Arts > Music > Jazz > 21st-20th centuries > UK, USA

Main timeline

Bill Evans (1929-1980)

as a Southeastern student

1950 (?)

http://www.selu.edu/NewsEvents/
PublicInfoOffice/BillEvansFest04.html - broken link

 Meshell Ndegeocello    USA

Terence Blanchard    USA

https://www.npr.org/2019/02/14/
694662471/oscar-nominated-terence-blanchard-
on-30-years-of-jazz-and-film-scoring-for-spike

Diana Krall    Canada

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/nov/16/
diana-krall-jazz-musician

Roy Heanes    USA

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/
arts/music/27jazz.html

Wynton Marsalis    USA 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/27/arts/music/27jazz.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/mar/02/jazz

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/mar/09/jazz.shopping 

Branford Marsalis    USA

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/sep/08/
jazz.shopping

Path Metheny Group    USA

The keyboardist Lyle Mays

with the Pat Metheny Group

in the early 1980s.

Mr. Metheny is at right;

Steve Rodby, the group’s bassist, is at left.

Photograph: Ralph Quinke

ECM Records

Lyle Mays, 66, Pat Metheny Group Keyboardist, Is Dead

His synthesizers gave depth and color to the ensemble’s sound.

He soloed gracefully on grand piano.

And he helped write many staples of the group’s repertoire.

NYT

Feb. 12, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/
arts/music/lyle-mays-dead.html

Path Metheny Group

founded in 1977 in Missouri

The group gained fame

by merging jazz ideas with a rock sensibility

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/
arts/music/lyle-mays-dead.html

https://www.npr.org/2020/03/04/
811561191/pat-methenys-lyricism-still-shines-
on-cinematic-album-from-this-place

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/12/
arts/music/lyle-mays-dead.html

Gary Burton    USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Gary_Burton

https://www.npr.org/2011/09/01/
133083761/gary-burton-on-jazzset

John Scofield    USA

https://www.npr.org/artists/14951030/
john-scofield

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
John_Scofield

https://www.npr.org/2024/10/16/
nx-s1-5154104/jazz-night-john-scofield-50-years 

Bobby McFerrin    USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Bobby_McFerrin

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/30/
bobby-mcferrin-london-vocal-project

Billy Hart    USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Billy_Hart

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/
arts/music/billy-hart-jazz-drummer-just.html

Billy Cobham    Panama, USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Billy_Cobham

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Billy_Cobham_discography

https://www.newmorning.com/20241101
6063-billy-cobham-s-time-machine.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/05/
billy-cobham-spectrum-40-review

https://www.npr.org/2013/03/28/
171896264/billy-cobham-on-world-cafe

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/feb/20/
billy-cobham-review

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jan/24/
billy-cobham-original-album-review

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/feb/16/
billy-cobham-review

https://www.npr.org/2009/02/02/
100139355/fusion-is-not-a-four-letter-word

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/04/
arts/music/04cobh.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/feb/25/
jazz

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/dec/08/
jazz.shopping2

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/may/02/
jazz2

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/28/
arts/music/a-new-orleans-saxophonist-plus-a-bass-and-a-wild-card.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/apr/16/
jazz.shopping1

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/13/
arts/billy-cobham-band.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/02/22/
archives/pop-new-cobham-band.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/11/13/
archives/cbs-all-stars-fail-to-live-up-to-their-celestial-appellation.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/28/
archives/cobhamduke-band-plays-a-restrained-jazzrock.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/12/22/
archives/bill-cobham-leads-his-jazzrock-band-at-the-bottom-line.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/04/13/
archives/2-young-drummers-lead-jazz-combos.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/07/07/
archives/jazz-mahavishnu-a-trip-into-rock.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/11/
archives/a-music-offering-is-very-special-the-mahavishnu-orchestra-plays.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/01/11/
archives/whats-in-a-name-music-only-a-clue-ma-in-jazzfolkma-concert-is-never.html

Helen Merrill    USA

https://www.npr.org/2010/09/24/
130098712/helen-merrill-on-piano-jazz

Abdullah Ibrahim    SA, USA

Born in 1934

as Adolph Johannes Brand,

Ibrahim grew up under apartheid

in Cape Town, South Africa.

He loved the jazz he heard on the radio,

and sometimes bought jazz records

from black American GIs.

As a young man,

he played in groups with names

like the Tuxedo Slickers.

But public mixing of the races was illegal,

and jazz players in integrated bands

risked arrest  playing in underground clubs

run by gangsters.

Ibrahim became a political exile in 1976,

after he announced his membership

in Nelson Mandela's

African National Congress.

But soon before he left South Africa,

Ibrahim and his band went into the studio

in Cape Town.

They recorded a tune called "Mannenberg."

Named for a segregated township

on the fringe of Cape Town,

that piece became an anthem

of the anti-Apartheid movement.

Years later,

Ibrahim performed

when Mandela was sworn in

as president in 1994.

During his years of exile in New York,

Ibrahim performed with many of the jazz musicians

who inspired him — including luminaries

such as Max Roach and Duke Ellington.

It was Ellington who got him

his first record deal in 1964.

That was when he was still known

as "Dollar" Brand.

Seeking peace and ritual

he hadn't found in church,

he converted to Islam in 1968,

and changed his name to Abdullah Ibrahim.

https://www.npr.org/2007/08/26/
13940226/abdullah-ibrahim-stays-rooted-to-his-homeland

https://www.npr.org/artists/15014572/
abdullah-ibrahim

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Abdullah_Ibrahim

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/sep/11/
abdullah-ibrahim-review-cadogan-hall-london

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/30/
736928414/finding-the-balance-
jazz-legend-abdullah-ibrahim-looks-to-past-present-and-futur

https://www.npr.org/2017/10/13/
557418166/abdullah-ibrahim-how-improvisation-saved-my-life

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/dec/04/
abdullah-ibrahim-the-song-is-my-story-review

https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2011/feb/09/
great-moments-jazz-abdullah-ibrahim

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/nov/25/
abdullah-ibrahim-ekaya-sotho-blue-review

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/apr/01/
abdullah-ibrahim-review

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/mar/11/
abdullah-ibrahim-wdr-bombella

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/aug/08/
abdullah-ibrahim-powys-market-hall

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/29/
abdullah-ibrahim-ronnie-scotts-london

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/may/19/
jazz

https://www.npr.org/2007/08/26/
13940226/abdullah-ibrahim-stays-rooted-to-his-homeland

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/oct/28/
jazz.johnfordham

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/jan/31/
jazz.artsfeatures2

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2001/dec/08/
jazz

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/01/30/
arts/jazz-piano-abdullah-ibrahaim.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/06/04/
archives/jazz-abdullah-ibrahim-and-band.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1976/03/15/
archives/dollar-brand-gives-jazz-piano-recital.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1969/12/29/
archives/dollar-brand-xahuri-jazz-pianist-heard.html

Kenny Garrett    USA

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/sep/01/
jazz.shopping 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/aug/12/
jazz 

Herbert Jeffrey "Herbie" Hancock    USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Herbie_Hancock

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/06/
podcasts/herbie-hancock-jazz-music.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/nov/07/
herbie-hancock-interview 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/may/19/
jazz.johnfordham

Archie Shepp    USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Archie_Shepp

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Archie_Shepp_discography

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/feb/24/
archie-shepp-on-jazz-race-and-freedom-institutions-continue-to-abuse-power

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/dec/15/
jazz1 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/nov/08/
jazz.artsfeatures2

