Albert Dailey

During his lifetime, pianist Albert Dailey attracted scant notice and was consistently undervalued, though his technical command and soloistic vitality drew widespread commendation and posthumous tributes. Frequently described as a hypnotic stylist, he produced luminous harmonies and distinctive phrases that especially impressed Stan Getz, a colleague during the mid-1970s. Piano lessons began in childhood, after which Dailey joined the house band at Baltimore’s Royal Theater in the early and middle 1950s. Late in that decade he enrolled at Morgan State and the Peabody Conservatory. Between 1960 and 1963 he toured with vocalist Damita Jo, then led a trio at Washington, D.C.’s Bohemia Caverns before settling in New York in 1964. Subsequent sideman work included Dexter Gordon, Roy Haynes, Sarah Vaughan, and Charles Mingus, while recording dates featured Freddie Hubbard. He performed and recorded with Woody Herman at the 1967 Monterey Jazz Festival and held membership in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in the late 1960s and again in the mid-1970s. Additional associations encompassed periodic appearances with Sonny Rollins, extensive touring and recording with Stan Getz, and sessions alongside Elvin Jones and Archie Shepp throughout the 1970s. In the 1980s he appeared at Carnegie Hall and in the Mobil Summerpier Concerts series while performing with the Upper Manhattan Jazz Society alongside Charlie Rouse, Benny Bailey, and Buster Williams. His recording credits list Columbia, Steeplechase, Muse, and Elektra; the 1972 debut The Day After the Dawn earned broad critical praise yet insufficient sales, prompting Columbia to release him after that lone session. Only one of his dates remains available on CD.