Obituary News

Oscar Castro-Neves, 73

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
October 2, 2013

News comes of the death of Oscar Castro-Neves, one of the leading guitarists to emerge from Brazil’s bossa nova movement. As samba music moved north in the 1960s and became a powerful element in US popular music and jazz, Castro-Neves was an important player, coach, producer and catalyst. After hearing him at Seattle’s Jazz Alley with pianist Kenny Werner and harmonicist Toots Thielemans in 2005, I wrote:

Thielemans and Werner, long established as a formidable duo, became a virtual ...

Continue Reading...

Guitarist Jimmy Ponder (1946-2013)

Source: Michael Ricci
September 19, 2013

By Colter Harper I first met Jimmy when he was teaching at a jazz camp for high school students in Pittsburgh. I was 15, recently turned on to Wes Montgomery, and trying to make sense of the music. Ponder was the first guitarist I had heard in person who embodied the music. He poured himself through the instrument. The sound of his thumb on the Gibson Super 400 was rich, warm, lyrical, and immediate. It was as if he had ...

Continue Reading...

Jimmy Ponder: 1946-2013

Source: Michael Ricci
September 18, 2013

Soul-Jazz guitarist Jimmy Ponder was well known to serious jazz lovers for his recordings as a leader and appearances as a sideman on 80 albums. His unique bluesy sound, which incorporated Wes Montgomery's approach of playing octaves with the thumb, has influenced other guitarists. Ponder's playing was described as aggressive rhythm-and-blues figurations with swift and lucid chromatic bop lines. Jimmy released 21 albums since 1969 as a leader on the Muse, Highnote, Cadet, Explore, and LRC labels. He reached the ...

Continue Reading...

Polish Jazz Guitar Master Jarek Smietana Passed Away On September 2, 2013

Source: Cezary L. Lerski
September 3, 2013

Jaroslaw (Jarek) Smietana was born March 29, 1951 in Krakow, Poland. Jazz guitarist, composer and teacher. A graduate of Jazz and Popular Music faculty at The Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice (Panstwowa Wyzsza Szkola Muzyczna w Katowicach). During his successful career, Jarek Smietana has always been very active on the Polish Jazz scene. He was a leader of many groups, including ‘Hall’, 'Extra Ball', 'Sounds', 'Symphonic Sound Orchestra', and 'Polish Jazz Stars Band’. He had a series of ...

Continue Reading...

Sathima Bea Benjamin: 1936-2013

Source: Michael Ricci
August 22, 2013

Jazz artist Sathima Bea Benjamin's contribution to jazz was immense and her death was a sudden and sad day for music, say her family and friends. Benjamin, 76, died in her Claremont flat on Monday. The songstress was the former wife of jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim and the mother of musician Tsakwe Ibrahim and internationally renowned rapper Jean Grae. Benjamin’s sister Edith Benjamin said her death was unexpected and she was alone at home when she died. “When we went ...

Continue Reading...

Marian, Thanks for Everything

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
August 22, 2013

I just posted an obit for Marian McPartland, who passed away last night at age 95. But my thoughts about Marian are more personal than her interesting bio and extensive resume or 34-year catalog of Piano Jazz segments. Marian was one of the reasons my father enjoyed jazz. And in turn, my father was (and still is) the primary reason I enjoy jazz today. He introduced me early on to Dixieland and swing recordings. And later he introduced me to ...

Continue Reading...

Marian McPartland (1918-2013)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
August 22, 2013

Marian McPartland, a spirited jazz pianist and self-effacing radio personality whose marriage to cornetist Jimmy McPartland in 1946 enabled her to move to the U.S. and work and record here steadily starting in 1948, died on Aug. 20. She was 95. When I interviewed Marian in 2009, I asked her how she first became interested in jazz while growing up in England. “I heard it every day on the radio in the 1930s," she said. “My younger sister was friends ...

Continue Reading...

Marian McPartland, RIP

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
August 22, 2013

Two days following Cedar Walton’s passing, we have lost another splendid pianist, one of the world’s best known and best loved jazz artists. Marian McPartland died in her sleep just before midnight Tuesday in her home on Long Island, New York. A message from family members reports that she passed away, “smiling,knowing that she was surrounded by family and friends.” Ms. McPartland was 95. She developed from a shy English schoolgirl into a major influence in the music. It is ...

Continue Reading...