Steve Coleman    USA

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/apr/28/
jazz.shopping1

Sun Ra Arkestra    USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Sun_Ra_Arkestra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sun_Ra_discography

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/dec/14/
sun-ra-arkestra-lights-on-a-satellite-review-marshall-allen

https://www.npr.org/2020/10/30/
929182429/on-swirling-marshall-allen-keeps-the-the-sun-ra-arkestra-soaring-through-space

https://www.npr.org/2014/05/22/
314593139/saturn-still-swings-celebrating-sun-ra-at-100

https://www.npr.org/sections/ablogsupreme/2014/05/22/
314363815/act-like-you-know-sun-ra

https://www.npr.org/2007/10/31/
15774733/sun-ra-cosmic-swing

The Mahavishnu Orchestra    UK, USA    1970s-1980s

jazz fusion band formed

in New York City in 1971,

led by English guitarist John McLaughlin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Mahavishnu_Orchestra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
John_McLaughlin_(musician)

https://www.npr.org/2009/02/02/
100139355/fusion-is-not-a-four-letter-word

Weather Report    USA

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/mar/02/
wayne-shorter-obituary

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/14/
arts/fusion-band-weather-report.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/07/06/
arts/weather-report-at-fisher.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/07/09/
archives/a-strong-new-front-lends-bright-touch-to-weather-report.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/04/23/
archives/jazzrock-is-played-by-weather-report.html

Blood, Sweat & Tears

(also known as "BS&T")

- founded in New York City in 1967

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Blood,_Sweat_%26_Tears

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/31/
movies/blood-sweat-tears-1970-tour.html

Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins    USA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sonny_Rollins

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sonny_Rollins_discography

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/29/
nx-s1-5415883/al-foster-drummer-miles-davis-sonny-rollins

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/12/09/
arts/music/harlem-jazz-sonny-rollins.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/18
books/review/notebooks-of-sonny-rollins.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/20/
books/review/saxophone-colossus-aidan-levy.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/18/
opinion/sonny-rollins-art.html

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/02/24/
magazine/sonny-rollins-interview.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/
realestate/essex-crossing-sonny-rollins-lower-east-side.html

https://www.npr.org/2017/11/03/
561559986/sonny-rollins-spent-a-mythical-night-
at-the-village-vanguard-60-years-ago-today

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/29/
arts/music/sonny-rollins-archives-schomburg-center.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/08/µ
arts/music/08roll.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/20/
arts/music/20roll.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/16/
arts/music/16ratl.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/21/
arts/music/21sonn.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/29/
arts/music/29roll.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/30/
arts/music/sonny-rollins-a-free-spirit-steeped-in-legends.html

https://www.theguardian.com/arts/features/
story/0,11710,1204970,00.html - 28 April 2004

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/09/01/
movies/film-sonny-rollins.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1987/08/22/
arts/sonny-rollins.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1972/03/17/
archives/rollins-and-sax-give-jazz-a-lift-out-of-sight-for-3-years-he.html

Ron Carter    USA

Ron Carter is one of the most prolific

and influential bassists  in jazz history.

During his six-decade career,

he has recorded more than 2,000 records,

(...)

Born in Ferndale, Michigan in 1937,

Carter started to play the cello at the age of 10,

but switched to bass in high school

because he claims opportunities

were limited for Black musicians

to play classical music.

He studied at the Eastman School of Music,

then went on to get his master's degree

at the Manhattan School of Music.

By the time he was 25,

he was one of the most sought-after

sidemen in jazz.

Carter's most historic recordings

came in the 1960s as the bassist

in the second great Miles Davis Quintet.

He says the band

– with Miles Davis on trumpet,

George Coleman

and then Wayne Shorter on saxophone,

Herbie Hancock on piano,

and Tony Williamson on drums —

never rehearsed before recording.

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/04/
1096293712/85-year-old-bassist-ron-carter-has-no-plans-on-slowing-down

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/nov/03/
ron-carter-jazz-bassist-miles-davis-aretha-franklin-roberta-flack-
interview

https://www.npr.org/2022/05/04/
1096293712/85-year-old-bassist-ron-carter-
has-no-plans-on-slowing-down

https://www.npr.org/2003/08/22/
1405384/-jazz-bassist-ron-carter

Jack DeJohnette    USA    1942-2025

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Jack_DeJohnette

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Jack_DeJohnette_discography

https://www.npr.org/artists/15124740/
jack-dejohnette

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/27/
jack-dejohnette-was-more-than-a-jazz-drummer-
his-staggering-range-made-him-a-superhuman-force-in-music

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/oct/27/
jack-dejohnette-versatile-jazz-drummer-miles-davis-fusion-dies-aged-83

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/27/
nx-s1-5587549/jack-dejohnette-obituary

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/
arts/music/jack-dejohnette-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/25/
arts/music/jack-dejohnette-piano.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/05/
arts/music/jack-dejohnette-in-movement-return.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/12/
arts/music/review-spontaneous-invention-from-the-jack-dejohnette-trio.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/03/
arts/music/jack-dejohnettes-spring-quartet-at-jazz-at-lincoln-center.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/
arts/music/03bird.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/nov/08/
jazz.artsfeatures1

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/12/28/
archives/jazz-jack-dejohnette-returns-with-new-band.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/03/17/
archives/cabaret-dejohnette.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/07/27/
archives/jack-dejohnette-at-the-bottom-line.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/07/
archives/miles-davis-plays-at-a-rock-concert.html

Jeannie Seely    USA    1940-2025

She blazed a trail for women in country music

with the candor of her songs

and her bold fashion sense.

She was the first woman

to host a segment on the Opry.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/
arts/music/jeannie-seely-dead.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Jeannie_Seely

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Jeannie_Seely_discography

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/01/
arts/music/jeannie-seely-dead.html

Al Foster    USA    1943-2025

Al Foster ('s) superbly alert

and flexible drumming

formed a swirling current in modern jazz

for more than 60 years,

propelling bands led by Miles Davis,

Sonny Rollins and many others,

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/29/
nx-s1-5415883/al-foster-drummer-miles-davis-sonny-rollins

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Al_Foster

https://www.npr.org/2025/05/29/
nx-s1-5415883/al-foster-drummer-miles-davis-sonny-rollins

Roy Ayers    USA    1940-2025

jazz-funk pioneer

whose hit Everybody Loves the Sunshine

has become a summer staple

across the globe,

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/06/
roy-ayers-jazz-funk-pioneer-everybody-loves-the-sunshine-dies

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Roy_Ayers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Roy_Ayers_discography

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/mar/06/
roy-ayers-jazz-funk-pioneer-everybody-loves-the-sunshine-dies

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/jun/19/
how-we-made-roy-ayers-everybody-loves-the-sunshine

Roy Haynes    USA    1925-2024

American drummer

who began in 1940s swing and bebop scenes

played with Charlie Parker, John Coltrane

and dozens more

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/13/
roy-haynes-jazz-drummer-dies-aged

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Roy_Haynes

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/13/
roy-haynes-jazz-drummer-dies-aged

https://www.npr.org/2024/11/12/
764793546/roy-haynes-dead-at-99

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/
arts/music/roy-haynes-dead.html

Lou Donaldson    USA    1926-2024

soulful master of the alto saxophone

A player of impeccable technique

and a mainstay of the Blue Note label,

he recorded constantly as both a leader

and a sideman beginning in 1952.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/11/
arts/music/lou-donaldson-dead.html

https://www.npr.org/artists/169149390/
lou-donaldson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Lou_Donaldson

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Lou_Donaldson_discography

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/nov/11/
lou-donaldson-obituary

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/11/
arts/music/lou-donaldson-dead.html

https://www.npr.org/2019/06/19/
733992956/good-gracious-words-of-wisdom-and-soulful-reflection-
from-sweet-papa-lou-donalds

https://www.npr.org/2014/05/28/
315274597/blue-note-at-75-the-concert-lou-donaldson-dr-lonnie-smith

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/may/31/
lou-donaldson-review

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/09/nyregion/09jazzwe.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2001/jan/19/
jazz

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2000/apr/24/jazz

Willis Leonard Holman / Bill Holman    USA    1927-2024

arranger and composer

whose work with Stan Kenton,

Gerry Mulligan and other jazz greats

established him as a transformative figure

in the cool jazz sound associated

with 1950s California

(...)

