Richard Hyman (born March 8, 1927) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters fellow in 2017.Zimmerman, Brian (August 2016) "NEA Jazz Masters Announced". DownBeat. p. 18
As a pianist, Hyman has been praised for his versatility. DownBeat magazine characterized him as "a pianist of longstanding grace and bountiful talent, with an ability to adapt to nearly any historical style, from stride to bop to modernist sound-painting.". A masterful improviser, he is also a composer of concerti and chamber music, and the soundtrack composer/arranger for more than a dozen Woody Allen films. In addition, he launched the acclaimed Jazz in July series at the 92nd Street Y in New York City and served as its artistic director for 20 years.
His daughter Judy Hyman is a founding member of The Horse Flies, an American alternative rock/folk band based in Ithaca, New York. His grandson is designer and artist Adam Charlap Hyman.
Early life Hyman was born in New York City on March 8, 1927 to Joseph C. Hyman and Lee Roven ( Rovinsky), and grew up in suburban Mount Vernon, New York. His older brother, Arthur, owned a jazz record collection and introduced him to the music of Bix Beiderbecke and Art Tatum.
Hyman was trained classically by his mother's brother, the concert pianist Anton Rovinsky, who premiered The Celestial Railroad by Charles Ives in 1928. Hyman said of Rovinsky: "He was my most important teacher. I learned touch from him and a certain amount of repertoire, especially Beethoven. On my own I pursued Chopin. I loved his ability to take a melody and embellish it in different arbitrary ways, which is exactly what we do in jazz. Chopin would have been a terrific jazz pianist! His waltzes are in my improvising to this day.".
Hyman enlisted in the U.S. Army in June 1945, and was transferred to the U.S. Navy band department. "Once I got into the band department, I was working with much more experienced musicians than I was used to," Hyman once stated. "I’d played in a couple of kid bands in New York, playing dances, but the Navy meant business — I had to show up, read music, and be with a bunch of better players than I had run into." After leaving the Navy he attended Columbia University. While there, Hyman won a piano competition, for which the prize was 12 free lessons with swing-era pianist Teddy Wilson. Hyman has said that he "fell in love with jazz" during this period.
After graduating from Columbia, Hyman married his wife, Julia, in 1948.
Career Relax Records released Hyman's solo piano versions of "All the Things You Are" and "You Couldn't Be Cuter" around 1950. He recorded two honky-tonk piano albums under the pseudonym "Knuckles O'Toole" (including two original compositions), and recorded more as "Willie the Rock Knox" and "Slugger Ryan".
As a studio musician in the 1950s and early 1960s, Hyman performed with Tony Bennett, Perry Como, Guy Mitchell, Joni James, Marvin Rainwater, Ivory Joe Hunter, LaVern Baker, Ruth Brown, The Playmates, The Wildcats, The Kookie Cats, The Four Freshmen, The Four Sophomores, Johnny Mathis, Mitch Miller, and many more. He played with Charlie Parker for Parker's only film appearance. His extensive television studio work in New York in the 1950s and early 1960s included a stint as music director for Arthur Godfrey's television show from 1959 to 1961.
Hyman has worked as composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist for the Woody Allen films Stardust Memories, Zelig, The Purple Rose of Cairo, Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah and Her Sisters, Radio Days, Bullets Over Broadway, Everyone Says I Love You, Sweet and Lowdown, The Curse of the Jade Scorpion and Melinda and Melinda. His other film scores include French Quarter, Moonstruck, Scott Joplin, The Lemon Sisters and Alan and Naomi. His music has also been heard in Mask, Billy Bathgate, Two Weeks Notice, and other films. He was music director of The Movie Music of Woody Allen, which premiered at the Hollywood Bowl.
Hyman composed and performed the score for the Cleveland/San Jose Ballet Company's Piano Man, and Twyla Tharp's The Bum's Rush for the American Ballet Theatre. He was the pianist/conductor/arranger in Tharp's Eight Jelly Rolls, Baker's Dozen, and The Bix Pieces and similarly arranged and performed for Miles Davis: Porgy and Bess, a choreographed production of the Dance Theater of Dallas. In 2007, his Adventures of Tom Sawyer, commissioned by the John G. Shedd Institute for the Arts and produced for the stage by Toni Pimble of the Eugene Ballet, premiered in Eugene, Oregon.
In the 1960s, Hyman recorded several pop albums on Enoch Light's Command Records. At first, he used the Lowrey organ, on the albums Electrodynamics (US No. 117), Fabulous (US No. 132), Keyboard Kaleidoscope and The Man from O.R.G.A.N. He later recorded several albums on the Moog synthesizer which mixed original compositions and cover versions, including Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick Hyman (Can No. 35) and The Age of Electronicus (US No. 110).
