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Remembering Clare Fischer
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
After Gary Foster informed me of Clare Fischer's death on Friday at 83, I went to the LP shelves, got out Dizzy Gillespie's 1960 recording A Portrait of Duke Ellington and listened to all of it. For perhaps the hundredth time, I was moved by the originality thatFischer brought to the daunting task of recasting pieces by the acknowledged master of jazz composition. In an irony of Fischer's career, the understated brilliance of his arrangements for that remarkable collection went ...
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MCG Jazz Remembers John Levy, Our Friend
Source:
Michael Ricci
John Levy, manager to countless jazz luminaries, dies at age 99. John Levy, a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and renowned personal manager for many jazz greats, died on January 20th, less than three months shy of his 100th birthday. His wife, Devra Hall Levy said he was sleeping peacefully in her arms at home in Altadena when his heart finally gave out. An induction into the International Jazz Hall of Fame (1997) and a Lifetime Achievement Award ...
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John Levy (1912-2012)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
John Levy, a jazz bassist and original member of the Stuff Smith Trio and George Shearing Quintet whose deal-making skills, insider's knowledge and warm personality enabled him to become jazz and pop's first successful black personal manager, died on January 20. He was 99. Starting in the early 1950s, John managed George Shearing not just as an agent but a personal confidant. By later in the decade, John's client roster included Nat and Cannonball Adderley, Dakota Staton, Ramsey Lewis, Herbie Hancock, ...
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John Levy, 1912-2012
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
Word came this morning from Devra Hall Levy that her husband John, a major advocate for and representative of jazz musicians, is gone. Levy died in his sleep on Friday at home in Altadena, California. He was 99. Ahmad Jamal recently described Levy as “one of the foremost supportive bassists" of the postwar period. In that role, beginning as a teenager, Levy worked with Ray Nance, Earl Hines, Stuff Smith, Ben Webster and Lennie Tristano, among dozens of other prominent ...
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Johnny Otis (1921-2012)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Johnny Otis, an R&B renaissance man and visionary whose passion for the blues, the back beat and racial equality helped ignite a West Coast music style in the late-1940s that made rock and roll possible in the 1950s and beyond, died January 17. He was 90. Otis' contribution to American music and his ability to unite teens of all races around the radio dial, jukebox and portable phonograph in the late 1940s and early 1950s cannot be overstated. As a musician, ...
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More Tributes to Chuck Metcalf
Source:
Seattle Jazz Scene
LARRY CORYELL: Chuck, along with Jerome Gray and Overton, was a primary mentor for me back in 1964-65. Because of his encouragement, I was able to have a career that has surpassed all expectations. After I'd been in New York for about, oh, 7-8 months, Chuck sent me an unsigned letter—it was long, and interesting. But I didn't realize it was he who wrote it until much later (I was stretching my mind out quite a bit then—a little delayed ...
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Chuck Metcalf
Source:
Seattle Jazz Scene
Former Seattle bassist, and inaugural Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame inductee, Chuck Metcalf, has passed away after a long battle with cancer. Word came via email yesterday and the tributes have started pouring in. Jay Thomas: He was a very important guy on the scene going back to the late 40s and 50's... and during the 60's he was Mr. Jazz in Seattle along with Bob Winn, Floyd Standifer, Jerry Gray and Dave Coleman. And of course Dave Tuttle and ...
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In Memoriam: 2011
Source:
Groove Notes
As 2011 comes to a close, I'd like to take some time to remember some of the great contributors to jazz that passed away in 2011. Here is a short list of some of the wonderful musicians we lost over the last year. Charles Fambrough, 60 Bassist Charles Fambrough died on January 1, 2011. He had been ill for last few years, battling end stage renal disease, congestive heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. He had been receiving dialysis treatments as ...
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