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Anita Kerr (1927-2022)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Anita Kerr, a recording studio soprano and vocal arranger whose Anita Kerr Singers released a staggering number of mellifluous albums under the group's own name as FM radio embraced the “beautiful music" stereo format starting in the late 1960s, died on October 10. She was 94. In addition to recording as a lead group, the Anita Kerr Singers recorded background vocals on dozens of albums by country stars and by easy-listening maestros such as Ray Coniff, Percy Faith and Bert ...
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Ronnie Cuber (1941-2022)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Ronnie Cuber, a saxophonist and flutist who primarily played the baritone and whose stampeding solo approach landed him in top big bands in the 1960s and '70s and leading jazz, rock, pop, Latin, funk and soul orchestras and combos in the 1980s and beyond, including the Saturday Night Live band, died October 7. He was 80. Ronnie died in his studio on New York's Upper West Side after suffering from internal injuries related to a fall near his home in ...
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Remembering All About Jazz's Mark Barnett: 1932-2022
Source:
All About Jazz
Mark Barnett of Gaithersburg, Maryland passed away peacefully on the morning of September 26, 2022 after a long life of accomplishment, love, and laughter. Born on Easter Sunday 27 March 1932, Mark grew up in a three-level house in Newark, NJ filled with an extended Jewish family, good food, and a series of beloved turtles. After graduating Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy from Rutgers University in 1950, he joined the Public Health Service in the Radiological Health ...
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Pharoah Sanders (1940-2022)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Pharoah Sanders, a tenor saxophonist who initially was associated with free-jazz players in the 1960s, including Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra, Don Cherry and John Coltrane, but who went on to record several critical pan-African spiritual albums under his own name before developing a softer, more romantic sound in the 1980s and beyond, died on September 23. He was 81. Born in Little Rock, Ark., Farrell Sanders changed his first name to Pharoah in the early 1960s at the urging of ...
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Creed Taylor (1929-2022)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Creed Taylor, a highly influential and maverick jazz record producer and entrepreneur who recorded virtually every major jazz artist while in charge of the music at six major record labels over the course of his career, died August 22 in Winkelhaid, Germany, following a stroke suffered weeks earlier. He was 93. His son, John, announced Creed's passing in an email to me. Creed began his career at Bethlehem Records in New York in 1954, where he helped pioneer the 10-inch ...
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Dan Miller: A Life Well-Lived, And Then Some....
Source:
Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes
Someone's impact on others is a more meaningful measure of a life well-lived than the number of years they spend on the planet. That notion was reinforced today when we received word that Dan Miller died unexpectedly yesterday (Friday, August 19). He was just 53. Dan was passionate about a lot of things—auto racing and other sports, fine food, and his family. Most of us knew him best through his many contributions to the world of jazz. He was a ...
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Gabe Baltazar (1929-2022)
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Gabe Baltazar, a Hawaiian-born Asian-American clarinetist, flutist and alto saxophonist with a Charlie Parker sound who was a member of the Stan Kenton Orchestra starting in 1960, died on June 12. He was 92. A clarinetist as a child, Baltazar later switched to alto saxophone as his main instrument. During a visit to New York in 1948 while studying music in Baltimore, Baltazar met Charlie Parker during a break in sets at the Royal Roost. Their conversation and Parker's kindness ...
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Jessica Williams: 1948-2022
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
Jessica Williams, a jazz pianist and composer of extraordinary talent and imagination whose style touched on bebop, fusion and the avant-garde, died on March 12, She was 73. Williams was a mystery to many jazz fans and jazz writers—a name you heard every so often but never got to hear live or see on TV. Intensely sensitive and private, she was averse to touring and preferred keeping to herself. Her keyboard approach was flavored by the styles of multiple jazz ...
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