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Obituary

Godfather Of Jambands Col. Bruce Hampton Dies After Collapsing On Stage During Birthday Concert

Source: HypeBot
May 4, 2017

"Colonel" Bruce Hampton, guitarist, founding member of Hampton Grease and a respected veteran of the jam band scene, died after collapsing on stage during his 70th birthday concert. I had the pleasure of working with Bruce over the years, and he was every bit a smart, talented and special as the accolades pouring in suggest. Jamband icon Col. Bruce Hampton was performing an encore at a concert celebrating his 70th birthday when he collapsed at the Fox Theater in Atlanta. ...

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Obituary

Chuck Berry: (1926-2017)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 21, 2017

Chuck Berry, a singing electric blues guitarist with a remarkably limber stage presence who pioneered rock 'n' roll and single-handedly put the saxophone out of business as a lead R&B instrument in 1955, died on March 18. He was 90. Berry's biography and his dynamic role in helping to hatch rock 'n' roll have been brightly traced in recent days in newspaper obituaries, so I'm not going to rehash all of it here. Largely missing from those life-ending portraits, however, ...

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Obituary

Statement From Verve Label Group on the passing of Tommy LiPuma

Source: All About Jazz
March 15, 2017

Tommy LiPuma had a long history with Universal Music Group (UMG), notably having served as both Chairman and subsequently, Chairman Emeritus of the Verve Music Group from 1998-2011—one of the many pinnacles in his esteemed career in the music industry. The Verve Label Group family is saddened by the loss of their dear friend and colleague, and sends their deepest condolences to the LiPuma family. “Tommy was a music man. He taught us all how to listen, how to live ...

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Obituary

Tommy LiPuma (1936-2017)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
March 15, 2017

Tommy LiPuma, a five-time Grammy winning pop and jazz record producer whose passion for music and musicians resulted in career-changing albums for a range of artists, including Randy Newman, George Benson, Bill Evans, Natalie Cole, Paul McCartney and Diana Krall, died on March 13. He was 80. A long-time fan of my writing, both for The Wall Street Journal and JazzWax, Tommy was a dear friend. In addition to lunching together regularly, we spent time at his home in Westchester ...

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Obituary

Remembering Larry Coryell

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 22, 2017

The importance of Larry Coryell in jazz history cannot be understated. Whether you favor jazz-rock fusion or not, it was a revolutionary style that dominated jazz in the late 1960s and '70s thanks to technological advances, a shift in pop culture and the demands and interests of a new generation of players and listeners. To help us fully understand the late guitarist's contribution (see my post yesterday), I reached out to three dear friends—vibraphonist Gary Burton, trumpeter Randy Brecker and ...

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Obituary

Larry Coryell (1943-2017)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 21, 2017

Larry Coryell, a guitarist who played rock 'n' roll as a teen but wound up pioneering jazz-rock fusion starting in the mid-1960s and then psychedelic fusion in the early '70s, died on Feb. 19. He was 73. Born in Texas and raised in Seattle, Coryell studied at the University of Washington while taking private classical guitar lessons. In 1965 when he was 22, Coryell moved to New York just as instrumental folk and rock were intriguing skilled musicians and captivating ...

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Obituary

Larry Coryell Is Gone

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
February 21, 2017

Guitarist Larry Coryell died over the weekend in New York City. He was 73. A pioneer of jazz-rock and fusion, throughout his career Coryell was capable of delicacy and softness in guitar lines that had roots in mainstream jazz. Nonetheless, his earliest notice came as a result of his recorded work with drummer Chico Hamilton in which he generated a huge sound that verged on distortion. Coryell died in his sleep at a hotel shortly after weekend appearances at New ...

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Obituary

Barbara Carroll (1925-2017)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 17, 2017

Barbara Carroll, a gifted jazz and pop pianist who made a name for herself in New York in the 1940s as a standout bop player with a proclivity for block chords and impeccable time, died on Feb. 12. She was 92. Carroll came up at a time when most skilled female jazz pianists could find steady work only as intermission keyboardists at hotel bars and lounges where managers sought to hold onto audiences. The list included Marian McPartland, Dardanelle, Marjorie ...

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