Bobby Timmons

• Genre: Hard Bop

About

Pianist Bobby Timmons developed a unique hard bop-influenced style of piano playing, known at the time as "soul jazz," which departed from the delicate, sophisticated tickling of bop in favor of a percussive, high-spirited and pounding attack. This funky style developed when he held the piano seat in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers from 1958 to 1961. He penned the classic gospel-jazz tune "Moanin'," which became the title track for one of the group's most popular releases. At the same time, Timmons enjoyed a prolific solo career, recording primarily in trios and quartets. Albums such as In Person and Soul Time feature a mix of soulful originals and classic jazz standards. Timmons plays in a rollicking, gospel and blues inflected idiom, which features simple, shout-like melodies, hard-hitting riffs using all 10 fingers, and chunky, full-bodied chord voicings. For a jazz musician, Timmons rocks hard.

- Noah Enelow