Died On This Date (June 27, 2009) Jackie Washington / Canadian Jazz & Blues Icon

Jackie Washington
November 12, 1919 – June 27, 2009

jack3Jackie Washington was one of those artists that was referred to as both a jazz and blues singer.  Born in Ontario, Canada, Washington taught himself how to play the guitar at thirteen.  This helped the family during the depression as he and his brothers began performing to earn extra money for their large family. During the late ’40s, Washington became Canada’s first African American disc jockey, hosting a jazz show on a Hamilton radio station.  Washington’s career as a musician kicked into high gear during the folk revival of the ’60s, becoming a regular along Canada’s folk and blues festival circuits.  Besides making several albums of his own, including four excellent titles for Vanguard Records, Washington appeared on recordings by such greats as Lionel Hampton, Gordon Lightfoot, Joni Mitchell, and Duke Ellington.  He was also an inspiration to many, including a young Bob Dylan, who liberally “borrowed” from Washington’s version of “Nottumun Town” for his own “Masters Of War.” There was even talk of Washington suing Dylan, but that never came to be. Jackie Washington died of complications from an earlier heart attack.  He was 89.

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Keeping Out of Mischief - Jackie Washington

 

Died On This Date (May 31, 1967) Billy Strayhorn / Jazz Great

Billy Strayhorn
November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967

billyBilly Strayhorn was a jazz composer and musician who is most famous for his work alongside Duke Ellington.  Strayhorn first became interested in music as a child while living with his grandmother.  By the time he was high school, Strayhorn had formed a combo and was writing his first songs.  One of which would eventually become one of his signature songs, “Lush Life.”    Although more interested in classical music, Strayhorn set his sites on jazz, since it was next to impossible for a Black man to have a career playing classical music in those days.  Strayhorn met Ellington after a show in 1938, impressing the man enough to hire him on as arranger and composer.  They collaborated with each other for the next 25 years.   Besides “Lush Life,” Strayhorn penned such classics as “Chelsea Bridge,” and “Take The A Train.”   Billy Strayhorn died of esophageal cancer at the age of 51.

 

Died On This Date (May 24, 1974) Duke Ellington / Jazz Icon

Edward “Duke” Ellington
April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974

Duke Ellington was a jazz composer, band leader and pianist who is considered by many to be the greatest jazz musician of all times. So influential he was, that many of his band members went on to become legends themselves. After learning to play the piano as a child, Ellington launched his music career in 1917 when he started gigging around his Washington DC neighborhood. By the time he was 24, he had already made at least eight records, giving him the opportunity to broaden his touring base across the US and eventually to Europe. By the ’30s and ’40s, Ellington was releasing hit after hit, including “Take The A Train,” “Mood Indigo,” “Sophisticated Lady,” “In A Sentimental Mood,” and “It Don’t Mean A Thing (If You Aint Got That Swing.” Ellington continued to tour and make records into his 70s, including the one album he made with Frank Sinatra, Francis A. & Edward K. In 1965, Ellington was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize but did not receive one. He did however, win eleven Grammy awards, receive a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and France’s Legion Of Honor Award along with countless other recognitions. Duke Ellington died of lung cancer and pneumonia on May 24, 1974. Over 12,000 people attended his funeral.

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Died On This Date (May 11, 1970) Johnny Hodges / Played Sax With Duke Ellington

Johnny Hodges
July 25, 1907 – May 11, 2008

Johnny Hodges was an American saxophonist who played lead in Duke Ellington’s Orchestra for 38 years, giving it it’s signature sound.  And along the way, he wowed not only jazz fans but his contemporaries as well.  Benny Goodman once claimed that Hodges was “the greatest man on alto sax I ever heard.”  allmusic.com calls him the “Possessor of the most beautiful tone ever heard in jazz.”  Hodges stayed with Ellington until his sudden death in 1970, after which Ellington proclaimed, “Our band will never sound the same.”


Died On This Date (April 26, 1984) Count Basie / Jazz Legend

William “Count” Basie
March 24, 1904 – April 26, 1984

basie1Count Basie is one of most important jazz musicians and band leaders in American history.  Born in Red Bank, New Jersey in 1904, Basie was encouraged by his mother to learn the piano, paying 25 cents a lesson for the young boy.  Dropping out of junior high school, he took a job at a local movie house where one day when the regular pianist failed to show up for work, Basie took over playing behind the silent films.  He never looked back.  By his late teens he was playing at local parties, dances and talent shows, and when he wasn’t playing, he was hustling for his next gig.  In the mid ’20s, Basie was fully immersed in the jazz scene that was building in Harlem.  He would lead his Count Basie Orchestra on and off for the next fifty years.  Throughout his astounding career, Basie played for royalty around the world;  recorded with a who’s who of popular music – from Frank Sinatra to Duke Ellington, from Billie Holiday to Sarah Vaughan; won nine Grammys;  had four songs selected to the Grammy Hall of Fame;  appeared on television and in film; and performed at John F. Kennedy’s inaugural ball.  He passed away of pancreatic cancer on April 26, 1984 at the age of 79.

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Count Basie