Dave MacKay

Long a fixture in Southern California, pianist Dave MacKay's playing is grounded in bop and hard bop, but he often takes very adventurous solos. Blind from an early age, MacKay attended Trinity College from 1950-1954 and Boston University from 1956-1958, and he also studied with Lennie Tristano. While in Boston, MacKay played with many top musicians including Serge Chaloff, Sonny Stitt, Bob Wilber, and Bobby Hackett. After a period in New York (leading his own groups but also working with Jim Hall), MacKay spent a little while in Chicago and then settled in Los Angeles. He was with the Don Ellis Orchestra from 1966-1967, worked with Emil Richards, had his own group in the late '60s (which included his late wife, singer Vicky Hamilton), and subsequently played with Shelly Manne, Chet Baker, Joe Pass, Bill Henderson, Lori Bell, and Stephanie Haynes. MacKay, who has led albums for Impulse!, Studio 7, Discovery, MAMA, Why Not, Webster's Last Word, and God Now, has worked regularly in the Los Angeles area into the new millennium. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi