Don Shirley was a classical and jazz pianist and composer who went down as one of the great keyboard talents of his time. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on January 29, 1927. At the age of 9 he was extended an invitation to study theory with Mittolovski at the Leningrad Conservatory of music. He later studied with the famous organist Conrad Bernier, and took advanced composition classes with him and with Dr. Thaddeus Jones.

Shirley made his concert debut with the Boston “Pops” Symphony Orchestra in 1945, playing the Tchaikovsky B-flat minor concerto. But when he was in his mid-20s, he was discouraged from pursuing a classical career because he was black. He told his family and friends that impresario Sol Hurok had advised him to pursue a career in popular music and jazz, warning him that American audiences were not willing to accept a “colored” pianist on the concert stage.

His first experiments in modern music came during an engagement at the Blue Mirror in Washington D.C. His music took on its form in 1953, when he played at the Streamliner in Chicago. Shirley’s controversial style stemmed from his use of some of the more serious forms and techniques, along with the more popular music and jazz forms.

A “graduate” of the supper club-hotel-theater-dance hall circuit, Shirley drew wide critical acclaim when he appeared on the Arthur Godfrey Show to rave reviews by all the musical journals. This led to his being praised in editorials in a number of publications, which, in turn, brought further recognition.

He attracted further attention when in 1955, he played a piano concerto written for him by Duke Ellington, accompanied by the Symphony of the Air at Carnegie Hall, in New York City. He was in constant demand as a soloist after that, for personal appearances in clubs all over the country, as well as on radio and TV. Most listeners were baffled when they heard Shirley play for the first time, as he played jazz in a way they had never heard it played before. But those who knew his playing best talked of his unique “quiet sound,” which is as individual and personal as the man himself.

Don Shirley died at his home in Manhattan, on April 6, 2013, aged 86.

—Jordi Pujol