Military Wiki
in: Pages containing cite templates with deprecated parameters, Pages using infobox military person with embed, Pages using infobox Christian leader with unknown parameters,
and 16 more

Skinny Hightower

Sign in to edit
Skinny Hightower
Hightower in 2016
Personal details
Born
Jason Carroll

November 12, 1985(1985-11-12) (age 39)
Wichita, Kansas
OccupationPianist[1]
Military career
AllegianceUnited States
Branch United States Army
Years of service2012-2017[2]
Rank Sergeant

Jason Carroll (born November 12, 1985), known professionally as Skinny Hightower, is an American jazz pianist.[6] In 2020, his album Blue Moon finished as the 14th overall smooth jazz album on the Smooth Jazz Year End Top 100 Album Chart.[7] In the same year, his single "Bittersweet" finished as the sixth overall single on the 2020 Billboard Year-End charts for Smooth Jazz Airplay Songs.[8] Two singles from Blue Moon, the title track "Blue Moon" and "Now or Never", finished 36th and 38th respectively on the 2021 Billboard Year-End charts for Smooth Jazz Airplay Songs.[9] Hightower was also the number seven artist on the 2021 Billboard Year-End Smooth Jazz Airplay Artists list.[10] Hightower's singles "Blue Moon," "Now or Never," and "Taboo" all reached number one on the Smooth Jazz Airplay Billboard charts.[11][12] [13] "Blue Moon" also reached number one on the Smooth Jazz Network Top 20 singles chart.[14]

Early life[]

Skinny Hightower was born as Jason Carroll in Wichita, Kansas on 12 November 1985.[1][15] Hightower's interest in music began at age two when he would sit on his father's lap and play the drums.[1][15][2] His involvement would continue as he later developed a mild interest in piano at age eight and began playing bass at the age of 12.[1] Jazz and gospel were his primary musical influences at the time.[15] Hightower later attended Wichita South High School where he played as a percussionist in the marching band, pep band, jazz band, and concert band.[2]

Music career[]

2012-2017: Military service and Cloud Nine[]

In 2012, Skinny Hightower enlisted in the United States Army where he served for five years and became a sergeant.[1][2] He deployed to Afghanistan during the War in Afghanistan for a few months. Four years into his military contract, he recorded and released his first studio album Cloud Nine.[1]

Name origin[]

Hightower's pseudonym originated as a nickname given to him by his fellow servicemembers.[2] Upon learning that he was a jazz musician, his Army friends called him a skinny Mr. Hightower (played by Steve Harvey) in connection with the 1996 sitcom The Steve Harvey Show.[2]

2020: Blue Moon[]

In 2020, Skinny Hightower released Blue Moon which spawned the second and third number one Billboard singles of his career.[11][12] The production of the album consisted of the recording of 100 songs of which 24 were selected by a team of 10 individuals.[15][16][17]

Discography[]

Studio albums[]

Album title Release year Record label Ref(s)
Cloud Nine 2016 Vein Records [4]
Emotions 2017 Trippin 'N' Rhythm Records [4]
Retrospect 2018 Trippin 'N' Rhythm Records [4]
Blue Moon 2020 Trippin 'N' Rhythm Records [4][5]

Singles[]

Title Year Peak chart position Album Ref(s)
US Jazz
(Smooth)
"Taboo" 2017 1 Emotions [13]
"Bittersweet" 2020 3 Blue Moon [18]
"Blue Moon" 2020 1 Blue Moon [11]
"Now or Never" 2020 1 Blue Moon [12]

Collaborations[]

Year Artist Release Additional information Ref(s)
2018 Lin Rountree Stronger Still Featured artist, piano [3]
2019 Cindy Bradley The Little Things Bass, vibraphone [3]

Live performances[]

Festivals[]

Year Title Role Ref(s)
2018 Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival Featured artist [19]
2019 Seabreeze Jazz Festival Featured artist [20]

Music[]

  • Billboard charts
  • Jazz piano
  • Smooth jazz
  • Smooth jazz radio

Lists[]

  • List of jazz pianists
  • List of people from Wichita, Kansas
  • List of smooth jazz musicians
  • Lists of African Americans

Other[]

References[]

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 AllMusic.com. Artist Biography.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Riedl, Matt. "Chart-topping musician relocates to Wichita". The McClatchy Company. https://www.kansas.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/keeper-of-the-plans/article195456469.html. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "Credits - AllMusic". https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skinny-hightower-mn0003560234/credits. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 "Discography". https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skinny-hightower-mn0003560234/discography. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Linton, David. "Skinny Hightower: Now Or Never". WCLK. https://www.wclk.com/jazz/2021-06-14/skinny-hightower-now-or-never. 
  6. ↑ Collar, Matt. "Skinny Hightower Biography". AllMusic. https://www.allmusic.com/artist/skinny-hightower-mn0003560234/biography. 
  7. ↑ "SmoothJazz.com Year End Top 100 Album Chart (Formerly the Gavin Report)". https://www.smoothjazz.com/charts/yearend. 
  8. ↑ "YEAR-END CHARTS Smooth Jazz Airplay Songs". https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2020/smooth-jazz-songs/. 
  9. ↑ "Billboard 2021 Year-End Smooth Jazz Songs Chart". Lynne Segall. https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/smooth-jazz-songs. 
  10. ↑ "Billboard Magazine 2021 Year-End Smooth Jazz Artists List". Lynne Segall. https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/smooth-jazz-songs-artists/. 
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 "Smooth Jazz Airplay for Blue Moon". Lynne Segall. https://www.billboard.com/charts/jazz-songs/2021-01-23/. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "Smooth Jazz Airplay for Now or Never". Lynne Segall. https://www.billboard.com/charts/jazz-songs/2021-07-24/. 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Smooth Jazz Airplay for Taboo". Lynne Segall. https://www.billboard.com/charts/jazz-songs/2017-07-22/. 
  14. ↑ Kepler, Allen. "Top 20 Chart for January 23rd". KepEnt, LLC. https://www.smoothjazznetwork.com/post/top-20-for-january-23rd. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 "Blue Moon". Michael Fagien. https://www.jazziz.com/blue-moon/. 
  16. ↑ Eckels, Carla. "In-Studio: A Conversation with Skinny Hightower". National Public Radio. https://www.kmuw.org/music/2021-06-29/in-studio-a-conversation-with-skinny-hightower. 
  17. ↑ "Blue Moon - Skinny Hightower - Credits". AllMusic. https://www.allmusic.com/album/blue-moon-mw0003362150/credits. 
  18. ↑ "Smooth Jazz Airply for Bittersweet". Lynne Segall. https://www.billboard.com/charts/jazz-songs/2020-04-11/. 
  19. ↑ "32nd Catalina Island JazzTrax Festival this October". https://www.lovecatalina.com/articles/post/32nd-catalina-island-jazztrax-festival-this-october/. 
  20. ↑ "Seabreeze Jazz Festival announces 2019 lineup". https://www.wjhg.com/content/news/Seabreeze-Jazz-Festival-announces-2019-lineup-501802981.html. 

External links[]

All or a portion of this article consists of text from Wikipedia, and is therefore Creative Commons Licensed under GFDL.
The original article can be found at Skinny Hightower and the edit history here.
Community content is available under CC-BY-SA unless otherwise noted.