Mr. Holman’s longtime collaboration

with Mr. Kenton,

first as a saxophonist in his ban

and later as an arranger,

provided the foundation of his reputation,

but he also went on to arrange

for Maynard Ferguson,

Count Basie, Peggy Lee, Tony Bennett,

Michael Bublé and many others,

and to lead his own 16-piece ensemble.

He won three Grammy Awards

— for his arrangements of “Take the A Train” (1988)

for Doc Severinsen’s band

and “Straight, No Chaser” (1998) for his own,

and for his original composition

“A View From the Side” (1996) —

and contributed compositions and arrangements

to seven other Grammy-winning records,

including Natalie Cole’s “Unforgettable” (1991).

He received a total of 16 Grammy nominations.

Mr. Holman was known

for his economical, linear arrangements,

which used elegant counterpoint and dissonance

to enliven both old standards and his own works.

Reared on the big bands of the 1930s and ’40s,

he helped Mr. Kenton and others from that era

make the transition to a more energetic sound

in the postwar years.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/
arts/music/bill-holman-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/10/
arts/music/bill-holman-dead.html

Carla Bley    USA    1936-2023

The composer, arranger, bandleader and pianist Carla Bley

in performance in 1982.

She was branded an avant-gardist early in her career,

but her music always maintained a place for tonal harmony.

Photograph: David Corio/Redferns, via Getty Images

Carla Bley, Jazz Composer, Arranger and Provocateur, Dies at 87

Her music, which ranged from chamber miniatures to blaring fanfares,

was suffused with a slyly subversive attitude.

NYT

Oct. 17, 2023    3:28 p.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/
arts/music/carla-bley-dead.html

Carla Bley    USA    1936-2023

born Lovella May Borg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Carla_Bley

https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazz/profiles/
carla_bley.shtml

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/17/
arts/music/carla-bley-dead.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/jun/25/
jazz.shopping

Charles Gayle    USA    1939-2023

Like many of his peers,

Gayle was inspired by saxophone iconoclasts

Albert Ayler and John Coltrane.

But rather than mimicry,

you can hear an extension of those artists' spirits

through his instrument.

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/08/
1198248630/charles-gayle-saxophonist-obit

https://www.npr.org/2023/09/08/
1198248630/charles-gayle-saxophonist-obit

Ahmad Jamal    USA    1930-2023

A young Mr. Jamal at the piano, circa 1942.

He was only 14 when he joined the musicians’ union.

Photograph: Charles ‘Teenie’ Harris

Carnegie Museum of Art, via Getty Images

Ahmad Jamal, Whose Spare Style Redefined Jazz Piano, Dies at 92

He was known for his laid-back style

and for his influence on, among others,

Miles Davis, who once said,

“All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal.”

NYT

Published April 16, 2023

Updated April 17, 2023, 11:29 a.m. ET

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/
obituaries/ahmad-jamal-jazz-dead.html

born Frederick Russell Jones

Ahmad Jamal ('s) measured, spare piano style

was an inspiration to generations of jazz musicians

In a career that would bring him

a National Endowment

for the Arts Jazz Master award,

a lifetime achievement Grammy

and induction into France’s

Order of Arts and Letters,

Mr. Jamal made a lasting mark on jazz

with a stately approach that honored

what he called the spaces in the music.

That approach stood in marked contrast

to the challengingly complex music

known as bebop,

which was sweeping the jazz world

when Mr. Jamal began his career

as a teenager in the mid-1940s.

Bebop pianists,

following the lead of Bud Powell,

became known for their virtuosic flurries of notes.

Mr. Jamal chose a different path,

 which proved equally influential.

The critic Stanley Crouch wrote

that bebop’s founding father, Charlie Parker,

was the only musician “more important

to the development of fresh form in jazz

than Ahmad Jamal.”

(...)

Probably the best-known musician

to cite Mr. Jamal as an influence

was not a pianist

but a trumpeter and bandleader:

Miles Davis,

who became close friends with Mr. Jamal,

recorded his compositions and arrangements

and would bring his sidemen

to see Mr. Jamal perform.

He once said,

“All my inspiration comes from Ahmad Jamal.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/
obituaries/ahmad-jamal-jazz-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/16/
obituaries/ahmad-jamal-jazz-dead.html

https://www.npr.org/2022/11/28/
1139388807/pianist-ahmad-jamal-has-released-a-pair-of-archival-albums

Wayne Shorter    USA    1933-2023

Mary Louise Tobin    USA    1918-2022

With the big band era in full swing in 1939,

Louise Tobin, a jazz vocalist

with Benny Goodman’s orchestra,

was on the cusp of nationwide fame.

But she soon put her career on hold

at the request of her husband,

the trumpeter and bandleader Harry James.

Mr. James had begun

touring with his own band,

leaving Ms. Tobin to care for their two sons,

Harry Jr. and Tim.

And after the couple divorced in 1943,

Ms. Tobin devoted herself

to raising them  for the next 20 years or so.

(...)

After remarrying,

she resumed singing decades later.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/27/
arts/music/louise-tobin-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/27/
arts/music/louise-tobin-dead.html

Pharoah Sanders    USA    1940-2022

revered and influential tenor saxophonist

who explored and extended

the boundaries of his instrument,

notably alongside John Coltrane in the 1960s,

(...)

Spirit was the overwhelming force

in Sanders' music:

It emanated from his tenor

and soprano saxophones

in fiery blasts or a murmuring flicker,

and it suffused his ensembles,

which featured several generations of improvisers

equally willing to dig in or soar free.

"Sanders has consistently had bands

that could not only create

a lyrical near-mystical Afro-Eastern world,"

wrote one champion,

the poet-critic Amiri Baraka,

"but [also] sweat hot fire music

in continuing display

of the so-called 'energy music' of the '60s."

That combination of traits characterized

Sanders' defining solo work of the '70s

on Impulse! Records,

which had been Coltrane's label home,

and was still a welcoming harbor

for experimentalism.

Among these albums are Black Unity,

consisting of one album-length

improvisation, and Thembi,

which nudges a post-Coltrane language

into the realm of Afrocentric groove.

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/24/
1124925662/pharoah-sanders-dies-at-81-obituary

https://www.npr.org/2022/09/24/
1124925662/pharoah-sanders-dies-at-81-obituary

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/sep/24/
jazz-legend-pharoah-sanders-dead-at-81

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/24/
arts/music/pharoah-sanders-dead.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/28/
floating-points-pharoah-sanders-lso-promises-review-extraordinary

https://www.npr.org/2021/03/24/
980433831/pharoah-sanders-floating-points-promises-review-new-sounds

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/jul/27/this-weeks-new-live-music

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2008/feb/02/jazz.reviews

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2005/sep/30/jazz.johnfordham

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/04/jazz

https://www.nytimes.com/1982/08/26/
arts/jazz-pharoah-sanders-group.html

Curtis DuBois Fuller    USA    1932-2021

trombonist and composer

whose expansive sound

and powerful sense of swing

made him a driving force in postwar jazz

(...)

