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Obituary

Jerry González Is Gone

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
October 6, 2018

It is sad to hear of the death of Jerry González, the extraordinary bandleader, trumpeter and Latin percussionist. He died of heart failure at 69 after being overcome by smoke in a fire in his home in Madrid, Spain on Monday. He had lived in Madrid since 2000. In the late 1970s, González and his bassist brother Andy established The Fort Apache Band, which quickly became one of the leading groups combining jazz and Latin music. Their album Rumba Para ...

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Obituary

Hamiet Bluiett 1940 - 2018

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
October 5, 2018

Hamiet Bluiett, a native of Brooklyn, IL who co-founded the World Saxophone Quartet and redefined the capabilities of the baritone sax in improvised music, died the morning of Thursday, October 4 at St. Louis University Hospital. He was 78 years old. Bluiett, whose birthday was September 16, had been gravely ill for some time, and according to a Facebook post from his daughter Anaya, was taken off respiratory support last week. As a child, Bluiett (pictured) studied piano, trumpet, and ...

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Obituary

Big Jay McNeely (1927-2018)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 17, 2018

Cecil “Big Jay" NcNeely, the father of the R&B tenor saxophone whose stamina and extravagant stage act starting in the late 1940s included playing on his back, setting the tone for rock 'n' roll and soul artists who followed, died on Sept. 16. He was 91. Big Jay had several significant R&B hits in the late 1940s and '50s, including The Deacon's Hop (#1), Wild Wig and There's Something on Your Mind. But his output included so many jump-blues singles ...

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Obituary

Don Gardner: 1931–2018

Source: All About Jazz
September 10, 2018

Philadelphia lost another great cultural leader this week with the passing of Donald Gardner, who died on Tuesday, September 4, 2018, at the age of 87. Gardner’s legacy spanned eight decades starting in 1947 as a singer and songwriter. His biggest hit was “Need Your Lovin,” which rose to number four on the R&B charts in 1962 and was later recorded by Otis Redding, Tom Jones, and Jackie Wilson among others. After releasing his third album, he created his own ...

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Obituary

Randy Weston (1926-2018)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
September 4, 2018

Randy Weston, a jazz pianist and composer who was the first artist producer Orrin Keepnews signed to his new Riverside label in 1954 and who became one of the most ardent champions of Pan-Africanism in jazz, died on September 1. He was 92. [Photo of Randy Weston by Chester Higgins] Randy was perhaps best known for his composition Hi-Fly, which he introduced on his New Faces at Newport album in 1958. The song's catchy melody and moody harmony helped the ...

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Obituary

Randy Weston, 1926-2018

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
September 3, 2018

Pianist and composer Randy Weston, who championed the African origins of jazz, died at home in New York yesterday. He was 92. With his distinctive rhythmic patterns and powerful harmonic progressions, Weston underlined the African heritage that so definitively helped shape the music’s development. He frequently visited and performed in Nigeria and other African nations. For a time in the late ‘60s he lived in Tangier, Morocco, and opened a club there. Several of Weston’s compositions long since took their ...

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Obituary

Pat Arana, trombonist of the St. Louis Stompers, dies at age 72

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
August 31, 2018

Trombonist Joseph Patrick “Pat" Arana of the St. Louis Stompers died of cancer last Wednesday, August 22 in St. Charles, MO. Arana was 72 years old and was retired from teaching music in the Ritenour School District. He performed locally and at festivals all over the country with the Stompers, worked with many other jazz and popular music groups in St. Louis, and was an original member of Jean Kittrell and Red Lehr’s Old St. Louis Levee Band. Services were ...

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Obituary

Jimmy Wilkins (1921-2018)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 29, 2018

Jimmy Wilkins, the trombone-playing brother of arranger-saxophonist Ernie Wilkins and the last surviving member of Count Basie's original New Testament Band launched in 1951, died August 24. He was 97. In recent years, Jimmy led a big band in Las Vegas using arrangements by his brother Ernie and Frank Foster. Jimmy and I spoke every six months or so. Our last conversation was in July. I'll miss him and his Count Basie stories. Here's my entire JazzWax interview with Jimmy: ...

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