Obituary News

Oscar Peterson Mourned by Jazz Colleagues

Source: LRI Publicity
December 26, 2007

Oscar Peterson's dazzling keyboard technique, commanding sense of swing and mastery of different piano styles could leave even his most accomplished peers awe-struck. His death brought forth tributes from jazz pianists spanning the generations.

Peterson died Sunday of kidney failure at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga.

87-year-old Dave Brubeck recalled the first time he ever heard a Peterson recording shortly after jazz impresario Norman Granz introduced the Canadian pianist to American audiences at a 1949 Carnegie Hall ...

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Jazz Great Oscar Peterson Dies at 82

Source: All About Jazz
December 25, 2007

TORONTO (AP) -- Oscar Peterson, whose flying fingers, hard-driving swing and melodic improvisations made him one of the world's most famous and influential jazz pianists in a career that spanned seven decades, has died. He was 82. Peterson died at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga on Sunday, said Oliver Jones, a family friend and jazz musician. He said Peterson's wife and daughter were with him during his final moments. The cause of death was kidney failure, said ...

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Oscar Peterson, Piano Virtuoso

Source: All About Jazz
December 25, 2007

During an illustrious career spanning six decades, jazz piano virtuoso Oscar Peterson played with musicians as diverse as Louis Armstrong and Charlie Parker and became one of the most recorded and honored jazz pianists of all time. Peterson, 82, died of kidney failure Sunday at his home in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga. Peterson, a Canadian-born musical prodigy, recorded more than 200 albums and won eight Grammy Awards, including one for lifetime achievement in 1997. Peterson showed technical and emotional ...

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Oscar Peterson's Feel for Rhythm "Drove the Whole Bus," Say Fellow Musicians

Source: All About Jazz
December 25, 2007

The music was so powerful, so propulsively swinging that fellow musicians found it hard to believe Monday that such a force of nature as Oscar Peterson had finally been stilled. “It's hard for me to believe even now," said fellow pianist Hank Jones, a jazz legend in his own right. “I just thought Oscar would be around for another 100 years. This is one of the saddest days of my life." Oscar Peterson, an icon of jazz piano in Canada ...

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Memorial Service for Jazz Great Frank Morgan at the Artists' Quarter in St. Paul on December 23, 2007

Source: All About Jazz
December 20, 2007

Saxophonist Frank Morgan will be remembered in words and music on the 74th anniversary of his birth. Frank Morgan, the legendary alto saxophonist who died at age 73 of complications from colon cancer at his Minneapolis home on December 14, will be remembered at a memorial service on Sunday, December 23, at the Artists' Quarter jazz club in St. Paul. Frank Morgan was born in Minneapolis and returned there in 2005 to live with his cousin Melanie Taylor and her ...

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Grammy-Winning Jazz Producer Joel Dorn Dies at 65

Source: All About Jazz
December 18, 2007

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Veteran record producer Joel Dorn, who worked with such artists as Roberta Flack, Max Roach and the Neville Brothers, died of a heart attack on Monday in New York. He was 65. Dorn, a one-time disc-jockey at a Philadelphia jazz radio station, was perhaps best known for his work with Atlantic Records' prestigious jazz stable between 1967 and 1974. Working alongside the label's jazz chief, Nesuhi Ertegun, he brought a pop sensibility to works by musicians ...

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Producer Joel Dorn Dies at Age 65

Source: All About Jazz
December 18, 2007

Veteran record producer Joel Dorn, who worked with such artists as Roberta Flack, Max Roach and the Neville Brothers, died of a heart attack on Monday in New York. He was 65. Dorn, a one-time disc-jockey at a Philadelphia jazz radio station, was perhaps best known for his work with Atlantic Records' prestigious jazz stable between 1967 and 1974. Working alongside the label's jazz chief, Nesuhi Ertegun, he brought a pop sensibility to works by musicians such as Roach, Herbie ...

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Frank Morgan - Memorial Celebration at the Jazz Bakery

Source: All About Jazz
December 18, 2007

FRANK MORGAN - MEMORIAL CELEBRATION AT THE JAZZ BAKERY JANUARY 5TH, 2008 2:00PM- 5:30PM Open to public Sammie Roberts Jazz with support from the Jazz Bakery and Mars Jazz is hosting a memorial celebration for legendary bebop saxophonist Frank Morgan. The memorial will be held at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90034 2:00pm- 5:30pm FRANK MORGAN, poll-winning alto saxophonist and Bird's protg, was a master interpreter of bebop and ballads. After recovering from a ...

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