Mr. Fuller arrived in New York

in the spring of 1957

and almost immediately became

the leading trombonist

of the hard-bop movement,

which emphasized jazz’s

roots in blues and gospel

while delivering crisp

and hummable melodies.

By the end of the year,

he had recorded no fewer than eight albums

as a leader or co-leader

for the independent labels

Blue Note, Prestige and Savoy.

That same year he also appeared

on the saxophonist John Coltrane’s “Blue Train,”

among the most storied albums in jazz,

on which Mr. Fuller unfurls

a number of timeless solos.

On the title track, now a jazz standard,

his trombone plays a central role

in carrying the bold, declarative melody.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/
arts/music/curtis-fuller-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/14/
arts/music/curtis-fuller-dead.html

Sonny Simmons    USA    1933-2021

fiercely independent

alto saxophonist

Although jazz has established a place

in academic and cultural institutions,

it was and largely still

is an outsider's music,

and Simmons was an outsider's outsider.

With two notable exceptions,

his entire discography as a leader

took place on small,

independent labels

that were often based overseas,

yet he also played on Iron Man

and Conversations two

of Eric Dolphy's masterpieces.

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/13/
986501724/sonny-simmons-fiercely-independent-alto-saxophonist-dies-at-87

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/13/
986501724/sonny-simmons-fiercely-independent-alto-saxophonist-
dies-at-87

Milford Robert Graves    USA    1941-2021

Innovative jazz drummer

who came to view music

as just one aspect of the ‘rhythms of the self’

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/21/
milford-graves-obituary

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/mar/21/
milford-graves-obituary

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/19/
arts/music/milford-graves-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/
nyregion/milford-graves-drummer.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/12/
movies/milford-graves-full-mantis-review.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/26/
arts/music/milford-graves-jazz-full-mantis.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/09/
nyregion/finding-healing-music-in-the-heart.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1962/04/16/
archives/latin-jazz-bands-present-concert-cuban-orchestra-and-milford-graves.html

Ralph Peterson Jr.    USA    1962-2021

Probably the most prominent

drummer of his generation

to consistently front his own groups,

he was also an insightful educator and mentor.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/
arts/music/ralph-peterson-jr-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/07/
arts/music/ralph-peterson-jr-dead.html

Armando Anthony Corea / Chick Corea    USA    1941-2021

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/11/
967082282/chick-corea-jazz-fusion-pioneer-has-died-of-cancer-at-79

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/
arts/music/chick-corea-dead.html

Return to Forever

American jazz fusion band

that was founded

by pianist Chick Corea in 1971

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Forever - 12 February 2021

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Return_to_Forever - 12 February 2021

Gary Peacock    USA    1935-2020

https://www.npr.org/2020/09/07/
910054995/gary-peacock-a-jazz-bassist-always-ahead-of-his-time-dies-at-85

https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/11/
arts/music/keith-jarrett-and-his-trio-will-play-at-carnegie-hall.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/
arts/music/21jarrett.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/
arts/music/24bley.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/feb/23/jazz.shopping1

https://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/10/
arts/music/10bird.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2002/nov/08/jazz.artsfeatures1 

https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/16/
arts/jazz-review-hinting-quietly-at-zen-and-the-principles-of-physics.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/06/
arts/review-jazz-keith-jarrett-and-trio-in-gentle-discoveries.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1983/09/08/
arts/jazz-jarrett-trio-at-vanguard.html

Wilbur James Cobb / Jimmy Cobb    USA    1929-2020

drummer

on Miles Davis's Kind of Blue

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/25/
jimmy-cobb-dead-miles-davis-kind-of-blue

https://www.npr.org/2020/05/25/
845814061/jimmy-cobb-the-pulse-of-kind-of-blue-dies-at-91

https://www.npr.org/2013/08/21/
211770713/jimmy-cobb-live-at-the-village-vanguard

Lee Konitz    USA    1927-2020

From left, Miles Davis, Lee Konitz and Gerry Mulligan

in a 1949 recording session.

Mr. Konitz’s work

with the Miles Davis Nonet early in his career

helped establish his reputation.

Photograph: PoPsie Randolph

Michael Ochs Archives, via Getty Images

Lee Konitz, Jazz Saxophonist Who Blazed His Own Trail, Dies at 92

He was a pioneer of the cool school,

but he resisted pigeonholing

and focused on “making a personal statement.”

He died of complications of the coronavirus.

NYT

April 16, 2020

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/
arts/music/lee-konitz-dead-coronavirus.html

https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/15/
835634362/lee-konitz-prolific-and-influential-jazz-saxophonist-
has-died-at-92

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/16/
arts/music/lee-konitz-dead-coronavirus.html

Alfred McCoy Tyner    USA    1938-2020

Ethel Llewellyn Ennis    USA    1932-2019

Ethel Ennis was in bed

one night in the mid-1950s

when Billie Holiday called.

Ms. Ennis was in her mid-20s at the time,

a jazz vocalist on the rise

and, like Holiday, a product of Baltimore.

At first she figured it was a prank call.

But she quickly recognized

Holiday’s dusty voice.

“You have a great voice;

you don’t fake it,”

she later remembered Holiday saying.

“Keep it up and you’ll be famous.”

Ms. Ennis soon fulfilled

Holiday’s prophesy

— but only for a short time.

She recorded for major labels

in the late 1950s and the ’60s;

toured Europe with Benny Goodman;

performed onstage

alongside Miles Davis,

John Coltrane and Louis Armstrong;

and appeared on television

with Duke Ellington.

She became a regular

on Arthur Godfrey’s TV show

and headlined the Newport Jazz Festival.

In 1961

she won the Playboy jazz poll

for best female singer.

But she soon grew disillusioned

with the demands

placed on young divas,

and she eschewed national celebrity

for a quieter life in her hometown.

She became a beloved performer

and jazz advocate there,

earning the unofficial title

of Baltimore’s “First Lady of Jazz.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/22/
obituaries/ethel-ennis-dead.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/22/
obituaries/ethel-ennis-dead.html

Hamiet Ashford Bluiett Jr.    USA    1940-2018

baritone saxophonist who expanded

the possibilities of his instrument

while connecting the jazz avant-garde

with a broad view of its own history

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/
obituaries/hamiet-bluiett-dies-at-78.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/07/
obituaries/hamiet-bluiett-dies-at-78.html

Beatrice Ruth Wain    USA    1917-2017

In a short-lived recording career

(curtailed by a two-year strike by musicians

over royalties that began in 1942),

Ms. Wain was voted

most popular female band vocalist

in Billboard’s 1939 college poll.

(Ella Fitzgerald was second.)

She had No. 1 hits

with versions of the standards

“Deep Purple” and “Heart and Soul”

as well as “Cry, Baby, Cry”

and, most notably, “My Reverie,”

an up-tempo version of the classic Debussy

piano piece “Reverie” with lyrics

by Mr. Clinton.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/
arts/music/bea-wain-star-singer-of-the-big-band-era-dies-at-100.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/
arts/music/bea-wain-star-singer-of-the-big-band-era-dies-at-100.html

John Laird Abercrombie    USA    1944-2017

jazz guitarist whose lyrical style

placed him in his generation’s

top tier of improvising musicians

(...)

Mr. Abercrombie

became known in the mid-1970s

as a prominent jazz-rock guitarist.

