Charles Covington Jr. is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist and a U.S. Life Master in chess.

Career

A native of Baltimore, Covington became interested in jazz when the high school principal broadcast music by

Erroll Garner Erroll Louis Garner (June 15, 1921 – January 2, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his swing playing and ballads. His instrumental ballad "Misty", his best-known composition, has become a jazz standard. It was first rec ...

and

Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones, July 2, 1930) is an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and educator. For six decades, he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. Biography Early life Jamal was born Fr ...

on the intercom. He served in the U.S. Army, attended the

Peabody Institute The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University is a private conservatory and preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded in 1857 and opened in 1866 by merchant/financier and philanthropist George Peabody (1795–1869) ...

, and learned piano and organ at the Hammond School of Music. He performed in clubs and at the

Royal Theater Royal Theatre or Royal Theater may refer to: Venues Australia * Royal Theatre, Canberra Belgium * Royal Theatre of La Monnaie, Brussels * Royal Park Theatre, Brussels * Royal Flemish Theatre, Brussels Canada * Royal Theatre, Victoria, Briti ...

. After the manager of

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...

heard Covington perform in New York City, he invited him to tour with Benson. He also worked with Ethel Ennis,

J.J. Johnson J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop. Biography ...

O'Donel Levy O'Donel "Butch" Levy (September 20, 1945 – March 14, 2016) was a Rhythm and blues, rhythm & blues, funk and jazz guitarist from Baltimore, Maryland. He was brother of session drummer Stafford Levy. Levy studied music at the Peabody Institute at ...

, and

Nathan Page Nathan Page (born 25 August 1971) is an Australian actor, best known for his commercial voice-over work and his role as Detective Inspector Jack Robinson in '' Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries''. Early life Page grew up in an Air Force family ...

. An interest in chess led Covington to chess clubs in New York. He has been certified a Life Master by the U.S. Chess Federation and is considered one of the top black chess players in the country. He has written books on chess, checkers, and math. For twenty years he taught at the Peabody Conservatory, then at Howard University. Covington has also performed as a magician. He was the pianist for the television program ''BET on Jazz''.

Awards and honors

* On the cover of ''Expo'' magazine as Jazz Musician of the Year, 1983 * Jazz pianist in residence, Kennedy Center * Life Master, U.S. Chess Federation

Discography

As leader

* ''It's Time for Love'' (Jazz Karma, 1992)

As sideman

With

* '' Black Velvet'' (Groove Merchant, 1971) * '' Breeding of Mind'' (Groove Merchant, 1972) * '' Dawn of a New Day'' (Groove Merchant, 1973) * ''

Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky ''Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky'' is an album by American jazz-funk guitarist O'Donel Levy recorded in 1974 and released on the Groove Merchant label.

'' (Groove Merchant, 1974) * ''

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

'' (Groove Merchant, 1976) With Nathen Page * ''Page 1'' (Hugo's Music, 1977) * ''Page 2'' (Hugo's Music, 1978) * ''Plays Pretty for the People'' (Hugo's Music, 1979) With others *

, '' Shape of Things to Come'' (A&M/CTI, 1968) *

Kai Winding Kai Chresten Winding ( ; May 18, 1922 – May 6, 1983) was a Danish-born American trombonist and jazz composer. He is known for his collaborations with fellow trombonist J. J. Johnson. His version of "More", the theme from the movie ''Mondo Ca ...

, ''

Betwixt & Between ''Betwixt & Between'' is an album by American jazz trombonists Kai Winding and J. J. Johnson featuring performances recorded in 1968 and released on the CTI label.

'' (A&M/CTI, 1969) * Ethel Ennis, ''10 Sides of Ethel Ennis'' (BASF, 1973) * Gary Thomas, ''Exile's Gate'' (JMT, 1993)

References

External links

Official site

Kennedy Center
{{DEFAULTSORT:Covington, Charles Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American male musicians 21st-century American pianists American jazz pianists American male jazz pianists American male jazz musicians