1929-1980. A gifted pianist; a stealth virtuoso who eschewed the bravado of hard bop (while playing in the 50's groups of Charles Mingus, George Russell, and Miles Davis) for the subtleties of harmonic invention and, in his own later groups, piano-trio interplay that stretched the conservative bounds of the song form. The stylistic forefather, to some degree, of Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and others of that generation.