Home » Jazz News
Obituary News
Timely announcements covering new album releases, tours, concert series, special events, job postings, crowdfunding campaigns and more. You can find more news by searching our website, viewing our news stream, seeing what's trending or reading our blog posts. Subscribe to our news RSS feed and/or embed AAJ news content on your website or blog. Learn about our news service here. Submit news here.
Paul Smith (1922-2013)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
In the late 1940s and 1950s, few pianists moved as effortlessly and deftly between jazz and pop as pianist Paul Smith—who died June 29 at age 91. Instrumental pop, as a genre, came into its own after 1948, with the advent of the 10-inch LP. Pop back then still had plenty of swing but was really jazz-light—easy-going music that had a bit of kick but didn't venture too far off a familiar song's melody. One could argue that many of ...
Continue Reading
Paul Smith, 1922-3013
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Another pianist, primarily noted for his impeccable accompaniment of singers but who was also a soloist of wide ranging abilities, died today. Paul Smith was 91. He was probably best known for his work with Ella Fitzgerald. He also played for Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan and Doris Day, among others. Early in his career, he worked with Ozzie Nelson, Les Paul and Tommy Dorsey. For a quarter of a century, he was the music director for Steve Allen’s television program. ...
Continue Reading
Bengt Hallberg RIP
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Bengt Hallberg, honored as one of the finest pianists in modern jazz, died today in Uppsala, Sweden, of congestive heart failure. He was 80 years old. Hallberg’s keyboard touch and harmonic inventiveness came to the attention of musicians and listeners outside his native Sweden on Stan Getz’s 1951 recording of the traditional song “Ack Värmeland du sköna,” released in the US as “Dear Old Stockholm.” He made a further impression internationally with his playing on Quincy Jones arrangements for Clifford ...
Continue Reading
Jeanne Arland Peterson, matriarch of Minnesota jazz, dies at 91
Source:
Michael Ricci
Her two daughters escorted the frail woman to the piano at Hopkins Center for the Arts. After she sat down and put her fingers on the keys, Jeanne Arland Peterson couldn’t have seemed more at home. Her timing was impeccable, her melodies ornate and her sense of rhythm swinging. For her swan-song performance on a cold night last December, the matriarch of Minnesota jazz was scheduled to perform two piano pieces. She ended up playing several numbers — some solo, ...
Continue Reading
Jazz Face: Jeanne Arland Peterson, 1921-2013
Source:
JazzINK by Andrea Canter
If Minnesotans only know one area jazz musician by name, it's most like Jeanne Arland Peterson. Maybe they remember her as the organist for the Minnesota Twins 40 years ago. Or remember her voice and piano skills over two decades on WCCO radio. More recently, she was often heard with three (and later four) generations of family musicians on holiday concert and jazz festival stages, or with her daughters Patty and Linda at a Mother's Day brunch. Area jazz fans ...
Continue Reading
Johnny Smith, Venerable Jazz Guitarist, Dies at 90
Source:
Michael Ricci
Johnny Smith, a jazz guitarist who was considered one of the emerging greats of his generation when he left the limelight in 1958 to move to Colorado, open a record store and become a full-time parent, died on June 11 at his home in Colorado Springs. He was 90. Mr. Smith was revered by guitarists for his pure tone and flawless technique, which gave his most complex improvisations an effortless, almost weightless quality. His dreamy rendition of “Moonlight in Vermont,” ...
Continue Reading
Sam Most, Johnny Smith...Gone
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Risking the appearance of Rifftides becoming an obituary service, I must note the deaths in the past week of two supreme artists of the bebop era, flutist Sam Most and guitarist Johnny Smith. Each of them blazed trails on his instrument and was a major influence on generations of players who followed him. Sam Most From the notes I wrote for Most’s 1976 Xanadu album Mostly Flute (Out of print, sadly. Copies are being sold for exorbitant prices on the ...
Continue Reading
Jean Bach, 1918-2013
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The death this week in New York of Jean Bach at 94 spurred memories of her role in the jazz community going back to the early 1940s. Ms. Bach was not a musician but an advocate whose enthusiasm for and understanding of the art endeared her to several generations of musicians. Her knowledge of the music and its creators made her unusual among other society figures who sometimes amused themselves by dabbling in the jazz scene. She was known for ...
Continue Reading