But as his style evolved

and he moved away from fusion,

it was his knack for understatement

and his affinity for classic

jazz guitar technique

that defined his approach.

He played in bands

led by the drummer Jack DeJohnette

and the saxophonist Gato Barbieri,

among others,

before ECM Records released

his first album as a leader,

“Timeless,” in 1975.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/
arts/music/john-abercrombie-lyrical-jazz-guitarist-dies-at-72.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/aug/27/
john-abercrombie-obituary

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/23/
arts/music/john-abercrombie-lyrical-jazz-guitarist-dies-at-72.html

Allan Holdsworth    UK    1946-2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Allan_Holdsworth

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Soft_Machine

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
U.K._(band)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
The_Tony_Williams_Lifetime

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Pierre_Moerlen's_Gong

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Bruford_(band)

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/19/
allan-holdsworth-obituary

Robert Hutcherson    USA    1941-2016

one of the most admired and accomplished

vibraphonists in jazz

(...)

Mr. Hutcherson’s career took flight

in the early 1960s,

as jazz was slipping free

of the complex harmonic

and rhythmic designs of bebop.

He was fluent in that language,

but he was also one of the first

to adapt his instrument

to a freer postbop language,

often playing chords

with a pair of mallets in each hand.

He released more than 40 albums

and appeared on many more,

including some regarded as classics,

like “Out to Lunch,”

by the alto saxophonist,

flutist and bass clarinetist Eric Dolphy,

and “Mode for Joe,”

by the tenor saxophonist Joe Henderson.

Both of those albums were a byproduct

of Mr. Hutcherson’s close affiliation

with Blue Note Records,

from 1963 to 1977.

He was part of a wave of young artists

who defined the label’s

forays into experimentalism,

including the pianist Andrew Hill

and the alto saxophonist Jackie McLean.

But he also worked with hard-bop stalwarts

like the tenor saxophonist Dexter Gordon,

and he later delved into jazz-funk

and Afro-Latin grooves.

Mr. Hutcherson had a clear, ringing sound,

but his style was luminescent

and coolly fluid.

More than Milt Jackson or Lionel Hampton,

his major predecessors on the vibraphone,

he made an art out of resonating overtones

and chiming decay.

This coloristic range of sound,

which he often used

in the service of emotional expression,

was one reason for the deep influence

he left on stylistic inheritors

like Joe Locke, Warren Wolf,

Chris Dingman and Stefon Harris,

who recently assessed him as

“by far the most harmonically advanced person

to ever play the vibraphone.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/arts/music/bobby-hutcherson-dies-jazz.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/17/
arts/music/bobby-hutcherson-dies-jazz.html

Hyman Paul Bley    Canada    1932-2016

an obdurate and original pianist

who began his career playing bebop

and eventually became a major force

in experimental jazz

(...)

Mr. Bley’s style of playing

was melodic, measured, bluesy,

often polytonal and seemingly effortless.

He took as long as he needed

to finish a thought,

and at the tempo he chose for it.

He loved standards

but distrusted the strictures

of the 32-bar song form,

and especially  distrusted repetition.

His notes could move slowly

without telegraphing their destination,

drawling down into nothing

or cohering into bright,

purposefully gapped lines,

with backing chords

that kept changing the tonal center.

Mr. Bley (pronounced “blay”)

developed an influential language

of phrasing and harmony

— Keith Jarrett and Ethan Iverson

were two of its many beneficiaries —

but often talked about being eager

to get outside his own habits.

In the 1981 documentary

“Imagine the Sound,”

he professed not to practice or rehearse,

out of what he called

“a disdain for the known.”

And he did not stake

his work on traditional notions

of acceptability,

or the approval of the listener.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/
arts/music/paul-bley-adventurous-jazz-pianist-dies-at-83.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/06/
arts/music/paul-bley-adventurous-jazz-pianist-dies-at-83.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/jun/29/
jazz.shopping 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2007/feb/23/
jazz.shopping1

Ornette Coleman    USA    1930-2015

Marty Napoleon    USA    1921-2015

jazz pianist best known

for his many years with Louis Armstrong

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/
arts/music/marty-napoleon-93-dies-jazz-pianist-played-with-louis-armstrong.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/01/
arts/music/marty-napoleon-93-dies-jazz-pianist-played-with-louis-armstrong.html

Marcus Belgrave    USA    1936-2015

trumpet and fluegelhorn player

who worked with Ray Charles,

Charles Mingus, Max Roach and others

before settling in Detroit

in the early 1960s

and becoming a coach and conscience

for that city’s jazz scene

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/
arts/marcus-belgrave-trumpeter-and-mentor-in-detroits-jazz-scene-dies-at-78.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/27/
arts/marcus-belgrave-trumpeter-and-mentor-in-detroits-jazz-scene-
dies-at-78.html

Paul Henley Jeffrey    USA    1933-2015

saxophonist who was a mainstay

of the great pianist and composer

Thelonious Monk’s last working group

and later a prominent jazz educator

(...)

Mr. Jeffrey also had a long association

with another jazz giant,

the bassist and composer Charles Mingus.

He was a member

of a big band Mingus led in 1972

and worked with him

regularly from 1977 until shortly

before Mingus’s death in 1979,

writing arrangements

as well as playing saxophone.

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/
arts/music/paul-jeffrey-saxophonist-who-worked-with-thelonious-monk-dies-at-81.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/09/
arts/music/paul-jeffrey-saxophonist-who-worked-with-thelonious-monk-
dies-at-81.html

Clark Terry    USA    1920-2015

one of the most popular and influential

jazz trumpeters of his generation

and an enthusiastic advocate of jazz education

(...)

He was one of the few musicians

to have worked with the orchestras

of both Duke Ellington and Count Basie.

He was for many years a constant presence

in New York’s recording studios

— accompanying singers,

sitting in big-band trumpet sections,

providing music for radio and television commercials.

He recorded with Charles Mingus, Thelonious Monk

and other leading jazz artists as well as his own groups.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/
arts/music/clark-terry-influential-jazz-trumpeter-dies-at-94.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/
arts/music/clark-terry-influential-jazz-trumpeter-dies-at-94.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/feb/22/
clark-terry

Boniface Ferdinand Leonardo DeFranco    USA    1923-2014

innovative clarinetist

who rose from the remains of the swing era

to forge new and lasting prominence

as the instrument’s pre-eminent interpreter of bebop

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/
arts/music/buddy-defranco-versatile-jazz-clarinetist-dies-at-91.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/27/
arts/music/buddy-defranco-versatile-jazz-clarinetist-dies-at-91.html

Jacqueline Ruth Cain    USA    1928-2014

 Jackie Cain and Roy Kral in 1962.

They met in 1947

and were musical and marital partners until his death in 2002.

Photograph: Bernard Hollywood

Jackie Cain, of the Jazz Duo Jackie and Roy, Dies at 86

By DOUGLAS MARTIN    NYT    SEPT. 18, 2014

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/
arts/music/jackie-cain-of-the-jazz-duo-jackie-and-roy-dies-at-86.html

Jackie Cain

(...)

teamed with her husband, Roy Kral,

to form probably the most famous vocal duo

in jazz history,

melding popular tunes and sophisticated harmonies

for more than half a century

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/
arts/music/jackie-cain-of-the-jazz-duo-jackie-and-roy-dies-at-86.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Jackie_Cain

https://www.npr.org/event/music/387781407/
jackie-cain-on-piano-jazz - February 20, 2015

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/19/
arts/music/
jackie-cain-of-the-jazz-duo-jackie-and-roy-dies-at-86.html

Joseph Leslie Sample    USA    1939-2014

Joe Sample

(...)

became a jazz star in the 1960s

as the pianist with the Jazz Crusaders

and an even bigger star

a decade later when he began

playing electric keyboards

and the group simplified

its name to the Crusaders

(...)

