Jutta Hipp, 78; Traded Career as Jazz Pianist for a Job as Seamstress

Jutta Hipp, 78, a German-born jazz pianist who cut short her musical career to become a dressmaker, died Monday at her home in the Queens section of New York City. The cause of death was not reported.

Hipp was born in Leipzig and began playing piano at the age of 9. When Soviet troops moved in to occupy Leipzig in 1946, she crossed into West Germany. She found work playing piano in a circus and eventually in nightclubs before starting her own jazz group in Munich.

Later, she came to the attention of producer and jazz critic Leonard Feather, who arranged a visa for her to come to the United States. Feather booked her into the Hickory House jazz club in New York City. She also recorded three albums for the Blue Note label while working for Feather’s agency: “Jutta Hipp With Zoot Sims” and two volumes of “Jutta Hipp at the Hickory House.”

In 1958, two years after she appeared at the Newport Jazz Festival, she stopped playing jazz because of low self-confidence. She settled in Queens and earned a living as a seamstress, and apparently never played professionally again.

At one point, Blue Note could not find Hipp to send her royalty checks. In 2000, however, the label located her and presented her a check for $40,000 in back royalties.