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Archive for the ‘Jazz’ Category

Died On This Date (November 15, 2016) Mose Allison / Jazz And Blues Legend

Posted by themusicsover on November 15, 2016

Mose Allison
November 11, 1927 – November 15, 2016

mose-allisonMose Allison was a revered jazz and blues pianist and singer whose influence reached beyond his idioms and into rock and blues.  Over the past four decades his songs have been recorded by the likes of the Clash, the Bangles, Leon Russell, Elvis Costello, Van Morrison, Robert Palmer, Bonnie Raitt, the Yardbirds, and most famously, the Who, whose version of “Young Mans Blues” reached the masses via their classic Live At Leeds album, and remained a concert staple ever since.  Born and raised on his grandfather’s Mississippi farm, Allison spent his formative years picking cotton while learning to play the piano and trumpet.  He was just 13 when he wrote his first song.  After spending a couple of years in the Army, Russell completed college and then moved to New York City to launch his music career.  While performing with such jazz luminaries as Gerry Mulligan and Stan Getz, he recorded his debut album, Black Country Suite, which was released by Prestige in March of 1957. Difficult to classify, one label tried marketing him as a pop artist, while another tried blues, and yet another, jazz.  Regardless of any difficulties they might have had, his fanbase grew with each album. Throughout his career, Allison received countless honors including the prestigious Jazz Master award by the National Endowment For The Arts in 2013.  Mose Allison was 89 when he died of natural causes on November 15, 2016.

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Died On This Date (December 31, 2015) Natalie Cole / R&B Great

Posted by themusicsover on December 31, 2015

Natalie Cole
February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015

Natalie-ColeNatalie Cole was an American R&B singer who, over the course of a career that spanned 6 decades, sold over 30 million albums and earned nine Grammys.  Born into a show business family – her father was Nat King Cole and her mother was Maria Hawkins Cole, a one-time singer for Duke Ellington, Cole followed her parents into show business at a very early age.  When she was just six, she sang on her father’s iconic Christmas album, and within five years, she was performing on stage.  After graduating from college, Cole began singing in clubs and soon caught the ear of a couple of producers who recorded a few tracks and shopped them around.  Capitol Records signed her and released her first album, Inseparable, in 1975.  The album contained her first top 10 single, “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)” which resulted in Cole’s first two Grammys, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and Best New Artist.  The balance of the ’70s were extremely prosperous for Cole as she released several more hit records; performed to sell-out crowds; and made numerous TV appearance including her own two specials.  The early ’80s were less kind to her as record sales dwindled and she battled her own personal demons.  But by 1987, Cole’s career was bouncing back.  Her 1987 dance album, Everlasting, brought her back to the charts with such hit singles as, “Everlasting,” “Jump Start,” “I Live For Your Love,” and her pop crossover version of Bruce Springsteen‘s “Pink Cadillac.”  The hits continued through the early ’90s and beyond, with Cole’s style maturing into that which made her father famous, jazz vocals/traditional pop.  She continued to record and perform to adoring fans over the next two decades, but in December of 2015, it was later revealed, she had to cancel several shows due to ongoing health problems.  On December 31, 2015, Natalie Cole died of congestive heart failure at the age of 65.

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Died On This Date (June 11, 2015) Ornette Coleman / Jazz Great

Posted by themusicsover on June 11, 2015

Randolph Ornette Coleman
March 9, 1930 – June 11, 2015

Photo by Jimmy Katz

Photo by Jimmy Katz

Ornette Coleman was one of the true greats of jazz.  As a saxophonist, he pioneered what would become to be called “free jazz.” In fact, he is often credited with actually inventing it, or at least putting a name to it, after naming his 1960 album,  Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation. Born in Forth Worth, TX., Coleman spent much of his early career traveling around the United States performing along regional jazz circuits.  Along the way he began to incorporate country blues and R&B into his sound.  In his slower pieces, his high timbre can come across as crying, which appealed to fans of the blues as well.  In 1959, while living in New York, Coleman released The Shape of Things To Come, and a year later, Free Jazz.  Both releases broke him through in a big way and laid the foundation for the avant-garde movement of the 1960s and beyond.   In later years Coleman dabbled in rock, even performing with the Grateful Dead on occasion.  In 2007, he became the first musician to win a Pulitzer Prize – for his album, Sound Grammar.  He continued to perform and record up until the time of his death.  Ornette Coleman was 85 when he died of cardiac arrest on June 11, 2015.

Thanks to Harold Lepidus of the Bob Dylan Examiner for the assist.

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Died On This Date (February 21, 2015) Clark Terry / American Jazz Great

Posted by themusicsover on February 21, 2015

Clark Terry
December 14, 1920 – February 21, 2015

clark-terryClark Terry was an American jazz trumpeter who is widely considered one of the most influential and popular jazz musicians of his time.  Terry launched his career during the early ’40s, just in time to serve in the US Navy Band during World War II.  After his discharge, Terry went on to perform with Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and later, Quincy Jones, among others, as well as leading his own bands. As one of the most recorded artists jazz music has ever known, Terry appeared on nearly 1000 known recordings.  Throughout his career, he wrote over 200 jazz songs, performed for seven US Presidents, and put on several jazz festivals and jazz camps.  In 1991 he was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master Award, and in 2010, he became one of only five trumpet players to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.  A lifetime student of jazz as well as a respected educator, Clark held sixteen honorary doctorates.  He was even knighted in Germany.  Clark Terry was 94 when he passed away on February 21, 2015.

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Died On This Date (January 1, 2015) Jeff Golub / Guitar Great

Posted by themusicsover on January 1, 2015

Jeff Golub
April 15, 1955 – January 1, 2015

jeff-golub

At right with Billy Squier. Photo by David Plastik – Click To Order Quality Prints – Discount code: 10OFF

Jeff Golub was an American guitarist who was as adept at jazz as he was at rock and the blues.  During a career that spanned more than 30 years, Golub released over a dozen contemporary jazz albums while earning a reputation as one of rock music’s most in-demand session players.  He is perhaps best remembered for his years playing on records by and touring with both Billy Squier and David Bowie.  The list of artists on whose albums Golub performed also includes John Waite, Dave Koz, Kirk Whalum, Joe Lynn Turner, and Tina Turner. In November of 2014, Golub learned that he was suffering from progressive supranuclear palsy which ultimately took his life on January 1, 2015.  He was 59.

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