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Don Sebesky (1937-2023)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Don Sebesky, a composer and arranger best-known for his jazz orchestrations for albums produced by Creed Taylor at Verve, A&M and CTI and for his Broadway scores for a large number of updated popular musicals, died on April 29. He was 85. Over the course of his long, prolific career, Don played and arranged for a wide range of bands and artists. He could write and score swingers with heavy brass, he could arrange contemporary pop-rock hits for big bands ...
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Ahmad Jamal: 1930-2023
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Ahmad Jamal, whose spare but highly melodic piano style on trio recordings beginning in 1951 transformed the sound of the jazz piano and deeply influenced Miles Davis and Red Garland, died on April 16. He was 92. At the dawn of the 1950s, Jamal's gleeful and relaxed style was a radical departure from other piano approaches at the time, when thick chords and a strong left hand held sway on the jazz piano. While critics would scoff at Jamal's recordings ...
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Toni Harper (1937-2023)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Toni Harper, a child singer in Los Angeles in the late 1940s who grew up to become a superb jazz stylist in the mid-1950s and early 1960s, recorded with Oscar Peterson, Buddy Bregman, Marty Paich and many other leading jazz artists only to quit the business at age 29, died on February 10. She was 86. Toni was active into her late years and corresponded with me often by email. She was upbeat, mischievous and remarkably modest. Her first recording ...
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Burt Bacharach (1928-2023)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
At 10:15 on Thursday morning, I received an email from the Wall Street Journal's Arts in Review editor letting me know that Burt Bacharach had died. He also asked how quickly I could turn around an appreciation essay. I had interviewed Burt at length twice for the WSJ—once in 2011 for a feature and again in 2021 for my “Anatomy of a Song" column on Walk on By. I asked when he needed it. He said between noon and 1p.m. ...
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Dennis Budimir (1938-2023)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Dennis Budimir, whose credits as a session guitarist on movie soundtracks and rock, folk and jazz recordings rank him as one of the most diverse and prolific in-demand studio musicians in the second half of the 20th century, died in January 2023. He was 84. On films alone, Budimir reportedly recorded on more than 900 movies from the early 1960s to the 2000s. He also appeared on albums by pop and rock artists ranging from Linda Ronstadt and the Carpenters ...
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Carol Sloane (1937-2023)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Carol Sloane, a superb singer with remarkable pitch who was widely considered to be the last great female big-band and club jazz vocalist to emerge at the dawn of the 1960s, just before the British Invasion swept over the record industry, died on January 23, 2023. She was 85. “Sloaney," as she was known to friends, had Sarah Vaughan's phrasing in the 1960s but also shared the round richness and twinkle of Ella Fitzgerald. With a husky, rich and caressing ...
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Gretchen Carhartt Valade Detroit Businesswoman and 'Angel of Jazz'
Source:
DL Media
Metro Detroit and the global jazz community lost one of its greatest champions this week. Gretchen Carhartt Valade, businesswoman, and philanthropist, died peacefully on December 30, surrounded by family at her Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich. home. She was 97. Known by many in the arts community as the “Angel of Jazz,” Gretchen C. Valade will be remembered for her philanthropic contributions to the arts, culture, and business landscape of Metro Detroit and the global jazz community. As chairman emeritus of ...
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Thom Bell (1943-2022)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Thom Bell, a producer, arranger and songwriter who was one of the architects of the Philly Sound in the late 1960s and early 1970s and had hits with soft soul vocal groups backed by his engaging orchestrations, died on December 22. He was 79. Thom pioneered a movement that ushered in a new soul style that featured mostly male vocal groups singing lush, romantic songs. The groups he produced in the studio at Philadelphia's Sigma Sound were highly choreographed for ...
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