The last old master drummer has died, Roy Haynes, at age 99. He was the last of the “magnificent seven” (coined by Lenny White): Kenny Clarke, Max Roach, Art Blakey, Roy Haynes, Philly Joe Jones, […]
Category: obituary
RIP Carlton Jackson
Portland drummer Carlton Jackson died last weekend, he’s been such a pillar of the jazz community, a knowledgeable authority, and one of the handful of top drummers in the region for so long I was […]
RIP Thee Hippy Slayer
Sad news, Portland drummer Steve Hanford, aka Thee Hippy Slayer, has died. Best known for playing with iconic Portland punk band Poison Idea. I’m not a follower, but I have a lot of fondness for […]
Very occasional quote of the day: Lee Konitz
From my friend and collaborator saxophonist Tim Willcox on his lesson with Lee Konitz, who died yesterday: When it came down to asking Lee my very specific questions about how he practiced and learned to […]
Neil Peart
Well, dang. Everyone knows by now Neil Peart has unexpectedly passed away. He was certainly the most celebrated drummer of the past ~ 45 years, maybe ever. A few are more famous, but I don’t […]
Marvin Dahlgren has died
Someone sent me the following note today: My friend, Marv Dahlgren, the great percussionist, and drum book author, has passed on to his celestial reward, at 92 years of age. I visited Marv a few […]
Clyde died
Clyde Stubblefield Writing appreciations of the recently deceased is not what we are about here, but we can’t really let great drummers pass without notice, either. When I was in school, in the late 80s, […]
Victor Bailey 1960-2016
Learned from Terri Lyne Carrington on Twitter that bassist Victor Bailey has passed away from a long-term muscular dystrophy-like disorder. I knew him best for his playing with Weather Report: All of the WR albums […]
Very occasional quote of the day: nice guys
“Nice guys finish first. If you don’t know that, then you don’t know where the finish line is.” — Garry Shandling, 1949-2016 [h/t to @TheBlakeMorgan] There’s also a great exchange in Shandling’s Comedians In Cars […]
David Bowie (1947-2016)
(h/t Luqman Brown) UPDATE: A very cool article about Bowie’s final album.
Paul Bley 1932-2016
We’ve lost quite a few great people this week: the singer Natalie Cole, cinematographers Vilmos Zsigmond and Haskell Wexler, Harlem Globetrotter Meadowlark Lemon, and now pianist Paul Bley— word is, he passed away while listening […]