Milt Buckner

Milt Buckner (10 July 1915 - 27 July 1977) was an American jazz pianist and organist, originally from St. Louis, Missouri. He was orphaned as a child, but an uncle in Detroit taught him to play. Buckner pioneered the parallel chords style which influenced Red Garland, George Shearing, and Oscar Peterson. In 1941 he joined Lionel Hampton's big band ,and for the next seven years served as its pianist and staff arranger. He led a short-lived band of his own for two years, but then returned to Hampton's. Buckner died in Chicago, Illinois at the age of sixty-two.