Haynes, Cyril
Haynes, Cyril
Haynes, Cyril, jazz pianist, arranger; b. Panama Canal Zone, May 8, 1918. He is the brother of saxophonist Ronald Haynes, who died in March 1938. He was raised in N.Y. and started on piano before he was 10. He gigged with local teenagers George Foster and Charlie Shavers and worked with local bands while majoring in music at Columbia Univ. He did a brief road tour with the Dixie on Parade revue before joining Billy Hick’s Sizzling Six until September 1937. He joined A. Cooper’s Savoy Sultans in late November 1937 and worked regularly with the band until 1943. During the 1940s, Haynes played residencies as house pianist at Cafe Society, Onyx, and other N.Y. clubs, and also recorded as a leader and sideman. In 1947 he worked for a while as accompanist for vocalist Lena Home. He had solo residencies in Calif. (1948–50), played with Noble Sissle in 1950, then played solo piano at the Reuben Bleu in N.Y. He played with various bands in the 1950s including Andy Kirk, Cab Calloway, and Reuben Phillips’s Big Band. During the 1960s, he did several annual tours (accompanying Calloway) with the Harlem Globetrotters shows. During the 1970s he worked as a club pianist in N.Y.
—John Chilton Who’s Who of Jazz/Lewis Porter