James Maurice Hurt Jr is an American jazz pianist.
Hurt had early training as a drummer.[1]
Hurt was a member of Sherman Irby's quartet that played regularly at Smalls Jazz Club in New York City in the late 1990s.[2] Gregory Tardy wrote a song after him, entitled "Mr. Hurt";[3] the pair played with Rashied Ali in 1999.[4]
In the 1990s, Hurt played on albums with Antonio Hart (Here I Stand),[5] Abbey Lincoln (Wholly Earth), and Russell Gunn.[6]
His own first album was Dark Grooves – Mystical Rhythms on Blue Note Records in 1999.[7][8] In a review of the album, James Lien of CMJ New Music Report called Hurt "one of the more adventurous young pianists to recently emerge on the New York scene."[9] Calvin Wilson of The Kansas City Star described the album as "at once boldly experimental and totally accessible."[10]
James has played with Elizabeth Kontomanou,[11] Graham Haynes,[12] DJ Logic,[13] and composer, percussionist, and conductor Adam Rudolph (as a percussionist),[14]
Hurt has made guest appearances with Donald Edwards,[15] Stacy Dillard,[15] and Rudresh Mahanthappa.[16]
Hurt has been a piano tutor at the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.[17]
As leader
As sideman