Remembering Dr. F. Norman Vickers 1931- 2023
Joe Bebco
October 27, 2023
Two weeks ago in a conversation about the blues, I pulled up our profile of Norman Vickers to illustrate his story of watching a forgotten
For remembrances grouped by month as they ran in the print edition, including all entries prior to April 2018, look in the Final Chorus Archive, individual past issues, or use the search feature.
Two weeks ago in a conversation about the blues, I pulled up our profile of Norman Vickers to illustrate his story of watching a forgotten
Jim Syoen informs us that Jimmy LaRocca, New Orleans trumpeter and son of Original Dixieland Band cornetist Nick LaRocca, has died at the age of
Morgan Powell, a composer and jazz trombonist, died on August 20th, he was 85. A graduate of the famous University of North Texas Music Program
William Shepherd, Jr. died on August 29th, he was 89. He toured with the Tommy Dorsey/Warren Covington Orchestra in the late 50s before turning to
Frans Sjöström, a Swedish saxophonist who modeled his style on Adrian Rollini, died on August 19th, he was 78 years old. He was one of
British born drummer Barry “Kid” Martyn died on July 17th, he was 82. He first heard New Orleans jazz on Alistair Cooke’s Letter from America
Tony Bennett (August 3rd, 1926 – July 21st, 2023) was the last of the original crooners. Younger than Frank Sinatra and others with whom he
Trombonist Tom Artin died on July 27th, he was 84. He began playing in junior high school under the direction of composer John Harbison, in
Clarinetist Ryoichi Kawai (1940 – August 2023) founded The New Orleans Rascals in 1961 as an extension of the Original Dixieland Jazz Club of Osaka
Bay Area bandleader, clarinetist and cornet player, Earl Scheelar (1929-2023) died peacefully on July 28, 2023. Few have shown greater leadership keeping Classic Jazz alive,
Harriet Choice died on July 13th, she was 82 years old. In 1968, she became the first jazz critic at the Chicago Tribune had ever
A mainstay of the jam sessions staged for decades by the Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse, N.Y., Richard (Dick) P. Sheridan, 88, died on May
Friends in St. Louis have announced that Al Stricker, banjo player. Historian, and spokesperson for the St. Louis Ragtimers, died on July 13 in St.
The music community is saddened by the incalculable loss of legendary entertainer, broadcaster, and ragtime scholar Max Morath, who died at the age of 96
Jazz drummer Jackie Williams died on Sunday, June 11th, he was 90 years old. Born in Harlem in 1933 he lived and played in New
One of the great Chicago jazzmen, clarinetist Kim Cusack, died on June 2nd at 84 years old. Ten days earlier he appeared at the final
Bossa nova singer Astrud Gilberto has died at 83. She was best known for the Stan Getz’ English language recording of “The Girl From Ipanema”,
Pianist George Winston died on June 4th, in California. His albums Autumn, Winter into Spring, and December were huge sellers for Windham Hill Records in the early 1980s. In
Noel M. Kaletsky, 85, passed away at his home on May 30, 2023 of peritoneal cancer. Noel fought his illness with an endurance of those
Word has come from the Netherlands that Coen Hofmann, the managing editor of and driving force behind the Jazz discography periodical Names & Numbers, died
Chris Strachwitz died on May 5th. Born in 1931 in what is now Poland and displaced at the end of WWII his family settled in
Danny Matson passed away on April 25, 2023. Not a musician himself he was a ragtime superfan, a regular attendee of ragtime and jazz festivals,
Harry Belafonte died on April 25th, he was 96 years old. Born in 1927, Belafonte grew up in Harlem during the 1930s and 40s. He
Wally Fawkes, one of the most recognizable figures in the British Trad movement, and a prominent satirical cartoonist, died on March 1st, he was 98
