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Ellis Marsalis (1934-2020)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Ellis Marsalis, an elegant jazz pianist who chose to remain in his native New Orleans for much of his career while raising a family that included musician sons Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason, died on April 1. He was 85. Marsalis wasn't widely known among jazz fans outside of New Orleans for many years, largely because of his decision to become an educator at the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the University of New Orleans, and Xavier University of ...
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Ellis Marsalis Is Gone
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The death this week of Ellis Marsalis recalls dozens of enounters with him when he was one of New Orleans’ premier jazz musicians. Long before Ellis became famous as the father of Wynton, Branford, Jason and Delfeo, he established himself as a nonpareil pianist and educator. I remember hearing the the young Marsalis when he was a key member of alto saxophonist Al Belletto’s sextet in the 1960s and being spellbound by the intricacies he and Belletto wove in their ...
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Prolific Austin composer, first call pianist Rich Harney dies suddenly at 66
Source:
All About Jazz
Austin is mourning the loss of one of its finest and most beloved musicians, pianist Rich Harney. Harney passed away on January 5, 2020, just before a Sunday night trio gig at The Elephant Room. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Harney was a prolific composer first inspired by the recordings of Oscar Peterson. Influences include Thelonious Monk, Tadd Dameron, Chick Corea, McCoy Tyner, and Charlie Parker, as well as the early jazz piano of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller to ...
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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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