The track "The Minotaur" from The Electric Eclectics (1969) charted in the US top 40 (US R&B Singles No. 27; Hot 100 No. 38) (No. 20 Canada), becoming the first Moog single hit (although, as originally released on 45, it was the B-side to the shorter "Topless Dancers of Corfu"). Some elements from the track "The Moog and Me" (most notably the whistle that serves as the song's lead-in) on the same album were sampled by Beck for the track "Sissyneck" on his 1996 album Odelay. Hyman has been a guest performer at jazz festivals and concert venues. Around 1995, Hyman and his wife, Julia, moved permanently to Venice, Florida.Feinman, M. (Spring 2012). A Conversation with Dick Hyman. Saw Palm, 6, 97-99. Retrieved from http://www.sawpalm.org/uploads/6/6/2/8/6628902/saw_palm_-_volume_6_-_2012.pdf on 2 February 2022. Julia Hyman died June 16, 2025.
Discography As leader RecordedReleasedTitleLabelNotes19531953September Song: Dick Hyman Plays the Music of Kurt WeillProsceniumSolo piano19531953Conversation Piece: Dick Hyman Plays the Music of Noel CowardProsceniumSolo pianoHigh Fidelity Magazine - Volume 3 - Page 93 1953 NOEL COWARD: A PIANO PORTRAIT BY DICK HYMAN Classic Editions ce 4003. 12-in. $5.95. Dance, Little ... We look forward to more representative names from a long list of announced Piano Portraits to come. Meanwhile, this reviewer ...19532009Autumn in New York: Dick Hyman Plays the Music of Vernon DukeProsceniumSolo pianoAmerican record guide - Volumes 20-21 - Page 288 1953 -And Classic Editions has brought out another of its beguiling Dick Hyman "piano portrait" jobs (4002); this time the subject is Vernon Duke, or Vladimir Dukelsky if you happen to be a longhair since the latter name is the one he uses for his ...1955?Ragtime Piano (MH 33-147)Waldorf Music HallAs Willie "The Rock" Knox And His Orchestra1955?Ragtime Piano (MH 33-151)Waldorf Music HallAs Willie "The Rock" Knox And His Orchestra1955?Swingin' Double DateLionTrio1955?The Dick Hyman Trio SwingsMGMTrio19561956The Unforgettable Sound of the Dick Hyman TrioMGMTrio1956Beside a Shady NookMGMTrio1956The Swinging SeasonsMGMTrio19571957Hi Fi SuiteMGMWith Joe Newman (trumpet), Thad Jones (trumpet), Benny Powell (trombone), Bill Barber (tuba), Jerome Richardson (alto saxophone, piccolo), Frank Wess (tenor saxophone, flute), Romeo Penque (clarinet, baritone saxophone), Phil Bodner (baritone saxophone, oboe), Don Elliott (vibraphone, percussion), Oscar Pettiford (bass), Eddie Safranski (bass), Osie Johnson (drums), Kenny Clarke (drums), Don Lamond (drums)1957195760 Great All Time Songs - Volumes 1–6MGMQuartet19571957Dick Hyman & Harpsichord in Hi FiMGMTrio and orchestra1958Oh, Captain!MGMWith various, including Harry "Sweets" Edison (trumpet), Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax), Art Farmer (trumpet), Tony Scott (reeds), Marilyn Moore, Jackie Paris and Osie Johnson (vocals)19581958GigiMGMTrio, with Eddie Safranski (bass), Don Lamond (drums)19581958Knuckles O'Toole Plays the Greatest All-Time Ragtime HitsGrand Award (reissued by ABC in 1974)Trio (banjo and drums)1960After SixMGMTrio19601960Strictly Organ-icMGMQuintet1960Provocative PianoCommandWith orchestra1960Provocative Piano, Vol. 2CommandWith orchestra19611961Dick Hyman and His TrioCommandTrio, with Joe Benjamin (bass), Osie Johnson (drums)19631963ElectrodynamicsCommandQuintet1963FabulousCommand19631963Moon GasMGM With Mary Mayo19641964Keyboard KaleidoscopeCommandWith various, including Everett Barksdale, Bucky Pizzarelli, Bob Haggart, Osie Johnson, the Ray Charles Singers19651965The Man from O.R.G.A.N.Command1966I'll Never Be the SameMGMWith strings19661966Happening!CommandHyman plays harpsichord19671967Brasilian ImpressionsCommandWith various19681968MirrorsCommand19681968Sweet Sweet SoulCommandWith Bob Haggart (electric bass), Bob Rosengarden (drums)19691969Moog: The Electric Eclectics of Dick HymanCommandHyman plays Moog19691969The Age of ElectronicusCommand