The Jazz Crusaders,

who played the muscular, bluesy variation

on bebop known as hard bop,

had their roots in Houston, where Mr. Sample,

the tenor saxophonist Wilton Felder

and the drummer Nesbert Hooper

(better known by the self-explanatory

first name Stix)

began performing together

as the Swingsters while in high school.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/
arts/music/joe-sample-crusaders-pianist-dies-at-75.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/15/
arts/music/joe-sample-crusaders-pianist-dies-at-75.html

Gerald Stanley Wilson    USA    1918-2014

Gerald Wilson ('s)

eight-decade career

as a jazz composer, arranger,

big-band leader and trumpeter

spanned generations,

styles and geography

(...)

Mr. Wilson was not yet 21

when he joined

the Jimmie Lunceford band

in 1939 as a trumpeter,

replacing Sy Oliver,

and he was believed to have been

the last surviving member

of its prewar incarnation.

He went on to write

and arrange rich and imaginative music

for Duke Ellington, Count Basie,

Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald,

Sarah Vaughan and many other

major names in jazz.

He brought robust harmonies

and a wide spectrum of colors to his orchestrations,

but he may have been best known for his versatility

and his enduring freshness.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/arts/music/gerald-wilson-versatile-jazz-arranger-is-dead-at-96.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/
arts/music/gerald-wilson-versatile-jazz-arranger-is-dead-at-96.html

Idris Muhammad    USA    1939-2014

 (born Leo Morris)

drummer whose deep groove

propelled both a broad career in jazz

and an array of hits

spanning rhythm and blues, funk and soul

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/
arts/music/idris-muhammad-drummer-whose-beat-still-echoes-dies-at-74.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/09/
arts/music/idris-muhammad-drummer-whose-beat-still-echoes-
dies-at-74.html

Charles / Charlie Edward Haden    USA    1937-2014

one of the most influential bassists

in the history of jazz

(...)

His jazz career crossed seven decades,

with barely a moment of obscurity.

He was in his early 20s in 1959,

when, as a member of the Ornette Coleman Quartet,

he helped set off a seismic disruption in jazz.

Mr. Coleman, an alto saxophonist,

had been developing a brazen,

polytonal approach to improvisation

— it would come to be known as free jazz —

and in his band,

which had no chordal instrument,

Mr. Haden served as anchor and pivot.

Mr. Coleman’s clarion cry,

often entangled with that of the trumpeter Don Cherry,

grabbed much of the attention,

but Mr. Haden’s playing was just as crucial,

for its feeling of unerring rightness

in the face of an apparent ruckus.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/
arts/music/charlie-haden-influential-jazz-bassist-is-dead-at-76.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/12/arts/music/
charlie-haden-influential-jazz-bassist-is-dead-at-76.html

Horace Silver    USA    1928-2014

James Victor Scott    USA    1925-2014

Roy Sinclair Campbell Jr.    1952-2014

Roy Campbell Jr. (...)

carried the soulful swagger of hard-bop trumpet

into the jazz avant-garde,

where he became a pillar

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/arts/music/roy-campbell-jr-avant-garde-jazz-trumpeter-dies-at-61.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/arts/music/
roy-campbell-jr-avant-garde-jazz-trumpeter-dies-at-61.html

Angelo Paul Porcino    1925-2013

Al Porcino ('s) powerful sound

and ability to hit the highest of high notes with ease

brought him work as the lead trumpeter

in some of the most celebrated big bands in jazz

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/arts/music/al-porcino-king-of-the-high-notes-on-jazz-trumpet-dies-at-88.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/arts/music/
al-porcino-king-of-the-high-notes-on-jazz-trumpet-dies-at-88.html

Robert Stern Greenstein    1922-2013

pianist who was so besotted

by the controlled yet fevered jazz

of Jelly Roll Morton

that he abandoned a writing career

to perform the Jelly Roll canon

and spread the Jelly Roll gospel

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/arts/music/bob-greene-pianist-and-jelly-roll-morton-devotee-dies-at-91.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/25/arts/music/
bob-greene-pianist-and-jelly-roll-morton-devotee-dies-at-91.html

Ronald Shannon Jackson    1940-2013

avant-garde drummer and composer

who led an influential electric band

and performed with many

of the greatest names in jazz

(...)

He performed over the years

with Charles Mingus, Betty Carter,

Jackie McLean and Joe Henderson.

But his name was most closely linked

with three free-jazz pioneers:

the saxophonist Albert Ayler,

the pianist Cecil Taylor and, foremost,

the saxophonist Ornette Coleman

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/arts/music/ronald-shannon-jackson-avant-garde-drummer-dies-at-73.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/23/arts/music/
ronald-shannon-jackson-avant-garde-drummer-dies-at-73.html

Lee Elliot Tanner    1931-2013

jazz photographer whose evocative

and sometimes ethereal image

of Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie,

Thelonious Monk and others

helped define the genre visually

on scores of album covers

and in magazines, exhibitions and books

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/arts/music/lee-tanner-jazz-performance-portraitist-is-dead-at-82.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/16/arts/music/
lee-tanner-jazz-performance-portraitist-is-dead-at-82.html

Edwin Thomas Shaughnessy    1929-2013

Ed Shaughnessy

(his) deft drumming anchored

the “Tonight Show” orchestra

for 29 years.

(...)

Mr. Shaughnessy was a well-traveled

and highly regarded jazz drummer

when he was offered

the “Tonight” job in 1963,

shortly after Johnny Carso

had taken over as the show’s host.

He had performed or recorded

with Benny Goodman,  Count Basie,

Duke Ellington,  Charles Mingus,

Billie Holiday and numerous others.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/arts/music/ed-shaughnessy-tonight-drummer-dead-at-84.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/27/arts/music/
ed-shaughnessy-tonight-drummer-dead-at-84.html

Donaldson Toussaint L’Ouverture Byrd II    1932-2013

Donald Byrd

one of the leading

jazz trumpeters

of the 1950s and early 1960s,

who became both successful

and controversial in the 1970s

by blending jazz, funk

and rhythm and blues

into a pop hybrid

that defied categorization

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/arts/music/donald-byrd-renegade-jazz-trumpeter-dies-at-80.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/arts/music/
donald-byrd-renegade-jazz-trumpeter-dies-at-80.html

David Spencer Ware    1949-2012

a powerful and contemplative jazz saxophonist

whose career began in the early 1970s

but who did not make

a significant name for himself

until 20 years later

when he helped lead

a resurgence of free jazz in New York

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/20/arts/music/david-s-ware-adventurous-saxophonist-dies-at-62.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/20/arts/music/
david-s-ware-adventurous-saxophonist-dies-at-62.html

David Warren Brubeck    1920-2012

pianist and composer

who helped make jazz popular again

in the 1950s and ’60s

with recordings like “Time Out,”

the first jazz album to sell a million copies,

and “Take Five,”

the still instantly recognizable hit single

that was that album’s centerpiece

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/arts/music/dave-brubeck-jazz-musician-dies-at-91.html

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/dave-brubeck

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/07/
arts/music/dave-brubeck-time-outtakes-review.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/06/
arts/music/dave-brubeck-jazz-musician-dies-at-91.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/29/arts/music/29rose.html

