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.
Joe Morello - R.I.P.
Source:
Sound Insights by Doug Payne
Drummer Joe Morello, one of jazz's under-sung heroes, has died. Best known as the rhythmic timekeeper of multiple times in Dave Brubeck's famed quartet, when the quartet made some of its best-known recordings, Morello had lately become an in-demand clinician, teacher and bandleader whose former students numbered Danny Gottlieb, Max Weinberg, Gary Feldman and Jerry Granelli. Joe Morello, born July 17, 1928, in Springfield, Massachusetts, died on March 12, 2011, at his home in New Jersey. He was 82 years ...
Continue Reading
Ron Hudson, Photographer
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
The fine jazz photographer Ron Hudson died at his Seattle home on Tuesday. He was 71. For more than 30 years, Hudson captured memorable images of Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Woody Herman, Milt Jackson, Bud Shank and dozens more of the leading musicians of his time. He worked exclusively in black and white and won admiration for the clarity of his prints. As noted in this Rifftides review of a book of his collected photographs, Hudson had the gift of ...
Continue Reading
Jazz Photographer Ron Hudson Passes Away
Source:
Michael Ricci
We received word that Seattle resident and internationally known jazz photographer Ron Hudson passed away on February 22nd. There is a memorial service being planned soon and we will post information as soon as we have it. Please take a moment to check out the great story on Ron done by Katy Bourne which was published on AllAboutJazz.com. Summing up the career of a man as extraordinary as jazz photographer Ron Hudson is an intimidating proposition. He has spent the ...
Continue Reading
George Shearing - R.I.P.
Source:
Sound Insights by Doug Payne
The great pianist George Shearing died earlier today in Manhattan of congestive heart failure. The British born pianist turned 91 on August 13 and had been retired from music for several years, his last album being the lovely trio outing Like Fine Wine (Mack Avenue, 2005). Shearing made his name with a quintet that became one of the most famed and popular sounds of 1950s jazz but also wrote hundreds of compositions of which, surprisingly, only “Lullaby of Birdland" endures ...
Continue Reading
George Shearing: 1919-2011
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
George Shearing, a British-born pianist whose blindness at birth gave him a heightened sense of time and harmony, and whose fondness for elegant swing and bebop led to the development of an enormously successful quintet sound in 1949, died of heart failure yesterday, February 14, in Manhattan. He was 91. A professional musician since the late 1930s, Shearing became England's top jazz pianist by the end of World War II. He was encouraged to come to the U.S. in November ...
Continue Reading
George Shearing, 1919-2011
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
George Shearing died early today at the age of 91. With his quintet, Shearing used a locked-hands technique at the piano, blending with vibes and piano to develop a style that resonated with listeners and became one of the most recognizable sounds in an era when jazz was still at the core of popular music. He was already a success because of his hit version of “September in the Rain" when the record of his 1952 composition “Lullaby of Birdland" ...
Continue Reading
George Shearing dies at 91
Source:
Michael Ricci
NEW YORK—Sir George Shearing, the ebullient jazz pianist who wrote the standard “Lullaby of Birdland" and had a string of hits both with and without his quintet, has died. He was 91. Shearing, blind since birth, died early Monday morning in Manhattan of congestive heart failure, his longtime manager Dale Sheets said. “He was a totally one-of-a-kind performer," said Sheets. “It was something wonderful to see, to watch him work." Shearing had been a superstar of the jazz world since ...
Continue Reading
Allen Smith RIP
Source:
Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
From San Francisco comes word that trumpeter Allen Smith died last week at the age of 85. Smith's musical career got underway at the same time as those of his San Francisco State College classmates Paul Desmond and Cal Tjader. He worked with both in various bands and with other Bay Area jazz mainstays, including guitarist Eddie Duran. Although Smith's work as a musician never stopped, he fit it around his schedule as an educator who earned a masters degree ...
Continue Reading
