Big Band in the Sky

Alan Greenspan, 1926–2026: The Reedman Who Conducted the Economy

by Kofi Adjepong-Boateng
June 26, 2026

He kept the clarinet. Sixty years after he last played for money, the central banker still had the instrument from his dance-band days; when a television crew trooped in, he turned it over in his hands but would not play it, remembering too well how it was supposed to sound. Alan Greenspan, who died on 22 June 2026 aged 100, chaired the Federal Reserve for nearly nineteen years and was canonised as “the Maestro," a pun before it ...

Ronell Johnson: A New Orleans Life and a Horn Played with Joy

by Thomas Cole
June 25, 2026

Born in Marrero, LA, on the West Bank of New Orleans, I am the youngest of four boys, all musicians. In addition to L.B. Landry High School, I attended St. Augustine High School, a local college preparatory school for boys. Membership in St. Augustine's Marching 100 band was significant in my music training. Ultimately, it was at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA) where my commitment to music was greatly developed, which led to a B.A. in ...

Abdullah Ibrahim: 1934–2026

by Kofi Adjepong-Boateng
June 18, 2026

Abdullah Ibrahim , the South African pianist, composer and bandleader, died in Bavaria, Germany, on 15 June 2026. He was born Adolph Johannes Brand in Cape Town on 9 October 1934. Frail but undimmed, Ibrahim last performed on 27 March at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival, in the city that made him. He grew up around District Six, the inner-city quarter--mixed, Muslim, musical--that the apartheid state would later try to erase. As a boy he ...

Remembering James Blood Ulmer: The Incognito Bluesman

by Ian Patterson
June 15, 2026

James Blood Ulmer, the pioneering electric guitarist and singer who first came to prominence in New York in the early '70s, has died at the age of 86. His extraordinarily visceral guitar style--ragged, choppy, spluttering yet deeply emotive--was instantly recognizable. Post-Jimi Hendrix, Ulmer was one of just a handful of guitarists to alter the language of the electric guitar in jazz, blues and funk. Nobody, however, sounded remotely like James Blood Ulmer, whose gravelly vocals were also as distinctive as ...

Sonny Rollins Blows His Last At 95

by Ian Patterson
May 29, 2026

Sonny Rollins, the world-renowned tenor saxophonist who lit up the jazz world for nearly seven decades, has died at the age of 95. Hailed in many quarters as the greatest improvising musician in jazz, his passing feels like the end of an era. In a career that began in the 1940s, Rollins played with Miles Davis, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk, Clifford Brown and Max Roach. Several of his compositions, among them “St. Thomas," “Doxy," and “Airegin," became jazz ...

Remembering Marilyn Mazur: Percussion Shaman

by Ian Patterson
January 26, 2026

Marilyn Mazur, the trailblazing Danish drummer, percussionist, composer and bandleader, who enjoyed an extraordinarily varied career, has died at the age of 70. In over fifty years working in jazz and improvised music, Mazur collaborated with Alex Riel, Wayne Shorter, Gil Evans, Charlie Mariano, Jon Balke, Dhafer Youssef, and Jan Garbarek, amongst many others. She holds the distinction of being the only woman ever to play in Miles Davis' band. Mazur was born in New York City in ...

Remembering Jack DeJohnette: Unlimited Imagination

by Ian Patterson
October 30, 2025

It is with sadness that All About jazz must report the passing of NEA Jazz Master Jack DeJohnette--one of the most respected and influential of modern jazz drummers. He died of congestive heart failure on October 26, 2025. He was 83. DeJohnette belongs in the pantheon of great jazz drummers. If there were a Mount Rushmore of jazz drummers--and it would need to be one big old rock--Jack DeJohnette would certainly be there. His unique and ...

Remembering Hermeto Pascoal: The Sorcerer's Spell

by Ian Patterson
September 16, 2025

Hermeto Pascoal, the one-of-a-kind Brazilian multi-instrumentalist and composer, has gone to the great gig in the sky. Known affectionately as Bruxo (Sorcerer), Pascoal passed away on September 13, 2025. He was 89. Few musicians have traversed as many styles of Brazilian music as Pascoal. His first commercial recording, in 1956, was with Clóvis Pereira--the renowned composer of folkloric, choral and orchestral works; Pascoal plays sanfona (button accordion) on two tracks. Over the next 65 years, Pascoal contributed to ...

Unforgettable Bob Perkins’ Backstory: How The Content of His Character Stamped Him In Our Memory

by Victor L. Schermer
February 19, 2025

On Sunday, January 19, 2025, WRTI Jazz Radio icon Bob Perkins passed away in the early hours of the morning, at age 91, at Jefferson Abington Hospital, near where he lived for many years with his wife, Dr. Sheila K. Perkins. He will always be remembered for his decades-long work as a radio broadcaster and as a devoted presence in the Philadelphia jazz scene. After pursuing various avenues of broadcasting news and jazz, with some serious writing thrown in to ...

Remembering Susan Alcorn: Bucking The Trends

by Ian Patterson
February 5, 2025

All About Jazz is saddened to learn of the passing of Susan Alcorn--pedal steel guitarist extraordinaire. She died on January 31st of natural causes. Perhaps more than any other pedal steel guitarist before her, Alcorn took her instrument into musical terrain not usually associated with it. She played country music for twenty years, but she also brought her instrument to bear on contemporary classical music, folk music, jazz and more experimental music. Born in Allentown, PA ...