Danish jazz legend dies

Horace Parlan played with the giants of jazz

Naturalised Danish jazz pianist Horace Parlan, who played with a string of jazz giants, has died at the age of 86.

Harlan played with jazz icons like Charles Mingus, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Benny Carter and Red Holloway.

Horace Parlan Lumont was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the US. He was an abandoned infant and was adopted by a priest in Pittsburgh when he was three months old.

Overcoming adversity
When Parlan was just five, his right hand was crippled by polio. But he still managed to forge a life-long career in jazz despite the handicap.

During a tour of Scandinavia, Parlan fell in love with the atmosphere in Copenhagen and moved here in 1972. He became a Danish citizen in 1995.