Early life Hill was born in
Chicago,
Illinois, to William and Hattie Hill. He had a brother, Robert, who was a singer and classical violin player. Hill took up the piano at the age of thirteen, and was encouraged by
Earl Hines. As a child, he attended the
University of Chicago Experimental School. He was referred by jazz composer
Bill Russo to
Paul Hindemith, with whom he studied informally until 1952. While a teenager, he performed in rhythm and blues bands and with touring jazz musicians, including
Charlie Parker and
Miles Davis. Hill recalls some of his experience as a youngster, during a 1964 interview with
Leonard Feather: "I started out in music as a boy soprano, singing and playing the
accordion, and tap dancing. I had a little act and made quite a few of the talent shows around town from 1943 until 1947. I won turkeys at two Thanksgiving parties at the
Regal Theatre," parties sponsored by the newspaper
Chicago Defender, which Hill coincidentally used to sell on the streets. During the next few years, the piano gigs brought him into contact with many musicians, some of whom became relevant influences:
Joe Segal and
Barry Harris, among others. In 1961, after travelling as an accompanist for
Dinah Washington, the young pianist settled in New York City in 1961, Hill rarely worked as a sideman after the 1960s, preferring to play his own compositions. This may have limited his public exposure. He later taught in California and held a tenure-track faculty appointment at
Portland State University from 1989 to 1996. While at PSU, he established a Summer Jazz Intensive program, in addition to performing, conducting workshops and attending residencies at
Wesleyan University, the
University of Michigan, the
University of Toronto,
Harvard University,
Bennington College and other schools. Hill's album
Dusk was selected best album of 2001 by both
DownBeat and
JazzTimes; and in 2003, Hill received the
Jazzpar Prize. Hill's earlier work also received renewed attention as a result of the belated release of several unissued sessions recorded in the 1960s for Blue Note, notably the ambitious large-group date
Passing Ships. In 2004, he appeared on
SOLOS: The Jazz Sessions. As a consequence of his renewed prominence, a new Blue Note album titled
Time Lines was released on February 21, 2006. His final public performance was on March 29, 2007, at
Trinity Church in New York City. ==Private life==