HOD O’ BRIEN (pianist) was born January 19, 1936 in Chicago, Ilinois. The respected pianist who performed with such artists as Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell and Stan Getz, was asked to replace Bill Evans in Oscar Pettiford’s quartet at the age of 21. O’Brien took a break from the jazz world to return to school – studying mathematics and psychology at Columbia and becoming faculty at New York University. Aside from his academic and performing career he ran St. James Infirmary Jazz club, where he was part of the house band from 1974 – 75 .