Al McKibbon was an American jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 double bassist, known for his work in bop

Bebop

Bebop differed drastically from the straightforward compositions of the swing era, and was instead characterized by fast tempos, asymmetrical phrasing, intricate melodies, and rhythm sections that expanded on their role as tempo-keepers...

, hard bop

Hard bop

Hard bop is a style of jazz that is an extension of bebop music. Journalists and record companies began using the term in the mid-1950s to describe a new current within jazz which incorporated influences from rhythm and blues, gospel music, and blues, especially in the saxophone and piano...

, and Latin jazz

Latin jazz

Latin jazz is the general term given to jazz with Latin American rhythms.The three main categories of Latin Jazz are Brazilian, Cuban and Puerto Rican:# Brazilian Latin Jazz includes bossa nova...

.

In 1947, after working with Lucky Millinder

Lucky Millinder

Lucius Venable "Lucky" Millinder was an American rhythm and blues and swing bandleader. Although he could not read or write music, did not play an instrument and rarely sang, his showmanship and musical taste made his bands successful...

, Tab Smith

Tab Smith

Talmadge "Tab" Smith , was an American swing and rhythm and blues alto saxophonist. He is best known for the tracks, "Because Of You" and "Pretend". He variously worked with Count Basie, the Mills Rhythm Boys and Lucky Millinder.-Biography:Smith was born in Kinston, North Carolina, United States...

, J. C. Heard

J. C. Heard

J. C. Heard a.k.a. James Charles Heard was a United States swing, bop, and blues drummer....

, and Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Hawkins

Coleman Randolph Hawkins was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. Hawkins was one of the first prominent jazz musicians on his instrument. As Joachim E. Berendt explained, "there were some tenor players before him, but the instrument was not an acknowledged jazz horn"...

, he replaced Ray Brown

Ray Brown (musician)

Raymond Matthews Brown was an American jazz double bassist.-Biography:Ray Brown was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and had piano lessons from the age of eight. After noticing how many pianists attended his high school, he thought of taking up the trombone, but was unable to afford one...

 in Dizzy Gillespie

Dizzy Gillespie

John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise".Together with Charlie Parker, he was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz...

's band, in which he played until 1950. In the 1950s he recorded with the Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 nonet, Earl Hines

Earl Hines

Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, was an American jazz pianist. Hines was one of the most influential figures in the development of modern jazz piano and, according to one source, is "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz".-Early...

, Count Basie

Count Basie

William "Count" Basie was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...

, Johnny Hodges

Johnny Hodges

John Cornelius "Johnny" Hodges was an American alto saxophonist, best known for his solo work with Duke Ellington's big band. He played lead alto in the saxophone section for many years, except the period between 1932–1946 when Otto Hardwick generally played first chair...

, Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...

, George Shearing

George Shearing

Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...

, Cal Tjader

Cal Tjader

Callen Radcliffe Tjader, Jr. a.k.a. Cal Tjader was a Latin jazz musician, though he also explored various other jazz idioms. Unlike other American jazz musicians who experimented with the music from Cuba, the Caribbean, and Latin America, he never abandoned it, performing it until his...

, Herbie Nichols

Herbie Nichols

Herbie Nichols , was an American jazz pianist and composer who wrote the jazz standard "Lady Sings the Blues". Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics.-Life:...

 and Hawkins. McKibbon was credited with interesting Tjader in Latin music while he played in Shearing's group.

McKibbon has always been highly regarded (among other signs of this regard, he was the bassist for the Giants of Jazz

Giants of Jazz

The Giants of Jazz was a jazz all-star group of the 1970s which featured Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, Al McKibbon, Thelonious Monk, Sonny Stitt, and Kai Winding. They recorded albums for Atlantic Records, Concord Records. and Emarcy Records....

), and continued to perform until 2004. In 1999, at age 80, he recorded his first album in his own name, Tumbao Para Los Congueros De Mi Vida (Blue Lady Records), which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Latin Jazz Performance. McKibbon's second album, Black Orchid (Nine Yards Music), was released in 2004. He also wrote the Afterword to Raul Fernandez' book, Latin Jazz, part of the Smithsonian Institution's series of exhibitions on jazz.

As Sideman

With Nat Adderley

Nat Adderley

Nathaniel Adderley was an American jazz cornet and trumpet player who played in the hard bop and soul jazz genres. He was the brother of saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley....

• To the Ivy League from Nat
  To the Ivy League from Nat
  To the Ivy League from Nat is an album by jazz cornetist Nat Adderley released on the EmArcy label featuring performances by Adderley with his brother Cannonball Adderley, Junior Mance, Sam Jones/Al McKibbon, and Charles "Specs" Wright with arrangements by Ernie Wilkins...
  
  (1956)

With Lorez Alexandria

Lorez Alexandria

Lorez Alexandria was an American jazz and gospel singer....

• Alexandria the Great
  Alexandria the Great
  Alexandria the Great is the third studio album by the American jazz singer Lorez Alexandria.- Track listing :# "Show Me"  – 4:05# "I've Never Been in Love Before"  – 2:20...
  
  (1964)

With Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Monk

Thelonious Sphere Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including "Epistrophy", "'Round Midnight", "Blue Monk", "Straight, No Chaser"...

• Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2
  Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2
  Genius of Modern Music: Volume 2 is the name given to at least four different compilation albums by jazz pianist, Thelonious Monk. Each version comprises some of Monk's recordings as a band leader for Blue Note, recorded between 1947 and 1952...
  
  (1955)

With Randy Newman

Randy Newman

Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....

• 12 Songs
  12 Songs (Randy Newman album)
  12 Songs is a 1970 album by singer/songwriter Randy Newman. His second album, 12 Songs received much better reviews than his first. On 12 Songs Newman collaborates with Clarence White and Ry Cooder. The album set the stage for Newman's later career with songs sung from the point of view of...
  
  (1970)

With The Night Blooming Jazzmen

• The Night Blooming Jazzmen (1971)

With Herbie Nichols

Herbie Nichols

Herbie Nichols , was an American jazz pianist and composer who wrote the jazz standard "Lady Sings the Blues". Obscure during his lifetime, he is now highly regarded by many musicians and critics.-Life:...

• The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 1
  The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 1
  The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 1 is the debut album by American jazz pianist Herbie Nichols featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1955 as a 10 inch LP.-Reception:...
  
  (1955)
• The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 2
  The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 2
  The Prophetic Herbie Nichols Vol. 2 is the second album by American jazz pianist Herbie Nichols featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1955 as a 10 inch LP.-Reception:...
  
  (1955)
• Herbie Nichols Trio
  Herbie Nichols Trio
  Herbie Nichols Trio is the third album by American jazz pianist Herbie Nichols featuring performances recorded and released on the Blue Note label in 1956.-Reception:...
  
  (1956)

With George Shearing

George Shearing

Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...

• On the Sunny Side of the Strip
  On the Sunny Side of the Strip
  On the Sunny Side of the Strip is a 1960 live album by the George Shearing quintet, one of five live albums recorded by the quintet. -Track listing:#"Jordu" – 4:10#"As I Love You" – 3:15...
  
  (1960)
• "Latin Escapade" (1956 )