Comments on: Cherry Picking

By: Herbt

Herbt — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:30:58 +0000

I would have to say I was most affected by Don Pullen, who really seemed to have found an audience.Also Fred Hopkins and Lester Bowie who both had so much charisma and spirit. I miss those guys a lot.

By: tim g.

tim g. — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 07:15:49 +0000

mal waldron. one of the most distinctive voices in the music. the way he worried over all his phrases and broke them down into gradual change through repetition was profound. mal waldron was like existence: fleeting, always changing but always the same.

By: Simurgh

Simurgh — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 03:00:08 +0000

Glenn Spearman. His emotional cry was the unapproachable target sound when I first dreamed of playing free jazz. You could hear him playing though his malady on his last few recordings. His passing was another testimony to the fact that life is short and art is long. Then Raphe Malik, who Glenn made some great albums with, died too, and I dug out ’21st Century Texts’ to remember where I’d first heard them together.

By: Ph

Ph — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 10:08:56 +0000

Of recent times; Andrew Hill, Alice Coltrane, Freddie Hubbard, Rashied Ali, Jimmy Giuffre.

By: Matt

Matt — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:41:30 +0000

Definitely Steve Lacy as well. I passed on seeing him the last time he came through Montreal. Didn’t have very much. Eat or jazz? I chose eat. I’ll never forgive my stomach for that one.

By: Ian Carey

Ian Carey — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:28:56 +0000

Definitely Steve Lacy for me. Aside from his being one of my favorite improvisers, I had spoken to him once at a show and asked whether he taught privately–he suggested working through his book and getting in touch with him when I was finished to talk about “the next step.” I wonder what that would’ve been…

By: Jean

Jean — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 01:40:46 +0000

I don’t like when people die. It seems unfair. It was bizarre when René Thomas left, strange when Mingus died, sad when Don Cherry passed away and cruel when Jean-François Jenny-Clarke couldn’t fight his illness anymore. Who thought Elvin Jones could ever die ? That was hard to see John Gilmore going. And I hope Beb Guérin will be remembered for who he was, an intelligent and challenging musician and pesron.

By: Tom G

Tom G — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 00:43:05 +0000

Dewey Redman: What a great and sadly underrated musician. One of the warmest Tenor-Sounds ever. His recordings with Ornette, Jarrett, Redman (Duo in Willisau), Old & New Dreams etc. are timeless and full of surprises. I saw him several times here in Switzerland where he played quite often with the band of guitar-wizzard Harald Haerter … He was an original, a real heart-to-heart-musician, a true improviser (THE REAL DEAL) … & one of the greatest balladeers since Lester Young … I just discovered Anthony Cox’ DARK METALS with Dewey Redman, Mike Cain and Billy Higgins: one of the gems of the 90s (as far as I know Redman and Higgins didn’t play that much togehter – or am I wrong???)

By: Guy

Guy — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:24:38 +0000

sonny sharrock. i bought my first sharrock albums (“Guitar” and Last Exit’s “Köln”) the week before he died and when i read the obit in the newspaper, they had been playing for seven days straight, he’d become a hero in that week. still is, fifteen years later

By: Dane

Dane — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:18:08 +0000

most recently, it was jimmy giuffre. i think i was even listening to some of his records the same day he died (a few days before it was announced). surprised that d:o didn’t do a post in memoriam

By: godoggo

godoggo — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 05:32:40 +0000

Carmen McRae is the one that comes to mind immediately, the one about which I can say I’ll never forget where I was when I heard of it. It was announced from the stage of the Drew University Jazz Festival. Carmen Bradford (Bobby’s daughter) and Ernie Andrews sang amazing sets with the Gerald Wilson Orchestra that night..the program also included Joe Henderson with Bobby Hutcherson and Billie Higgins, as I recall, but the singers owned the night. Too many others: Miles, Dizzy, etc…Horace Tapscott, John Carter…

By: Hank

Hank — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:20:43 +0000

1. Walt Dickerson. It killed me that he never reemerged. I really hoped we’d see him record and/or perform again.

2. Andrew Hill. Towards the end, his music just kept getting more and more magical.

3. Booker Little. He died way before I was born, of course, but it’s still so sad. The young man was really headed somewhere.

By: RonnieO

RonnieO — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:01:21 +0000

1. Don Pullen; 2. Steve Lacy; 3. Johnny Dyani

By: Cherise

Cherise — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 03:27:09 +0000

for me, it was miles. somehow it barely occurred to me that he could die. i figured all the different chemicals he did must’ve cancelled each other out or imbalmed his insides and made him near immortal. like, say, keith richards. i saw miles perform a few months before his death. he looked good and his playing was exceptional. the band was mostly meh, but his tone was as devastating as ever. even with that lame cyndi lauper shit he could shred your insides.

By: Bart from Tampa

Bart from Tampa — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:54:06 +0000

Two in particular: John Coltrane, because he is my favorite musician, any instrument, any genre. He died 2 years before I was even born, but it bothers me that a person that had so much music screaming to get out of him had to die an untimely death.

The 2nd is Elvin Jones. I had the privilege of seeing the Elvin Jones Jazz Machine in Nov. 2001 in Tampa (see, we do occasionally get good shows here!) at a small theater. After the show I was standing in front of the stage watching his wife Keiko breaking down his drumset. She saw me and asked if she could help me. I said I was hoping to meet Elvin. She said “he’s around backstage, why don’t you just go back there?” I couldn’t believe it. I went ahead and walked down the hallway, eventually coming to the open door of his dressing room. I greeted him and we talked for several minutes. His charm and down-to-earth nature were amazing. He made me feel like I was the most important person in the world in that brief moment, and I left there feeling inspired to be a better human being. So when I read of his passing in 2004, it hit me pretty hard. Great musician, great human being.