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Charlie Watts (1941-2021)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In most photos of the Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts always looked like the band's accountant. Unlike Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones and Bill Wyman, he didn't seem to fit in nor did it appear in photos that he wanted to. And in many ways he didn't. Watts, at the tail end of the 1950s, was on his way to a jazz career, or so he hoped. It didn't take long to realize that jazz was drying up around him. ...
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Ronnell Bright (1930-2021)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Ronnell Bright, a jazz pianist and composer who accompanied many of the finest mid-century female jazz vocalists, including Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Nancy Wilson, Lena Horne, Lorez Alexandria and Anita O'Day and subbed for Count Basie on several albums and tours, died on August 12. Ronnell was 91. His wife, Dianne Bright, said the cause was dementia. When I started this blog in 2007, part of my motive was to track down favorite jazz artists few people knew much about ...
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Elliot Lawrence: 1925-2021
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Elliot Lawrence, one of the last surviving big band leaders of the late 1940s and early 1950s who employed many of the finest and most sophisticated New York jazz musicians who went went on to leadership careers in the LP era, died on July 2. He was 96. In 1960, Elliot began composing, arranging and conducting for television, film and Broadway. His shows included How to Succeed in Busness Without Really Trying, which won him a Tony. He also conducted ...
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Margie Evans, Iconic And Sophisticated Queen Of The Blues, Dies At 81
Source:
All About Jazz
Margie Evans, a legendary, international Blues and Gospel entertainer, songwriter, music producer, actress, music historian, community activist and motivational spokeswoman, who broke barriers for African American female Blues performers with poise, dignity and sophistication, died on March 19, 2021. In addition to her musicianship, Evans is noted as an activist for parity in music education as well as a promoter of the legacy of Blues music. As she often said, “I’ve been around a long time and I’ve really paid ...
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Bertrand Tavernier (1941-2021)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bertrand Tavernier, a French filmmaker who directed A Sunday in the Country, Life and Nothing But and, most notably, Round Midnight, a poetic film starring tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon and patterned after the last years of Bud Powell and Lester Young, died in Sainte-Maxime, France, on March 25. He was 79. Produced by Irwin Winkler and written by Tavernier and David Rayfiel, Round Midnight is widely regarded as a masterpiece in jazz storytelling. The 1986 film avoided the many cliches ...
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Freddie Redd (1928-2021)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Freddie Redd, a hard-bop pianist whose funk-driven, percussive style and sophisticated sense of harmony were reminiscent of Horace Silver but whose recording output seemed thinner than his initial promise, died March 17. He was 92. Born in New York and largely self-taught, Redd recorded sporadically in the 1950s as a sideman, disappearing for blocks of time while touring. In the decades that followed, Redd seemed to shy away from exposure. Two of his most important albums as a leader were ...
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Chris Barber, Giant of British Jazz, Dies at Age 90
Source:
The Last Music Company
Born in 1930, Chris Barber was one of the leading figures in European jazz. Together with Kenny Ball and Acker Bilk, he was one of the “Three B’s” who defined traditional jazz in Britain and spearheaded the “Trad” revival of the late 1950s and early 1960s. His interest in jazz began while he was evacuated from London during World War II, and he began collecting 78 records of his American heroes, becoming an expert on the early days of recorded ...
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Johnny Pacheco (1935-2021)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Johnny Pacheco, a bandleader who championed pachanga dance music in the late 1950s and co-founded Fania Records in 1964, a label that specialized in New York Latin music and paved the way for salsa in the late '60s and early '70s, died on February 15. He was 85. Pacheco was important for several reasons. While many New York Latin bands in the 1960s were exploring the boogaloo—a popular form of party dance music that combined the Latin tradition and soul—Pacheco ...
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