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News: Obituary

Jon Hendricks (1921-2017)

November 23, 2017

Jon Hendricks, a singer, songwriter and lyricist who pioneered vocalese—the art of crafting words to famed jazz solos—and was a co-founder of the vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross, died November 22. He was 96. Jon died on the same day as producer George Avakian. I interviewed Jon in 2009 for JazzWax. Here is my complete ...

News: Obituary

Della Reese (1931-2017)

November 21, 2017

Della Reese, best known as the boss of a band of divine messengers on the 1990s TV series Touched By an Angel but started her career decades earlier as an earthy pop singer, died on Nov. 19. She was 86. Reese's deep and often rousing gospel-fueled voice was powerful and rested somewhere between Dinah Washington, Pearl ...

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Sol Schlinger: 1926-2017

November 18, 2017

Sol Schlinger, a baritone saxophonist who played in several major big bands in the 1940s and was part of the East Coast sax section that handled a sizable amount of studio recording in the 1950s and beyond, died last week. He was 91. Among producers, contractors, arrangers and musicians, Sol was considered a rock-solid anchor in ...

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Muhal Richard Abrams, RIP

November 3, 2017

The Chicago avant-garde jazz patriarch Muhal Richard Abrams died today at 87. Named a National Endowment of The Arts Jazz Master in 2010, the pianist, composer and bandleader was at the center of Chicago’s free jazz movement, which was formalized in 1965 when he co-founded the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians. The Art Ensemble ...

News: Obituary

R.I.P. Fats Domino: His Musical Traits, Most Popular Songs Explored

October 28, 2017

Renowned musical icon Fats Domino passed away on Tuesday, but the artist's legacy endures. Here we use Pandora's Music Genome project to take a look at some of the traits which permeated Fats' music, and helped to make him so popular. Guest post by Glenn Peoples, Music Insights and Analytics at Pandora on Medium Music icon Antoine “Fats” Domino passed ...

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Grady Tate RIP

October 13, 2017

Grady Tate died on Sunday at his home in New York City. He was 85. His wife Vivian said that he had dementia. In demand for years as a drummer, he was encouraged by Peggy Lee to begin singing publicly and launched a new career as a vocalist. Tate’s professional debut was with the organist Wild ...

News: Obituary

Grady Tate (1932-2017)

October 11, 2017

Grady Tate, one of the most prolific drummers in the soul-jazz era beginning in the early 1960s who recorded on nearly 700 sessions and who easily could have had a career as a vocalist, died on October 8. He was 85. Tate began his recording career with Wild Bill Davis, the father of the jazz organ, ...

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Pete Turner (1934-2017)

September 21, 2017

Pete Turner, a commercial photographer who befriended jazz producer Creed Taylor early in his career in the late 1950s and whose richly saturated color images were used on album covers by Creed when he was at ABC-Paramount, Impulse, Verve, A&M and, most notably, CTI, died Sept. 18. Turner was 83. Pete's iconic images were featured on ...

News: Obituary

Larry Elgart (1922-2017)

September 1, 2017

Larry Elgart, an alto saxophonist and enterprising and tireless big-band leader whose major success began at the very moment when nearly all other swing orchestras were arthritic relics and the word “band" typically referred to four guys with long hair playing electric instruments and a drum set, died on August 29. He was 95. In the ...

News: Obituary

John Abercrombie: 1944-2017

August 23, 2017

From Tina Pelikan at ECM Records It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of the great guitarist John Abercrombie. John Abercrombie, one of the great improvisers, died on August 22, after a long illness. He will be much missed, for his sensitive musicality, his good companionship, and his dry humor which enhanced many ...