Journalists and colleagues bid farewell to the jazz community’s departed.
The phrase “poetry in motion”? That is Jack DeJohnette, the epic, dynamics-rich and legendary jazz drummer, pianist, abstract conceptualist and composer who died at the … Read More “Jack DeJohnette, Jazz Drumming’s Surround-Sound of Thunder, Dies at 83”
Jim McNeely, who played piano with many legends of jazz before becoming one of the most important large-ensemble jazz composers of his generation, has died … Read More “Jim McNeely, 1949–2025”
Hermeto Pascoal — the self-taught Brazilian wonder of jazz composition mixed with the sounds of his homeland, who modeled multi-instrumental prowess leading his own ensembles … Read More “Hermeto Pascoal: A Hurricane of Multiple Musics”
Even among all the fiercely offbeat singers who sprang out of modern jazz in the 1940s and ’50s, Sheila Jordan stood out. Her sound, she … Read More “Vocalist and Free-Spirited Jazz Icon Sheila Jordan: A Glorious Life in Music, 1928-2025”
Joseph Daley, the low-key yet legendary tuba player, trombonist, euphonist, composer, educator and toast of the downtown New York loft scene, died on August 3 … Read More “Joseph Daley, Harlem-to-Hackensack Jazz Tuba Player, Trombonist and Composer, Dies at 75”
Cleo Laine, the United Kingdom’s most renowned jazz singer and theater actress with credits in London’s West End as well as Broadway, died July 24 … Read More “Cleo Laine, Jazz Vocalist and Tony-Nominated Theater Actress, Dies at 97”
Jazz trumpeter, flugelhorn player and composer Chuck Mangione — the man behind the pop-jazz instrumental crossover Top 10 hit “Feels So Good,” and an animated … Read More “Chuck Mangione, Flugelhorn Player, Trumpeter and “Feels So Good” Hitmaker, Dies at 84”
Jazz singer Andy Bey, who died at 85 on April 26, 2025, was a striking vision at the piano: a compact, muscley, mahogany-skinned man, half-smiling … Read More “In Memoriam: Andy Bey, 1939-2025”
If you were fortunate enough to see the great jazz vocalist Miles Griffith live onstage, you did not forget it. The charismatic and soulful Griffith … Read More “In Memoriam: Miles Griffith, 1969-2025”
I first heard of Bunky Green when I was a student at Berklee College of Music. I was warming up for a lesson with the … Read More “In Honor of Bunky Green, 1933-2025”
