Horace Parlan (born 1931 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is an American hard bop and post-bop piano player. Noted for his contributions to the classic Charles Mingus recordings Mingus Ah Um and Blues & Roots, Parlan often bridges the divide between the chordal sophistication of the bop idiom and the African-American "roots." His later work, notably a series of duos with the tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp display a sturdy architecture reminiscent of Gospel music. As a child, Parlan was stricken with polio, resulting in the partial crippling of his right hand. The handicap, though, has contributed to his development of a particularly "pungent" left-hand chord voicing style, while comping with highly rhythmic phrases with the right. External links · [LINK: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hx6cmpp39f6o~T1] Biography at allmusic.com

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