Lenore Raphael (born Lenore Hyams; June 1, 1942) is an American jazz pianist and educator influenced by

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian virtuoso jazz pianist and composer. Considered one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, ...

Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, block ch ...

, and

George Shearing Sir George Albert Shearing, (13 August 1919 14 February 2011) was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 t ...

Early life

Raphael was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She studied classical music at the

High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as "Music & Art" (or "M&A"), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High ...

in Manhattan, going on to

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

, where she received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music. As a teenage prodigy, she performed in a classical concert at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. She gave up a career as a music teacher and switched to playing jazz professionally after hearing

in concert. She studied jazz piano under

Barry Harris Barry Doyle Harris (December 15, 1929 – December 8, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator. He was an exponent of the bebop style. Life and career Harris was born in Detroit, Michigan, on December ...

and

Mike Longo Michael Josef Longo (March 19, 1937 – March 22, 2020) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and author. Early life Longo was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to parents who had a musical background. His father played bass, his mother played organ at c ...

Later life and career

Raphael has performed with

Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...

Ken Peplowski Ken Peplowski (born May 23, 1959) is an American jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, and known primarily for playing swing music. For over a decade, Peplowski recorded for Concord Records. In 2 ...

Illinois Jacquet Jean-Baptiste "Illinois" Jacquet (October 30, 1922 – July 22, 2004) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo. Although he was a pioneer of t ...

and

Clark Terry Clark Virgil Terry Jr. (December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015) was an American swing and bebop trumpeter, a pioneer of the flugelhorn in jazz, and a composer and educator. He played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–51), Duke ...

. A composer as well as performer, her tribute tune to Oscar Peterson following his death ("Blues for OP") premièred at a memorial concert for Peterson at the International Association for Jazz Convention in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, Ontario. Her compositions also include the jazz standard "Johnny Jazz". Raphael usually records with bassist Hilliard Greene and drummer Rudy Lawless. Raphael has taught piano throughout her career, and with the assistance of a string of long-established jazz musicians put together a program for elementary school students to teach them the history of jazz. She and vocalist

Janet Lawson Janet Lawson (November 13, 1940 – January 22, 2021) was a jazz singer and educator. Her primary influences as a singer were saxophonists such as Charlie Parker, Lester Young and Sonny Rollins. Her voice was described by jazz critic John S. Wil ...

created the videotaped lessons, and had guest input from the likes of

Arnie Lawrence Arnold Lawrence Finkelstein (July 10, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York – April 22, 2005 in Jerusalem, Israel) was an American jazz saxophonist. Career Lawrence studied clarinet in his youth before switching to saxophone. He played from age 12 in clu ...

and Ray and

Billy Drummond Willis Robert "Billy" Drummond Jr. (born June 19, 1959) is an American jazz drummer. Early life Billy Drummond was born in Newport News, Virginia, where he grew up listening to the extensive jazz record collection of his father, an amateur dr ...

. The series has become a model for teaching young students the fundamentals of jazz in the curriculum of many schools. Committed to spreading the jazz message to children, Raphael has co-created with Marcia Hillman a book-and-tape series called ''Scat Cat's Adventures in Jazzland''. Raphael has also published a jazz theory book for senior students. An authorised and accredited

Steinway Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

Artist, Raphael has her own radio show that features guest artists chatting and performing with her on each hour-long program. Her guests have included

Jon Hendricks John Carl Hendricks (September 16, 1921 – November 22, 2017), known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and rep ...

, Warren Vache, Harry Allen,

Gene Bertoncini Gene J. Bertoncini (born 6 April 1937) is an American jazz guitarist. Biography Bertoncini was born in New York City, where he was raised in a musical family. His father, Mario Bertoncini (1901–1978), played guitar and harmonica. Gene began pl ...

Joel Frahm Joel Frahm (born 1970) is an American jazz saxophonist. Early life Frahm was born in Racine, Wisconsin, in 1970.

and

Marlene VerPlanck Marlene Paula VerPlanck ''(née'' Pampinella; November 11, 1933 – January 14, 2018) was an American jazz and pop vocalist whose body of work centered on big band jazz, the American songbook, and cabaret. Life and career VerPlanck was born and ...

. Her most popular CDs include ''The Whole Truth'', ''Reflections'', ''Wingin' It'', ''A Beautiful Friendship'' and ''Class Act''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raphael, Lenore 1942 births Living people American jazz pianists 20th-century American pianists 20th-century American women pianists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women pianists