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Jack DeJohnette: Song for World Forgiveness

By Carl Medsker
October 29, 2025
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On October 26, 2025, the highly musical master percussionist Jack DeJohnette died peacefully. During the journey from his birthplace, Chicago, to his adopted home, Woodstock, NY, he created an enduring, diverse and sonically scintillating legacy. From his early days with Charles Lloyd, through the electric Miles Davis period, to the legendary Standards Trio with Keith Jarrett and Gary Peacock, The Golden Quartet with Wadada Leo Smith and his own Special Edition and New Directions bands (and much more), he danced all around the beat, producing smoothly flowing, polyrhythmic, multi-timbral percussion. His origin as a pianist may account for the near-melodic nature of his playing. He elevated every performance with his intelligence and empathy.

The album Hudson (Motéma Music, 2017) with Larry Grenadier, John Medeski and John Scofield honored DeJohnette's seventy-fifth birthday and the region where they all chose to live. Here is his composition "Song For World Forgiveness," in celebration of an outstanding person and musician who will be sorely missed.

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