Nancarrow, Conlon

Nancarrow, Conlon

(1912–  ) composer; born in Texarkana, Ark. He pursued both jazz and classical studies in his youth and in 1937 fought in the Spanish Civil War. Three years later he settled in Mexico City, where he created a series of unique, highly complex works for pianola by working directly on the piano rolls. He emerged from relative obscurity by way of a 1982 "genius" award from the MacArthur Foundation.

The Cambridge Dictionary of American Biography, by John S. Bowman. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995. Reproduced with permission.