Joseph Paul Muranyi    1928-2012

clarinetist whose mastery of pre-World War II jazz

led to a four-year stint with Louis Armstrong’s last band

— and to an improbable moment of pop stardom —

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/28/
arts/music/joe-muranyi-clarinetist-with-louis-armstrong-dies-at-84.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/28/arts/music/
joe-muranyi-clarinetist-with-louis-armstrong-dies-at-84.html

Teddy Charles / Theodore Charles Cohen    1928-2012

gifted vibraphonist who teamed up

with many of the musicians

who revolutionized jazz in the 1940s and ’50s

and then literally sailed away

to become a sea captain

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/21/arts/music/teddy-charles-jazz-musician-turned-sea-captain-dies-at-84.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/21/arts/music/
teddy-charles-jazz-musician-turned-sea-captain-dies-at-84.html

Samuel Carthorne Rivers / Sam Rivers    1923-2011

an inexhaustibly creative saxophonist,

flutist, bandleader and composer

who cut his own decisive path through the jazz world,

spearheading the 1970s loft scene in New York

and later establishing a rugged outpost in Florida

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/
arts/music/sam-rivers-jazz-musician-dies-at-88.html 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sam_Rivers_(jazz_musician)

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/22/
arts/music/sam-rivers-centennial-studio-rivbea.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/
arts/music/sam-rivers-jazz-musician-dies-at-88.html 

Stephen Paul Motian    1931-2011

drummer, bandleader, composer

and one of the most

influential jazz musicians of the last 50 years

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/arts/music/paul-motian-jazz-drummer-is-dead-at-80.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Paul_Motian

https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/
arts/music/paul-motian-jazz-drummer-is-dead-at-80.html 

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jun/26/
paul-motian-trio 

George Albert Shearing    1919-2011

British piano virtuoso

who overcame blindness

to become a worldwide jazz star,

and whose composition

“Lullaby of Birdland”

became an enduring jazz standard

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/arts/music/15shearing.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/arts/music/15shearing.html

Georgia Carroll    1919-2011

she enjoyed short-lived stardom

as the featured vocalist

in Kay Kyser’s popular big band

before marrying Mr. Kyser

and retiring from show business

in her late 20s

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/arts/music/23carroll.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/23/arts/music/23carroll.html

Margaret Eleanor Whiting    1924-2011

a songwriter’s daughter

who as a bright-eyed teenage singer

captivated wartime America

and then went on to a long, acclaimed career

recording hit songs

and performing in nightclubs and on television

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/arts/music/12whiting.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/arts/music/12whiting.html

William Edward Taylor Jr.    1921-2010

pianist and composer

who was also an eloquent

spokesman and advocate for jazz

as well as a familiar presence

for many years on television and radio

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/arts/music/30taylor.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/30/arts/music/30taylor.html

James Moody    1925-2010

jazz saxophonist and flutist

celebrated for his virtuosity, his versatility

and his onstage ebullience

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/arts/music/11moody.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/11/arts/music/11moody.html

Anna Marie Wooldridge / Abbey Lincoln    1930-2010

one of jazz’s most arresting

and uncompromising singers

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/arts/music/15lincoln.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/aug/15/abbey-lincoln-obituary

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/20/abbey-lincoln-cd-reviews

Joya Sherrill    1924-2010

singer with Duke Ellington

and Benny Goodman

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/arts/music/09sherrill.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/09/
arts/music/09sherrill.html

Benjamin Gordon Powell Jr.    1930-2010

Trombonist who performed

or recorded with everyone

from Frank Sinatra

to Screamin’ Jay Hawkins

but who was best known

for his long tenure

with Count Basie’s big band

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/arts/music/04powell.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/arts/music/04powell.html

William Robert Dixon    1925-2010

Trumpeter, composer, educator

and major force in the jazz

avant-garde movement of the 1960s

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/arts/music/20dixon.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/arts/music/20dixon.html

Hank Jones    1918-2010

(his) self-effacing nature belied his stature

as one of the most respected

jazz pianists of the postwar era

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/arts/music/18jones.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/18/arts/music/18jones.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/18/hank-jones-obituary

Lena Mary Calhoun Horne    1917-2010

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/
lena-horne

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/10/lena-horne-obituary

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/video/2010/may/10/lena-horne-dies-aged-92-video

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/may/10/lena-horne-black-singer-dies

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/books/excerpt-stormy-weather.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/books/review/Simon-t.html

John Edwin "Jake" Hanna    1931-2010

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/may/02/
jake-hanna-obituary 

Huey Long    1904-2009

guitarist and banjo player

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/30/huey-long-obituary-jazz

Marguerite Blossom Dearie    1926-2009

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/09/obituary-blossom-dearie-jazz

Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jnr    1926-2009

alto saxophonist and flautist

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/apr/06/bud-shank-obituary

Louie Bellson Jr    1924-2009

(Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni)

drummer and composer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/feb/18/louie-bellson-obituary

George Russell    1923-2009

jazz composer,

educator and musician

whose theories led the way

to radical changes in jazz

in the 1950s and ’60s

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/arts/music/30russell.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/28/george-russell-obituary

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/30/arts/music/30russell.html

Leonidas Raymond "Lee" Young Sr    1914-2008

jazz drummer

and record producer

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/aug/23/jazz

Freddie Hubbard    1938-2008

jazz trumpeter

who dazzled audiences and critics alike

with his virtuosity, his melodicism

and his infectious energy

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/arts/music/30hubbard.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/dec/30/freddie-hubbard-jazz-trumpeter-dies

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/30/arts/music/30hubbard.html

Johnny Griffin    1928-2008

tenor saxophonist from Chicago

whose speed, control and harmonic acuity

made him one of the most talented

American jazz musicians of his generation

yet who spent most of his career in Europe,

died (...) at his home in Availles-Limouzine,

a village in France.

He was 80

and had lived there for 24 years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/arts/music/26griffin.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/arts/music/26griffin.html

Alice Coltrane   1937-2007

musician and religious teacher

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Alice_Coltrane

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/29/
movies/paula-weinstein-dead.html

https://www.npr.org/2018/02/06/
582178492/meditating-on-the-healing-power-of-alice-coltranes-
journey-in-satchidananda

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/jan/17/
guardianobituaries.obituaries 

Max Roach    USA    1924-2007

C:Max Roach.

We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite.

New York: Candid Records,

1960.

Record jacket.

Motion Picture, Broadcasting, and Recorded Sound Division. (9-6)

Courtesy of Candid Production, LTD

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/aaohtml/aopart9.html

Jazz and the Civil Rights Movement

Jazz performers responded

to the force of the civil rights movement

by recording and performing their music.

The most ambitious response

was the Freedom Now Suite of Max Roach,

recorded in August and September 1960,

and involving such major performers as

Coleman Hawkins, Abbey Lincoln,

and Nigerian drummer Olatunji.

The Freedom Now Suite was issued

on the small label Candid Records

rather than on Max Roach's regular label, Mercury.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/odyssey/archive/09/0906001r.jpg

added 30 August 2007

founder of modern jazz

who rewrote the rules of drumming in the 1940s

and spent the rest of his career

breaking musical barriers

and defying listeners’ expectations

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/arts/music/17roach.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/
arts/music/nina-simone-blues-for-mama-newport.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/arts/music/17roach.html

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2007/aug/18/
guardianobituaries.obituaries

Alan George Heywood Melly    1926-2007

jazz singer, writer and broadcaster

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/jul/05/1

John (Jackie) Lenwood McLean    USA    1931-2006

Philadelphia-born Hammond organ pioneer,

(who) generally approached his performances

like a man who was certain

he was in showbusiness, rather than art.

