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Morgana King: 1930-2018
Morgana King, a jazz singer with an unusual voice that seemed more in sync with classical than swing and who is perhaps best known as playing Marlon Brando's wife in the first two Godfather films, died earlier this year on March 22. She was 87. The only reason we know about her passing is that Matt ...
R.I.P. Six Strings: Is The Death Of The Electric Guitar Near?
Fred Jacobs surveys market trends of the past several years, many of which (including the bankruptcy of Gibson) point to the dwindling popularity of that most iconic of instruments, the electric guitar. Guest post by Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media Strategies Disruption impacts virtually every business and platform – including the guitar. Over the past couple of ...
Henry Butler, 1948-2018
The gifted New Orleans pianist Henry Butler has died. He was 69. Noted for virtuosity at the keyboard and soulful depth as a singer, Butler pursued his career primarily in his home city, with frequent tours overseas. Blinded by glaucoma as an infant, he excelled academically at all levels and dazzled other musicians with his skill. ...
Bill Watrous (1939-2018)
Bill Watrous, a jazz trombonist who came up in the 1960s just as jazz was fading and the trombone was transitioning into studio orchestras and funk-soul groups such as the Jazz Crusaders and Kool and the Gang, died on July 2, 2018. He was 79. Watrous's finest work was on ballads. His singing trombone style on ...
Lorraine Gordon, RIP
Lorraine Gordon, who inherited the Village Vanguard after her husband Max died in 1989, remained its proprietor and no-nonsense guiding spirit until her death yesterday in New York. She was 95. Under the Gordons, the Vanguard became quite likely the most famous jazz club in the world. Bill Evans, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, the Thad Jones-Mel ...
Memorial Day 2018
It is Memorial Day in the United States, a time for parades, picnics and family gatherings across the land. This is the perfect occasion on which to honor the US armed services by acknowledging and displaying the accomplishments of their bands dedicated to the music that is the primary stock in trade of Rifftides. We begin ...
Jack Reilly, RIP
News has arrived that the pianist Jack Reilly died of a massive stroke on Friday at his home in New Jersey. Mr. Reilly, 86, was an accomplished classical and jazz pianist who returned to his native New York in 1954 following Navy service and pursued graduate studies at the Manhattan School of Music. His early experience ...
Bob Dorough (1923-2018)
Bob Dorough, who began his jazz career in the early 1950s as a pianist and arranger and expanded to singing and songwriting laced with sardonic wit and puns, died on April 23. He was 94. Dorough in the late 1950s was part of an ever-expanding group of clever writers who wound up in comedy, television and ...
Cecil Taylor: 1929-2018
We compiled several Tweets about pianist Cecil Taylor's profound impact on others through his music and his friendship. Scroll to the bottom and click the link to read more. Thanks to Cecil Taylor for his creative courage and his uncompromising vision of what music can be. We mourn his passing but celebrate ...
Wesla Whitfield, RIP
Wesla Whitfield, a singer of uncommon talent, taste, musicianship and courage, died yesterday in St. Helena, California. Her husband and accompanist of more than three decades, the pianist Mike Greensill, announced her passing. She had been under treatment for bladder cancer and was recently in hospice care but died at home. She was 70. I once ...
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