# 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 bassist Ben Allison.
Throughout his career, Kimbrough recorded albums with a cast of illuminates in the field of jazz music, including Michael Blake, Ron Horton, Joe Locke, Wynton Marsalis, Paul Murphy, Ted Nash, Scott Robinson, and Kendra Shank. 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. He was married for 31 years to the vocalist and composer Maryanne de Prophetis.
Following Kimbrough's death, apparently from a heart attack, Newvelle Records produced a digital tribute album, Kimbrough, in 2021 that featured multiple ensembles covering 58 of his compositions.

## Discography

| Year recorded | Title | Label | Notes |
| 1986 | Star Crossed Lovers | Mapleshade | |
| 1987 | Double Visions | Mapleshade | Duo with Steve Williams. |
| 1988 | Lonely Woman | Mapleshade | Trio, with Ben Wolfe (bass), Jeff Williams (drums) |
| 1996 | Love Is Proximity | Soul Note | With The Herbie Nichols Project |
| 1992 & 1997 | Chant | Igmod | Trio, with Ben Allison (bass), Jeff Ballard (drums) |
| 1997 | Saturn's Child | OmniTone | Duo, with Joe Locke (vibraphone) |
| 1997 | Noumena | Soul Note | With Scott Robinson (tenor sax, baritone sax), Ben Monder (guitar), Tony Moreno (drums, percussion); in concert |
| 1998 | Quickening | OmniTone | With Ben Allison (bass), Jeff Ballard (drums); in concert |
| 1999 | Dr. Cyclops' Dream | Soul Note | With The Herbie Nichols Project |
| 2000 | The Willow | OmniTone | With Joe Locke (vibraphone) |
| 2001 | Strange City | Palmetto | With The Herbie Nichols Project |
| 2002 | Autumn | LoNote | Duo with Ron Brendle |
| 2003 | Lullabluebye | Palmetto | With Ben Allison (bass), Matt Wilson (drums) |
| 2005 | Play | Palmetto | With Masa Kamaguchi (bass), Paul Motian (drums) |
| 2007 | Air | Palmetto | |
| 2008 | Verrazano Moon | OmniTone | Duo with Joe Locke |
| 2009 | Rumors | Palmetto | |
| 2011 | Live at Kitano | Palmetto | |
| 2013 | Afar | ScienSonic | Duo with Scott Robinson |
| 2014 | Quartet | Palmetto | With Steve Wilson, Lewis Nash, and Jay Anderson |
| 2015 | Meantime | Newvelle | On vinyl |
| 2016 | Solstice | Pirouet | Trio with Jay Anderson, Jeff Hirshfield |
| 2017 | Ancestors | Sunnyside | Trio with Kirk Knuffke, Masa Kamaguchi |
| 2018 | Monk's Dreams: The Complete Compositions of Thelonious Sphere Monk | Sunnyside | Quartet with Rufus Reid, Billy Drummond, Scott Robinson |
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 Maryanne de Prophetis
* A Glance (LoNote Records, 2005)
* Tell a Star (ENNA Records, 2016)
With Joe Locke
* Beauty Burning (Sirocco Jazz Limited, 2000)
With Ted Nash
* Out of This World (Mapleshade Records, 1993)
* Rhyme & Reason (Arabesque, 1999)
* Still Evolved (Palmetto Records, 2003)
* The Mancini Project (Palmetto Records, 2008)
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 Kendra Shank
* Wish (Jazz Focus, 1998)
* Reflections (Jazz Focus, 2000)
* A Spirit Free: Abbey Lincoln Songbook (Challenge, 2006)
* Mosaic (Challenge, 2009)
With Ryan Truesdell's Gil Evans Project
* Centennial (ArtistShare 2012)
* Lines of Color (ArtistShare 2015)
With Dawn Upshaw and Maria Schneider
* Winter Morning Walks (ArtistShare 2013)

## Literature

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