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Jack Costanzo (1919-2018)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Jack Costanzo, whose fierce bongo playing added drama and heat to hundreds of recordings and performances by jazz, pop and Latin artists starting in the late 1940s before moving on the TV and film, died August 18. He was 98. Costanzo wasn't the first to record jazz on the bongos. The instrument first appeared on Latin 78s as early as 1925 and on Afro-Cuban recordings by Machito in 1941. He also wasn't the first to record on the bongos in ...
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Jean Kittrell 1927 - 2018
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Pianist and singer Jean Kittrell, who performed traditional jazz, swing and ragtime in St. Louis and around the world from the 1960s into the 2000s, died on Tuesday, August 14 in Edwardsville, IL. She was 91 years old. A native of Birmingham, AL, Kittrell began playing piano as a youth in church, and went on to earn a degree in music theory at Blue Mountain College in Mississippi. She began her jazz career in the late 1950s accompanying her husband, ...
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Jack Costanzo, 1920-2018
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The percussionist Jack Costanzo was so closely identified with his instrument that early in his career he became known as “Mr. Bongo.” Costanzo died over the weekend at his home near San Diego, California. He was 98. During his long career he worked with Stan Kenton, Nat Cole, Charlie Parker and dozens of other musical stars. He was frequently featured in motion pictures and television programs in duets with celebrities including dancer Ann Miller, singer Judy Garland and actor Marlon ...
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Aretha Franklin (1942-2018)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Aretha Franklin, long considered the undisputed “Queen of Soul” and one of America's most emotional and spiritual interpreters of pop, jazz and soul songs, died on Thursday at her home in Detroit. She was 76. The cause was advanced pancreatic cancer. My Franklin obituary and appreciation for The Wall Street Journal can be found here. Yesterday, I spoke by phone with singer-songwriter Valerie Simpson about her feelings for Franklin. Valerie, who began in New York as a gospel singer and ...
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Morgana King: 1930-2018
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Morgana King, a jazz singer with an unusual voice that seemed more in sync with classical than swing and who is perhaps best known as playing Marlon Brando's wife in the first two Godfather films, died earlier this year on March 22. She was 87. The only reason we know about her passing is that Matt Schudel in yesterday's Washington Post wrote her belated obit. I was never a huge fan of King's voice or her recordings. I found her ...
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Patrick Williams Is Gone
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Sorry to learn that composer, arranger and bandleader Patrick Williams died yesterday at 79. Prolific in his work for motion pictures and television, Williams was sometimes taken for granted—but never by fellow members of the arranging fraternity or by the musicians who took part in recordings of his ingenious, often demanding, arrangements. Frank Sinatra chose Williams to do the arrangements for the singer’s final studio albums. Williams’ work on television series brought him several Grammy nominations. His music accompanied Colombo, ...
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Henry Butler, 1948-2018
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The gifted New Orleans pianist Henry Butler has died. He was 69. Noted for virtuosity at the keyboard and soulful depth as a singer, Butler pursued his career primarily in his home city, with frequent tours overseas. Blinded by glaucoma as an infant, he excelled academically at all levels and dazzled other musicians with his skill. In recent years, Butler lived in the Bronx borough of New York City. In today’s New York Times, Jon Pareles’ obituary of Butler contains ...
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Bill Watrous (1939-2018)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Bill Watrous, a jazz trombonist who came up in the 1960s just as jazz was fading and the trombone was transitioning into studio orchestras and funk-soul groups such as the Jazz Crusaders and Kool and the Gang, died on July 2, 2018. He was 79. Watrous's finest work was on ballads. His singing trombone style on slow tunes was achingly melodic and glossy smooth, a pristine sound matched only by a handful of other players in the '60s and beyond, ...
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