Smith's gigs regularly involved

plenty of stagey gesticulation,

badinage with audiences,

and mopping his brow with towels.

The music was mostly rooted

in that most accessible

20th-century formula,

the twelve-bar blues.

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/apr/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries2

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2006/apr/03/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries2

Percy Heath    USA    1923-2005

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Percy_Heath

James Bryant Woode    1926-2005

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2005/may/05/
guardianobituaries.artsobituaries

James Oscar Smith    USA    1928-2005

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2005/feb/11/
guardianobituaries.artsobituaries 

Elvin Jones    USA    1927-2004

Elvin Jones ('s) explosive drumming

powered the John Coltrane Quartet,

the most influential and controversial

jazz ensemble of the 1960's

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/19/obituaries/19JONE.html

https://www.drummerworld.com/drummers/Elvin_Jones.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/19/obituaries/19JONE.html

Nina Simone    USA    1933-2003

Russell Donald 'Russ' Freeman    1926-2002

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2002/aug/02/guardianobituaries.arts 

Lionel Leo Hampton    1908-2002

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2002/sep/01/arts.artsnews

Susannah McCorkle    1946-2001

singer and writer

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2001/may/26/
guardianobituaries

Anthony Tillmon Williams / Tony Williams    1945-1997

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Tony_Williams_(drummer)

https://www.nytimes.com/1997/02/26/
arts/tony-williams-51-drummer-renowned-as-a-jazz-innovator.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/09/25/
arts/jazz-tony-williams-band.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1979/07/09/
archives/jazz-tony-williamss-5.html

Eddie Harris    1936-1996

https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/09/
arts/eddie-harris-62-saxophonist-and-adventurous-experimenter.html 

Bill Doggett    1916-1996

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Doggett

Don (Donald Eugene) Cherry    1936-1995

https://www.npr.org/artists/129379535/
don-cherry

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/nov/16/
the-baddest-technician-how-don-cherry-is-still-making-jazz-new

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/18/
1007252382/don-cherry-and-moki-cherry-organic-music-society

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/22/
arts/music/22berger.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/10/21/
arts/don-cherry-is-dead-at-58-trumpeter-of-a-lyrical-jazz.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/14/
arts/jazz-group-don-cherry.html

Carmen Mercedes McRae    USA    1922-1994

Carmen McRae performing in Chicago. 1956.

Photograph: Ted Williams

Iconic Images

Hearing Music in Photos of Jazz Giants

By John Leland

NYT

Aug. 16, 2016

https://archive.nytimes.com/lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/08/16/
hearing-music-in-photos-of-jazz-giants/

jazz singer known

for her probing interpretations of lyrics

and her bruised but unbowed point of view

(...)

Although Ms. McRae never reached

the heights of popularity

attained by Ella Fitzgerald,

Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday,

she was widely regarded

as their artistic equal.

In a prolific recording career

that spanned nearly five decades,

she had only two minor hits,

both in the mid-1950's.

But the scores of songs

on she which stamped her bittersweet,

gently mocking signature included "Alfie,"

"The Music That Makes Me Dance,"

"Guess Who I Saw Today?,"

"Blame It on My Youth,"

"Yesterdays" and "Mean to Me."

(...)

Ms. McRae was born

in Harlem on April 8, 1920,

one of four children of immigrants

from the West Indies.

Growing up in Brooklyn, she attended

Julia Richman High School in Manhattan

and received her musical grounding

in five years  of formal piano lessons.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/12/
obituaries/carmen-mcrae-is-dead-at-74-jazz-career-spanned-5-decades.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/12/
obituaries/carmen-mcrae-is-dead-at-74-jazz-career-spanned-5-decades.html

Le Sony'r Ra    USA    1914-1993

born Herman Poole Blount

better known as Sun Ra,

jazz composer, bandleader,

piano and synthesizer player,

and poet known for his experimental music,

"cosmic" philosophy, prolific output,

and theatrical performances.

For much of his career, Ra led The Arkestra,

an ensemble with an ever-changing name

and flexible line-up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Ra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sun_Ra

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Sun_Ra_discography

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/02/
arts/music/marshall-allen-sun-ra-arkestra.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/04/
arts/music/sun-ra-jazz-music.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/27/
arts/music/sun-ra-arkestra-swirling.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1993/05/31/
obituaries/sun-ra-79-versatile-jazz-artist-a-pioneer-with-a-surrealist-bent.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/20/
arts/pop-jazz-offbeat-music-sun-ra-arkestra-to-gallic-rock.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/12/
arts/jazz-sun-ra-band-at-sweet-basil.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/26/
movies/the-jazz-of-sun-ra.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/02/03/
arts/rock-funk-jazz-sun-ra-and-dr-john-at-club-57.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/12/29/
archives/sun-ra-casts-special-light-on-jazz-formed-first-arkestra-in-1950s.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/05/08/
archives/jazz-diverse.html

https://www.nytimes.com/1974/10/13/
archives/sun-ras-jagged-jazz-at-beacon-theater.html

Art Blakey    USA    1919-1990

Ian Ernest Gilmore "Gil" Evans    Canada    1912-1988

 born Green

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2012/nov/07/
gil-evans-london-jazz-festival 

http://www.npr.org/2012/05/13/
152577588/gil-evans-essential-jazz-arranger-at-100

http://www.npr.org/2008/05/14/
90410937/gil-evans-distinction-in-arranging

Henry "Hank" Mobley    USA    1930-1986

https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/11/
arts/hank-mobley-quartet.html

Benjamin David “Benny” Goodman    USA    1909-1986

https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/
learning/general/onthisday/bday/0530.html

Art Pepper    USA    1925-1982

star saxophonist with Stan Kenton's

orchestra 30 years ago

who had been successfully rebuilding

his career in the last five years

after losing two decades to drugs

and consequent prison terms

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/16/obituaries/art-pepper-56-saxophonist-with-kenton-orchestra-dies.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1982/06/16/
obituaries/art-pepper-56-saxophonist-with-kenton-orchestra-dies.html

http://www.nytimes.com/movies/movie/181481/
Art-Pepper-Notes-From-a-Jazz-Survivor/overview

Bill Evans    USA    1929-1980

https://www.nytimes.com/1980/09/17/
archives/bill-evans-jazz-pianist-praised-for-lyricism-and-structure-
dies-in.html

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/apr/28/
bill-evans-trio-some-other-time-review-exquisite-enthralling-jazz

http://www.npr.org/2010/10/08/
92185496/bill-evans-on-piano-jazz

http://www.npr.org/2008/02/27/
46474288/bill-evans-piano-impressionism

https://www.nytimes.com/1980/09/17/
archives/bill-evans-jazz-pianist-praised-for-lyricism-and-structure-
dies-in.html

Hasaan Ibn Ali    USA    1931-1980

 (born William Henry Langford, Jr.)

When Hasaan Ibn Ali

made his debut on Atlantic Records,

he was 33 years old

and living with his parents in Philadelphia.

He rarely performed in public,

more of a "phantom" than a legend,

but within the community

of musicians on the East Coast

there was a steady hum of grapevine talk

about the socially awkward

pianist from Philly who could create

Thelonious Monk-style

whiplash one minute,

and sprint up and down the keyboard

like Art Tatum the next.

https://www.npr.org/2021/04/26/
990881665/the-lost-recordings-of-hasaan-ibn-ali-reveal-a-legend-just-getting-started