One of the great pianists to come out of Kentucky, Hank Duncan was indeed adept enough to play a second keyboard alongside the virtuoso Fats Waller. After leading his own group in Louisville and taking a band he called the Kentucky Jazz Band up to Detroit in 1919, Duncan spent a cold half of a decade in Buffalo before moving to New York City and a prominent position on the jazz scene there. He began his Big Apple chewing with three years in Fess Williams' band, at one point holding the job of musical director -- but not for long.

In the early '30s the pianist toured with King Oliver, followed by a rhythm section spot in a group collaboratively led by trumpeter Tommy Ladnier and the great soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet. Duncan would continue to perform and record with Bechet throughout his career. His next assignment was Charlie Turner's Arcadians, the context in which Duncan survived the piano duel with Waller. In the late '30s Duncan was working in a trio led by drummer Zutty Singleton, and had also begun playing solo in New York clubs. The latter endeavor, unfortunately accompanied by the roar of the yabbering crowd in some cases, would develop into the pianist's main focus in later years, particularly a stretch at one club that began in 1947 and lasted through 1963. Duncan was also a reliable pianist in many small bands that were into mainstream or New Orleans jazz styles, including Mezz Mezzrow in the '40s and Lee Blair in the early '60s. ~ Eugene Chadbourne, Rovi