Critics and peers acknowledge Mr. O’Neal as perhaps the leading exponent of mid-20th-century jazz piano technique. “He’s a very special cat,” said the pianist Barry Harris, a bebop luminary who mentored Mr. O’Neal in the 1970s and ’80s. “If ever somebody sounded like Art Tatum, it’s him. He’s got it all.”

The similarity wasn’t lost on the director Taylor Hackford, who cast him in the role of Tatum in the 2004 biopic “Ray.” In one scene Mr. O’Neal sits onstage at a club, flawlessly carrying off Tatum’s signature downhill sprints and herculean harmonic leaps.

The guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel, 43, who has featured Mr. O’Neal as a guest performer at his concerts, considers him “an important figure” for younger players to hear. “My jaw dropped when I heard him play piano — and then my heart dropped when I heard him sing,” Mr. Rosenwinkel said.

Performing with Joe Farnsworth on drums and Yuriy Galkin on bass

Reservations strongly suggested.  JazzatThePost@gmail.com or please call Stephanie at 475-298-5079. Featuring a new hot menu from

Chef Derek Furino

Dinner starts at 6:30PM

VFW Post 399, 465 Riverside Ave, Westport CT 06880

Grammy Award-winning jazz pianist, composer, and singer/songwriter Kevin Hays’s many recordings have received critical acclaim from The New York Times, Downbeat Magazine and Jazz Times, as well as the “Coup de Coeur” award from the Académie Charles Cros (France).

Kevin has appeared on numerous albums as a guest artist, recording with Chris Potter, Bill Stewart, Joshua Redman, Jeff Ballard, Nicholas Payton, and Al Foster, among many others. Notable collaborations include a piano duo project with Brad Mehldau (Modern Music – Nonesuch), world tours with James Taylor, Sonny Rollins, John Scofield, Joe Henderson, and Roy Haynes.

In addition to his celebrated work as pianist and composer, Kevin has become increasingly known as a gifted and expressive singer/songwriter. In 2015 he released the widely lauded recording New Day (Sunnyside), on which he performed his own songs along with a riveting performance of the Jimmy Webb classic ‘Highwayman’.

Hope, the highly anticipated 2019 collaboration with Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke, was released on Edition Records. Their music moves effortlessly between melodic serenity and rhythmic interplay, highlighting the beauty and intimacy of the piano/acoustic guitar format.

Hays co-wrote several compositions on Steve Gadd Band’s eponymous album which garnered the 2019 GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.  The album features Kevin’s own ‘Spring Song’, the sole vocal track.

“Kevin Hays is a true original. Everything he plays has a deep intelligence and swing.”

Reservations strongly suggested.  JazzatThePost@gmail.com or please call Stephanie at 475-298-5079. Featuring a new hot menu from

Chef Derek Furino

Dinner starts at 6:30PM

VFW Post 399, 465 Riverside Ave, Westport CT 06880