John Mehegan
Encyclopedia
John Mehegan was an American jazz
pianist, lecturer and critic.
Mehegan was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut
, and began playing the piano at the age of five. He taught himself to play by matching his fingers to the notes played on a neighborhood player piano. His mother gave him violin lessons, but he preferred piano. In 1941 he arrived in Manhattan where he lived with his first wife, Doris and their two children Carey and Gretchen. He had the opportunity to play at the legendary Marie's Crisis bohemian club in Greenwich Village. In 1946, he was appointed head of the jazz department at the Metropolitan Music School in New York
. He wrote the incidental music for A Streetcar Named Desire
which he performed on Broadway for two years. In the early 1950s he played a honky-tonk saloon piano player on The Gabby Hayes Show
television series. Mehegan also had a run-in with the House Un-American Activities Committee
where he was an uncooperative witness and this had a negative effect on his career, limiting some career possibilities for about a decade. Also during the 1950s Mehegan was a regular attendee at the Tanglewood Music Festival
in Massachusetts. He later held posts at the Juilliard School of Music and Yale University
. He was the jazz critic for the New York Herald Tribune
.
Mehegan played solo piano for many years at the Composer's Lounge, Ambassador Grill and Lounge and the Drake Room in New York City, as well as the River Cafe in Brooklyn, NY. He also played at numerous clubs in Southwest Connecticut, where he lived with his third wife and three children.
Mehegan had many students, and was good friends with several great jazz musicians. He used to help Art Tatum
navigate the subway uptown to the Harlem jazz clubs. The Mehegan children of his third marriage, (Tara, Sean, and Eben) remember a constant stream of musicians visiting their home in Westport, CT. Leonard Bernstein
, Dave Brubeck
, and Gerry Mulligan
, to name a few, were fellow residents of Connecticut; jam sessions were not unusual, with various members sitting in as the day unfolded.
He authored numerous books on jazz, including the Jazz Improvisation series, which sets out the basic principles of jazz. These are published in seventeen languages and sold around the world.
The American composer Leonard Bernstein
dedicated a piano composition to Mehegan in his Four Anniversaries collection published in 1948. Marked agitato: scherzando, the piece, For Johnny Mehegan, commemorates Mehegan's birthday, June 6, 1920, which is actually not the year he was born.
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...
pianist, lecturer and critic.
Mehegan was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield, Connecticut
Wethersfield is a town in Hartford County, Connecticut, United States. Many records from colonial times spell the name Weathersfield, while Native Americans called it Pyquag...
, and began playing the piano at the age of five. He taught himself to play by matching his fingers to the notes played on a neighborhood player piano. His mother gave him violin lessons, but he preferred piano. In 1941 he arrived in Manhattan where he lived with his first wife, Doris and their two children Carey and Gretchen. He had the opportunity to play at the legendary Marie's Crisis bohemian club in Greenwich Village. In 1946, he was appointed head of the jazz department at the Metropolitan Music School in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. He wrote the incidental music for A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
which he performed on Broadway for two years. In the early 1950s he played a honky-tonk saloon piano player on The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show
The Gabby Hayes Show is a general purpose western television series in which the film star and Roy Rogers confidant, George "Gabby" Hayes , narrated each episode, showed clips from old westerns, or told tall tales for a primarily children's audience. The first Hayes program ran on NBC at 5:15 p.m...
television series. Mehegan also had a run-in with the House Un-American Activities Committee
House Un-American Activities Committee
The House Committee on Un-American Activities or House Un-American Activities Committee was an investigative committee of the United States House of Representatives. In 1969, the House changed the committee's name to "House Committee on Internal Security"...
where he was an uncooperative witness and this had a negative effect on his career, limiting some career possibilities for about a decade. Also during the 1950s Mehegan was a regular attendee at the Tanglewood Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....
in Massachusetts. He later held posts at the Juilliard School of Music and Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He was the jazz critic for the New York Herald Tribune
New York Herald Tribune
The New York Herald Tribune was a daily newspaper created in 1924 when the New York Tribune acquired the New York Herald.Other predecessors, which had earlier merged into the New York Tribune, included the original The New Yorker newsweekly , and the Whig Party's Log Cabin.The paper was home to...
.
Mehegan played solo piano for many years at the Composer's Lounge, Ambassador Grill and Lounge and the Drake Room in New York City, as well as the River Cafe in Brooklyn, NY. He also played at numerous clubs in Southwest Connecticut, where he lived with his third wife and three children.
Mehegan had many students, and was good friends with several great jazz musicians. He used to help Art Tatum
Art Tatum
Arthur "Art" Tatum, Jr. was an American jazz pianist and virtuoso who played with phenomenal facility despite being nearly blind.Tatum is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time...
navigate the subway uptown to the Harlem jazz clubs. The Mehegan children of his third marriage, (Tara, Sean, and Eben) remember a constant stream of musicians visiting their home in Westport, CT. Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
, Dave Brubeck
Dave Brubeck
David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...
, and Gerry Mulligan
Gerry Mulligan
Gerald Joseph "Gerry" Mulligan was an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, composer and arranger. Though Mulligan is primarily known as one of the leading baritone saxophonists in jazz history – playing the instrument with a light and airy tone in the era of cool jazz – he was also...
, to name a few, were fellow residents of Connecticut; jam sessions were not unusual, with various members sitting in as the day unfolded.
He authored numerous books on jazz, including the Jazz Improvisation series, which sets out the basic principles of jazz. These are published in seventeen languages and sold around the world.
The American composer Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
dedicated a piano composition to Mehegan in his Four Anniversaries collection published in 1948. Marked agitato: scherzando, the piece, For Johnny Mehegan, commemorates Mehegan's birthday, June 6, 1920, which is actually not the year he was born.