This past October [2010] Toledo native Stanley Cowell returned home as part of  The AALP’s Legend’s Weekend. The significance of Mr. Cowell’s  appearance cannot be overstated

Mr. Cowell’s appearance was historically significant not just because we were marking the 100th birthday of Mr. Art Tatum, but it was important to heighten the awareness of two Toledo natives whose international reputations and talent are both immeasurable.

Cowell, in fact, lived just blocks from Tatum on Woodland Avenue and, as a child, he experienced, firsthand, the genius of Tatum as Mr. Tatum played in the Cowell family home.

Intuitively and historically, Mr. Cowell was the perfect choice to celebrate and interpret the work of legendary Art Tatum.

Stanley Surprises Audience!
For Stanley, returning home usually means rekindling relationships with family and friends. However; few outside his immediate family and friends knew there was another talented performer in the Cowell family.  During Mr. Cowell's tribute to Tatum, he surprised the audience and introduced  his daughter [Sunny] to the audience.  Sunny Cowell -  a music major [viola and vocals] like her dad - performed alongside her father in tribute to Tatum.  Sunny  is a recent graduate from Swarthmore College and is headed to law school... like her mom!

The Genesis of Genius

Mr. Cowell was born in Toledo, Ohio in 1941. He studied piano with Mary Belle Shealy          and Elmer Gertz, and pipe organ with J. Harold Harder. By the age of fifteen, he was a featured soloist with the Toledo Youth Orchestra in Kabelevsky's Piano Concerto No. 3, a church organist/choir director, and a budding jazz pianist.

Mr. Cowell's formal training in music is  extensive: a Bachelor of Music  degree from Oberlin Conservatory and a Master of Music degrees from the University of Michigan. He also has additional undergraduate study at the Mozarteum Akademie, Salzburg,  Austria, and graduate study at Wichita State University.

In 1966, Stanley headed for the Big Apple and found himself working with jazz legends like Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln, Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Herbie Mann, Miles Dave, Stan Getz,and so many more.  Quite frankly, talent and hard work seems to attract the right people, and Stanley - armed with a gift - honed his skills with the greats!

Mr Cowell is an extraordinary artist whose clarity and brilliance is ever-evolving. During a ten year period [1974 -1984] he toured, recorded and conducted workshops throughout the Americas, Europe and Japan.

Cowell currently heads the Department of Jazz at Rutgers University,  Mason Gross School of the Arts. He has also taught at the New England Conservatory in Boston,and was a professor at Herbert Lehman College in the Bronx, New York.  On the  day after this year's Tatum Tribute Mr. Cowell conducted a workshop for Toledo area students.

Like  many others, we greatly  appreciate Mr. Cowell's talent, but the concert only told part of the story.  At the conclusion of the concert, Stanley agreed to sign  commemorative posters bearing his and Mr. Tatum's likeness.  Watching him interact with well-wishers and autograph seekers even though the line, at times, seemed unending, we learned of his true appreciation of people. Whether he had met them before or not, he just a little more of  himself to each person.  It was uncanny, he found a way to embrace each person individually, even after a grueling two-hour performance. Frequently a man is  measured  by his talent, but  we also measure a man by how he treats others. In both cases, Stanley is a giant.

During his 2009 Tribute to Tatum, Mr. Cowell was both engaging and enlightening. That evening, Stanley stretched his soul, as well as,  his Steinway to demonstrate and represent the genius of Tatum and  -of course - his own.