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We Lost a Jazz Giant
Source:
Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes
The jazz world is mourning yesterday’s passing of composer, pianist and bandleader and NEA Jazz Master Horace Silver. He was truly one of the greats, helping create the hard bop genre in the 1960s and leaving as his legacy a wonderful trove of soulful, funky and catchy tunes. He was a Stan Getz sideman early in his career, co-founded the Jazz Messengers with Art Blakey, and his own band was a wonderful talent springboard over the years. His best-known composition, ...
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Horace Silver dies at 85; pioneering jazz pianist and composer
Source:
Michael Ricci
Horace Silver, the prolific jazz pianist and composer who cofounded the legendary Jazz Messengers, pioneered the genre known as hard bop and mentored scores of musicians, has died. He was 85. Silver died Wednesday at his home in New Rochelle, N.Y., of natural causes, according to his son, Gregory. Through classic compositions such as “Song for My Father,” “Nica's Dream” and “Señor Blues,” Silver influenced generations of musicians with a style that encompassed all his musical loves: gospel, blues, Latin ...
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Horace Silver, 85, Master of Earthy Jazz, Is Dead
Source:
Michael Ricci
Horace Silver, a pianist, composer and bandleader who was one of the most popular and influential jazz musicians of the 1950s and ’60s, died on Wednesday at his home in New Rochelle, N.Y. He was 85. His death was announced by Blue Note Records, the company for which he recorded from 1952 to 1979. After a high-profile apprenticeship with some of the biggest names in jazz, Mr. Silver began leading his own group in the mid-1950s and quickly became a ...
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Horace Silver (1928-2014)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Horace Silver, a pianist who in 1952 and '53 pioneered two prominent jazz styles—funk and hard bop—and went on to lead one of the most exciting and successful hard bop quintets of the 1950s and early '60s before helping to develop jazz-boogaloo starting in the mid-'60s, died on June 18. He was 85. Discovered by Stan Getz in Hartford, Conn., in 1950, Silver moved to New York in 1951and in October 1952 recorded The Horace Silver Trio, with bassist Gene Ramey ...
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Aaron Sachs and Jimmy Scott, Gone
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
It is sad to hear of the recent deaths of Aaron Sachs and Jimmy Scott. Sachs was a gifted clarinetist and tenor saxophonist who never became as well known as many of hiscontemporaries despite yeoman work in bands led by Van Alexander, Red Norvo, Benny Goodman, Earl Hines, Benny Goodman, Tom Talbert and Buddy Rich, among others. In the 1960she became a stalwart in Latin jazz, playing for Machito, Tito Puente, and Tito Rodriguez. Sachs would have been 91 on ...
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Tony Simmons 1963 - 2014
Source:
St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
Keyboardist Anthony “Tony" Simmons, who played with many St. Louis jazz, R&B and gospel performers over the last three decades, has died. According to messages from friends on his Facebook page, Simmons passed away on Saturday, June 7 from a heart attack. He was 50 years old. Tony Simmons (pictured) was born in Kansas City, MO and started playing the piano at the age of 5. Afflicted from birth with glaucoma, he lost his vision completely by the age of ...
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Herb Jeffries, Singer
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
After Herb Jeffries died on Sunday in Los Angeles, headlines around the world remembered him for his career as a singing cowboy in a succession of low budget 1930s Hollywood movies. Appreciative listeners are more likely to recall Jeffries as the singer who worked with the Earl Hines Orchestra, then joined Duke Ellington when the classic Blanton-Webster edition of the band was taking shape. With Ellington, he recorded “Flamingo.” The record, with its remarkable Billy Strayhorn arrangement and a lovely ...
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In Memoriam: Frank Strazzeri
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Reports that the veteran pianist Frank Strazzeri had died began circulating a couple of weeks ago. They were impossible to confirm until now. Strazzeri died at 84 on May 9 in his hometown, Rochester, New York, but hespent most of his career in Los Angeles. He moved back to Rochester in late April following a final engagement at the Glendale club Jax, where he often played in his final years. After attending the Eastman School of Music, in 1952 the ...
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