Café Loup until his retirement in the spring of 2016.

He died in New York of a brain hemorrhage that he had suffered after a fall, aged 92. He had also been suffering from Alzheimer's.

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