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News: Obituary

Thanks, Freddy, for the jazz connection

July 1, 2020

The fine pianist and singer Freddy Cole died Saturday, June 27, at age 88 at his home in Atlanta. He had been struggling with cardiovascular issues for a while. His manager, Suzi Reynolds, called him Mr. Magic. “He wove a web of sonic beauty with every note and kept listeners silently breathless with his casual, elegant ...

News: Obituary

Johnny Mandel (1925-2020)

July 1, 2020

Johnny Mandel, a elegant arranger, composer, conductor and bass trumpeter who began his career writing for big bands in the 1940s, crossed over to jazz in the '50s and wound up scoring movies in the late 1950s and beyond, including main titles that became standards, died June 29. He was 94. Like other player-arrangers of the ...

News: Obituary

Christo (1935-2020)

June 5, 2020

Lost this week in the flurry of shocking events in Minneapolis and on the nation's streets was the death on May 31 of environmental artist Christo Javacheff, known professionally as Christo. He was 84. With his wife, Jeanne-Claude, who died in 2009, Christo specialized in massive sculptural pieces that shrouded iconic architecture and intruded on landscapes ...

News: Obituary

Lennie Niehaus (1929-2020)

June 2, 2020

Lennie Niehaus, a Los Angeles alto saxophonist and prolific composer for big bands and his own octet starting in the 1950s before moving on to television and Clint Eastwood-directed films, died May 28. He was 90. Lennie was one of the giants of the West Coast linear jazz sound. Along with Bill Holman, Shorty Rogers, Gerry ...

News: Obituary

Jimmy Cobb (1929-2020)

May 27, 2020

Jimmy Cobb, a drummer whose sensitive, smoldering touch on Miles Davis albums such as Kind of Blue and Some Day My Prince Will Come gave the trumpeter's masterful sextet and quintet a sheer, elegant quality, died on May 24. He was 91. Jimmy began his recording career on Dinah Washington 78s in the late 1940s followed ...

News: Obituary

Another big loss for jazz

May 26, 2020

Drummer Jimmy Cobb, for 29 years the only surviving member of trumpeter Miles Davis' Kind of Blue sextet, died yesterday at his home in Manhattan. He was 91 and had been battling lung cancer. Cobb was the fourth NEA Jazz Master to pass away in 2020. In addition to the seminal Kind of Blue album, he ...

News: Music Industry

Jazz musicians silenced by coronavirus, Chapter 2

April 23, 2020

Here is part two of our chronological listing of jazz-related COVID-19 deaths from the novel coronavirus, updated as we receive them. Our profound sympathies to their families, friends and fans as we remember the musical legacies they have given us. Tenor saxophonist Bootsie Barnes, a Philadelphia jazz legend, died April 22. He was 82. His many ...

News: Obituary

Jazz musicians silenced by coronavirus (updated)

April 19, 2020

Here's a listing of jazz-related deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), updated as we receive them. Our profound sympathies to their families, friends and fans as we remember the musical legacies they have given us. Argentina-born jazz saxophonist Marcelo Peralta, died in Madrid on March 10. He was 59. Peralta moved to Spain in 1996. Congolese ...

News: Obituary

Lee Konitz (1927-2020)

April 17, 2020

Lee Konitz, an alto saxophonist who helped develop an East Coast jazz style in the late 1940s that writers labeled “cool jazz" and went on to establish a sound in Stan Kenton's early 1950s orchestra while exploring free jazz in small groups throughout his career, died on April 15. He was 92. Lee's cool jazz was ...

News: Obituary

Lee Konitz, 1927-2020

April 17, 2020

Lee Konitz died today in a New York City hospital. He was 92. Known primarily for the individualism of his alto saxophone work, Konitz in his later years also played soprano saxophone. Using aspects of phrasing, rhythm and tonal quality adapted from the great tenor saxophonist Lester Young, Konitz in the 1940s developed into one of ...