Don Bagley

Bill Holman on Don Bagley

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 2, 2012

Don Bagley, a jazz bassist whose thick, meaty time-keeping became the heartbeat of leading West Coast big bands and ensembles of the 1950s and beyond, died July 26. He was 85. [Pictured above: Don Bagley with Julie London in Japan in May 1964] Bagley spent a good portion of the '50s and '60s in the rhythm section of Stan Kenton's most ferocious orchestras. Kenton's early admiration and appreciation of Bagley's role was evident in September 1952, when the bandleader singled ...
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