Music
Kirk Lightsey
born 1937 · jazz pianist, flutist
Detroit-born pianist who accompanied singers in Detroit and California in the 1960s, toured with Dexter Gordon, played in The Leaders and has lived in Paris since 2000.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan
age 89- Birth name
- Kirkland Lightsey
- Detroit years
- 1937–1960s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Kirkland Lightsey took piano lessons from the age of five in Detroit and studied piano and clarinet through high school, growing up in the same fertile scene that produced Tommy Flanagan, Barry Harris and Roland Hanna. After Army service he worked in Detroit and California in the 1960s, mostly as an accompanist to singers, and he played with Yusef Lateef, Betty Carter, Pharoah Sanders, Bobby Hutcherson, Sonny Stitt, Chet Baker and Kenny Burrell. His reputation grew internationally when he toured with tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon from 1979 to 1983, and in the late 1980s he was a member of the cooperative group The Leaders. From the 1980s he led sessions of his own for Sunnyside and Criss Cross, including duets with pianist Harold Danko and Kirk 'n Marcus (1986) with fellow Detroit trumpeter Marcus Belgrave. An accomplished flutist as well, he has lived in Paris since 2000 and has kept recording into his eighties.
Highlights
- Accompanist to singers in Detroit and California in the 1960s
- Toured with Dexter Gordon, 1979–1983
- Member of The Leaders in the late 1980s
- Kirk 'n Marcus (1986) with Detroit trumpeter Marcus Belgrave
- Based in Paris since 2000