Frank Kimbrough

Frank Kimbrough (November 2, 1956 – December 30, 2020) was an American post-bop jazz pianist. He was born and raised in Roxboro, North Carolina. He did some work at Chapel Hill before moving to Washington, D. C. in 1980 and then New York City in 1981.

His influences included Herbie Nichols, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Vince Guaraldi, Keith Jarrett, Cecil Taylor, Paul Bley, and Andrew Hill. After signing with Mapleshade Records, he released his first album, Star-Crossed Lovers, on cassette tape in 1986 and his first CD in 1988. Kimbrough often shifted labels but is mostly affiliated with Palmetto.

In the 1990s he was a member of the Herbie Nichols Project, a repertoire ensemble dedicated to performing both known and undiscovered works by the pianist and composer Herbie Nichols. He also co-founded The Jazz Composers Collective with Allison.

Throughout his career Kimbrough recorded albums with a cast of illuminates in the field of jazz music including Paul Murphy, Joe Locke, Michael Blake Ron Horton and Ted Nash. He also played in the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra.

Kimbrough was also a music educator, teaching piano at New York University during the 1990s, and became a professor at the Juilliard School in 2008.

Following Kimbrough's death, Newvelle Records produced a digital tribute album, Kimbrough, in 2021 that featured multiple ensembles covering 58 of his compositions.

Discography
With Ted Nash
 * Rhyme & Reason (Arabesque, 1999)

With Maria Schneider


 * Coming About (Enja, 1996)
 * Allégresse (Enja, 2000)
 * Days of Wine and Roses - Live at the Jazz Standard (ArtistShare, 2000)
 * Concert in the Garden (ArtistShare, 2004)
 * Sky Blue (ArtistShare, 2007)
 * The Thompson Fields (ArtistShare, 2015)
 * Data Lords (ArtistShare, 2020)

With Ben Allison
 * Seven Arrows (Koch, 1996)
 * Medicine Wheel (Palmetto Records, 1998)
 * Third Eye (Palmetto Records, 1999)
 * Riding the Nuclear Tiger (Palmetto Records, 2001)
 * Peace Pipe (Palmetto Records, 2002)
 * Buzz (Palmetto Records, 2004)
 * Layers of the City (Sonic Camera, 2017)

With Michael Blake
 * Drift (Intuition Music, 2000)
 * Elevated (P&M Records, 2002)
 * Tiddy Boom (P&M Records, 2014)

With Dawn Upshaw and Maria Schneider


 * Winter Morning Walks (ArtistShare 2013)

With Ryan Truesdell's Gil Evans Project


 * Centennial (ArtistShare 2012)
 * Lines of Color (ArtistShare 2015)

Literature

 * Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler, The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford/New York 1999, ISBN 978-0-19-532000-8