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Bill Smith And McCoy Tyner Are Gone
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
James Moody told me that his Georgia-born grandmother said one morning while looking through the newspaper, “Folks is dyin’ what ain’t never died befo’.” The trend continues, as It always has and, if human suscsceptibility is a guide, always will. Recently, the parade of departures resumed when the jazz world lost two giants in their nineties, McCoy Tyner and William O. Smith. Smith a clarinetist, composer, teacher and formidable arranger, was 93. Encouraged by the classical composer Darius Milhaud when ...
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McCoy Tyner (1938-2020)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
McCoy Tyner, whose hypnotically churning and thunderous piano behind John Coltrane's saxophone in the 1960s, starting with My Favorite Things in 1961, altered the evolution of the jazz keyboard, died on March 6. He was 81. Tyner's stampede-like approach and vast use of modal scales created a new approach on the jazz piano, breaking with the modernists of the post-war period. Tyner's attack was exhibited several dozen leadership albums that were recorded well into the 2000s. Tyner remained with Coltrane ...
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Jimmy Heath And Claudio Roditi Are Gone
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The last thing any of us at Rifftides wants is for our endeavor to become an obituary service. Life goes on, however, as does its opposite. So we continue to note the passing of musicians who have enriched listeners around the world. Recently, we lost American saxophonist, bandleader and composer Jimmy Heath and Brazil’s Claudio Roditi, perhaps the most influential trumpet and flugelhorn soloist to emerge from his country in the second half of the last century. Heath was 93, ...
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Jimmy Heath (1926-2020)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Jimmy Heath, a tenor saxophonist with exceptional gifts as a composer, arranger and player who spent critical years of the 1950s in prison for the sale of drugs but rebuilt his career in the 1960s and beyond, died on January 19. He was 93. Nicknamed “Little Bird" for his Parker-like fluidity when he played alto saxophone in the late 1940s, Jimmy didn't start recording leadership albums until 1959, when producer Orrin Keepnews signed him to Riverside Records. In 1975, he ...
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Jack Sheldon (1931-2019)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Jack Sheldon, a West Coast jazz trumpeter who, in the 1960s, as jazz recording opportunities dried up, began to diversify into film studio work, TV acting, comedy, singing and a regular vocal part on the children's animated series School of Rock, died on December 27. He was 88. Sheldon was most notable for his clean, round sound on the trumpet and his easy-going personality and good cheer, which often seeped into his music. Sheldon spoke on camera in the Chet ...
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Jack Sheldon, 1931-2019
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
It is sad to report that the great trumpeter Jack Sheldon has died at the age of 88. Sheldon sang with spirit, style, phrasing and good humor that paralleled his trumpet playing. This video is from his 1984 appearance at Lulu White’s Mahogany Hall in the New Orleans French Quarter. The other members of his band were Dave Frishberg, piano; John Pisano, guitar; and Dave Stone, bass. The tune is Duke Ellington’s “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore.” For more about ...
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Hugh "Peanuts" Whalum 1928 - 2019
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St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Hugh “Peanuts" Whalum, a pianist, singer, and tenor saxophonist who was part of the St. Louis music scene from the late 1940s into the 21st century, has died. He was 91 years old. News of Whalum's passing on Christmas day spread on social media via Facebook posts from Jeff Anderson, who played bass with Whalum for the last 20 years of his career, and Jay Brandt, former owner of Brandt's in University City, where Whalum played many gigs during the ...
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Harold Mabern: 1936-2019
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Harold Mabern, a pianist who came relatively late to prominence but quickly carved out space as a hard-bop and soul-jazz legend, died September 17. He was 83. Born in Memphis, Tenn., Mabern was self-taught and came under the sway of local jazz pianist Phineas Newborn Jr. In 1954 he moved to Chicago, where he began recording with saxophonist Frank Strozier. He also was friend with Memphis saxophonists George Coleman and Booker Little. After moving to New York in 1959, Mabern ...
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