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December 2, 2008 8:41:10 AM CST

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jazz news stories

7 Stories

Bird Lives! And He Does It in Fanatic Detail

NY radio jock keeps jazz boppin', stumps die-hard know-it-alls

New Yorker New Yorker May 17, 08 6:38 PM CDT
(Newser) - A white guy from Queens may be our best link to a music rooted in black history. Phil Schapp grew up in a home full of jazz, and has hosted a radio show obsessed with the music's minutiae for decades, the New Yorker reports. He's liable to digress on Charlie Parker's pronunciation of "Okiedoke," but that's an improvement: "For the first twenty years, I was concerned about telling you absolutely everything about every tune," he said. More »

More about:  New York City • music • radio • jazz • Charlie Parker

 Jazzman Giuffre Dead at 86 

Adventurous instrumentalist and composer Jimmy Giuffre was a '50s jazz hero

New York Times New York Times Apr 26, 08 6:26 AM CDT
(Newser) - The iconoclastic clarinetist and composer Jimmy Giuffre died Thursday, two days before what would have been his 87th birthday, the New York Times reports. The Texas-born jazz legend's 50-year career took him from big-band hits with Woody Herman to minimalist trios, with a stint playing in mess halls as a GI in WWII. Giuffre's experimental, blues-infused styling made him a leading figure in the '50s "cool jazz" scene. More »

More about:  music • obituary • musician • jazz • saxophone

Corinne Bailey Rae's Husband Found Dead

Saxophone player
died from suspected drug overdose at 31

Daily Mail (UK) Daily Mail (UK) Mar 24, 08 7:54 AM CDT
(Newser) - The husband of British soul singer Corinne Bailey Rae has been found dead from a suspected drug overdose at his home in the UK. Jason Rae, 31, a saxophone player, is said to have struggled with drug abuse for years, according to Britain's Daily Mail . His band, the Haggis Horns, had backed Amy Winehouse. More »

More about:  celebrity • Amy Winehouse • drug addiction • overdose • jazz • saxophone

Oscar Peterson Dies at 82

Jazz virtuoso known for quickness at the keyboard

CBC (Canada) CBC (Canada) Dec 24, 07 2:10 PM CST
(Newser) - Legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson died last night at his home near Toronto from kidney failure, CBC News reports. He was 82. The Canadian musician made hundreds of recordings, won seven Grammys, and played alongside greats like Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, and Ella Fitzgerald. "The world has lost the world's greatest jazz player," said Peterson's hometown mayor. More »

More about:  music • obituary • Canada • musician • jazz • Toronto • Montreal • Charlie Parker • Louis Armstrong • piano

Jazz Giant Zawinul Dead at 75

Keyboardist defended 'electric jazz' against purists

Associated Press Associated Press Sep 11, 07 7:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - Joe Zawinul, the keyboardist who plugged America into "Electric Jazz" in the 1970s, has died at age 75. Best known for playing jazz-rock fusion with Miles Davis and starting up Weather Report with Wayne Shorter, Zawinul defended his electric sound against jazz purists. "There is no difference between a Stradivarius or a beautiful synthesizer sound," he once said. More »

More about:  obituary • Austria • musician • Vienna • jazz • Miles Davis • electric

Musicians March Silently Through New Orleans

Post-Katrina hard times in the Big Easy threaten legendary jazz scene

Times-Picayune (New Orleans) Times-Picayune (New Orleans) Aug 27, 07 1:29 PM CDT
(Newser) - The battered post-Katrina economy drove jazz musicians into the streets of New Orleans yesterday, holding instruments silent at their sides in what they termed a “solidarity march.” Ninety percent of city musicians were living at or below the poverty line even before the hurricane, the Times-Picayune reports, and now competition for remaining spots has bands playing for peanuts. More »

More about:  music • Hurricane Katrina • New Orleans • musician • Katrina aftermath • jazz

Max Roach Dies at 83

Star percussionist redefined the genre - more than once

New York Times New York Times Aug 16, 07 3:18 PM CDT
(Newser) - Max Roach, a drummer who moved to his own beat and became a seminal figure in modern jazz, died today at 83. Roach renovated his genre's traditional instrumentation, and pioneered a layered, contrapuntal style that became the trademark of contemporary percussion. Even his recent albums defied the conventions he helped forge. "You can't write the same book twice," he once said. More »

More about:  obituary • death • musician • jazz • drums

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