Harold O'Neal

As a keynote speaker and Social Entrepreneur, O'Neal has been featured at Google, The World Economic Forum, TEDX, Hatch Experience, C2 Montréal, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and other leading platforms. Currently, he has a multitude of projects in development, including producing his next jazz album (2023), producing and scoring an untitled feature length film with an Academy Award winning director (2024), and founding a global social entrepreneurship initiative with Paul Propster, Chief Strategist and Story Architect of NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

O'Neal worked as a composer for a featurette and the documentaries of the 2015 Disney film Tomorrowland produced by Academy Award winning filmmaker Anthony Giacchino, which starred George Clooney and Britt Robertson. The film was directed by Brad Bird with the film-score being composed by Michael Giacchino. His solo piano album "Piano Cinema" was released in May 2018, with "Sam and Sam" serving as the lead single. Following the album release, O'Neal completed a spring tour across the U.S. with The Blk Shp with Pixar as a partner. Recently, from the recommendation of Ed Catmull, O'Neal played a role with the filmmakers (Pete Docter, Dana Murray, Kemp Powers) as a creative expert in the development of Pixar's Soul.

In 2009, O'Neal appeared as an actor in Jay Z's music video for the hit record Young Forever, from his multi-platinum album The Blueprint 3. In 2010, he was cast in the HBO television series Boardwalk Empire, portraying James P. Johnson. He was also featured in MTV's Sucker Free.

In the following years, O'Neal released a number of critically acclaimed albums including -- "Charlie's Suite" (2006), which was a compilation of his family's legacy, "Whirling Mantis" (2010) with a jazz quartet, and a solo piano album "Marvelous Fantasy" (2011) on Smalls Records. He then partnered with Ski Beats and Damon Dash, after being signed to Universal Music Group as a songwriter and producer, to release the albums 24 Hour Karate School 2 (2011), Twilight (2012), and Cam'Ron And Vado's Blu Tops (2012). In 2012, O'Neal formed a partnership with producers Lil Ronnie and Jerry Wonda working with many Pop and R&B artists (Miguel, Akon, Melissa Ethridge, Raphael Saadiq, French Montana). In 2013, he released the album "Man on the Street" featuring a jazz quartet as well as solo piano for BluRoc, an at the time incarnation of Rocafella Records distributed by Def Jam Records.

O'Neal began working with musical luminaries from a young age – touring with Bobby Watson when he was 19 after studying composition at the Berklee College of Music. He then went on to the Manhattan School of Music, to study with Kenny Barron. It was there where he met the great American jazz pianist and composer, Andrew Hill, with whom he soon became the apprentice of. Mr. Hill was an apprentice of prolific composer Paul Hindemith. Following Andrew Hill's advice, O'Neal left the Manhattan School of Music to replace pianist Jason Moran in the influential band, the Greg Osby 4, making his major-label debut recording for Blue Note Records at the age of 21. In 2004, O'Neal premiered a jazz quartet featuring Greg Osby, Jeff "Tain" Watts, and Matt Brewer.

Harold Mujahid O'Neal FRSA (born 27 March 1981) is an American producer, pianist, composer, public speaker, storyteller, and social entrepreneur. While mainly associated with the legacy of jazz pianists, he has worked with artists in a variety of musical genres (U2, Kelly Rowland, Bob Geldof, Akon, Melissa Etheridge, Lupe Fiasco, Busta Rhymes, Damien Rice, Estelle Aloe Blacc, Jay Z). O'Neal has been profiled and featured in numerous publications and programs including Forbes, NPR's All Things Considered, Fortune, Studio 360, and the 92Y, with The New York Times comparing him to Duke Ellington, Kenny Kirkland, and Maurice Ravel. He is considered to be of this generation's greatest pianists and composers. O'Neal has been awarded fellowship to the Royal Society of the Arts, with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as a patron, and recently played a role as a creative expert for the Academy Award winning Pixar film, Soul.