His light, rippling piano backed all the jazz greats of the 1940s, but Chicago jazz musician Junior Mance really honed his chops playing with Dizzie Gillespie in the '50s. Taught piano by his father, also a respected jazz musician, Mance was playing professionally before he’d entered his teenage years, and spent the ensuing decades playing with artists like Gene Ammon, Cannonball Adderley, and Dinah Washington. In the '60s, Mance launched a career as leader, releasing a string of well-received albums. His profile was boosted in the '90s after some highly successful world tours with nine other piano players, a group dubbed the 100 Gold Fingers. Mance was inducted into the International Jazz Hall of Fame in '97 and has continued to play, record, and teach into the '00s.