Obituary News

Remembering James Brown

Source: All About Jazz
January 2, 2007

By Bill King James Brown can take his rightful place alongside Coltrane, Miles, Ellington, the Beatles, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Otis and the giants. The guy had a remarkable music and business mind--a one of a kind way of hearing. I first caught Brown live back in 1964 with cape--three drummers and two bass players. I was playing a prom at the coliseum in Louisville, Kentucky in a side room while Brown inhabited center stage in the sports arena. What ...

Continue Reading

Clarinetist Kenny Davern Dies At 71

Source: All About Jazz
December 14, 2006

By Steve Voce John Kenneth Davern, clarinetist and saxophonist: born Huntington, New York 7 January 1935; married 1970 Elsa Lass (one stepson, one stepdaughter); died Sandia Park, New Mexico 12 December 2006. “Louis Armstrong can say something with one note, but then there are others who take an hour to rev up and wind up with a fart in a bathtub." Although Kenny Davern became one of the most effective jazz clarinettists of the last 50 years, he always regarded ...

Continue Reading

Kansas City Jazz Legend Jay McShann Passes at 90

Source: All About Jazz
December 8, 2006

Kansas City, MO. (December 8, 2006) - Jay McShann, the veteran pianist closely identified with the Kansas City tradition of jazz and blues, passed away yesterday at the age of 90 at St. Luke's Hospital. A master of many styles, McShann established an evolutionary bridge between traditional Kansas City jazz, renowned for a swinging, rhythmic sensibility, and the more intuitive, improvisational bebop form of jazz.

McShann, who became known as “Hootie" among his contemporaries, was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in ...

Continue Reading

Jat McShann Passes

Source: All About Jazz
December 7, 2006

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Jay “Hootie" McShann, a jazz pianist and bandleader who helped refine the blues-tinged Kansas City sound and introduced the world to saxophonist Charlie Parker, died Thursday. He was 90.

He died at St. Luke's Hospital. The cause of death was not released to the public, hospital spokeswoman Kerry O'Connor said.

McShann, whose musical career spanned eight decades and earned him accolades from both blues and jazz aficionados, was born James Columbus McShann on Jan. 12, ...

Continue Reading

Walter Booker: December 17, 1933 - November 24, 2006

Source: Jim Eigo, Jazz Promo Services
November 25, 2006

It is with a sad heart that I announce the passing of my beloved husband, bassist Walter Booker, on Friday, November 24, 2006. As soon as I finalize the details, I will advise you of when the celebration of his life will be held at St Peters Church 53rd and Lexington. --Bertha Hope

Walter Booker was born in Prairie View, Texas in 1933 and moved with his family to Washington, D.C. in the mid 1940s. It wasn't until 1959, at ...

Continue Reading

Anita O'Day October 18, 1919-November 23, 2006

Source: All About Jazz
November 24, 2006

ANITA O'DAY October 18, 1919-November 23, 2006 Jazz Vocal legend Anita O'Day passed this morning October 23, 2006 at 6:17AM in West Los Angeles. The cause of death was cardiac arrest according to her manager Robbie Cavalina. Born Anita Belle Colton in Chicago, Illinois on October 18, 1919, O'Day got her start as a teen. She eventually changed her name to O'Day and in the late 1930's began singing in a jazz club called the Off- Beat, a ...

Continue Reading

Sonny Cohn Funeral Information

Source: All About Jazz
November 10, 2006

Continue Reading

60 Minutes Correspondent and Jazz Aficionado Ed Bradley Dead at 65

Source: All About Jazz
November 9, 2006

Continue Reading