Tag Archives: Duke Ellington

Elvin Jones

On May 18, 2004, Elvin Ray Jones died aged 77. He was musician (drums), performed with  Charles Mingus, Teddy Charles, Bud Powell and Miles Davis, but he is best known as a member of the John Coltrane quartet (from 1960 to 1966) along with Jimmy Garrison on bass and McCoy Tyner on piano, in the celebrated recording phase including the album “A love supreme”. Jones recorded with numerous artists including Art Farmer, J.J. Johnson, Aaron Bell, Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, Pepper Adams, Kenny Burrell, Sonny Rollins, Thad Jones, Idris Sulieman, Mal Waldron, Steve Lacy, Bernie Green, Hank Jones, Jimmy Forest, Randy Weston, Curtis Fuller, Gil Evans, Harry Lookofsky, Julian Priester, Barry Harris, Clifford Jordan, Sonny Red, Yusef Lateef, Lee Konitz, Freddie Hubbard, Pony Poindexter, Duke Ellington, McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Woods, Andrew Hill, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Bob Brookmeyer, Wayne Shorter, Grant Green, Joe Henderson, Larry Young, Roland Kirk, Earl Hines, Jaki Byard, Larry Coryell, Ornette Coleman, Barney Kessel, Phineas Newborn Jr, Allen Ginsberg, Joe Farrell, Frank Foster, Billy Harper, Elek Bacsik, Oregon, Jimmy Rowles, Chico Freeman, Ray Brown, Pharaoh Sanders, Lew Soloff, James Williams, Marcus Roberts, Kenny Garrett, David Murray, Sonny Sharrock, Javon Jackson, Robert Hurst, John McLaughlin, Shirley Horn, Joe Lovano, Steve Griggs, Michael Brecker, Gary LeMel and Stefano di Battista, becoming one of the most recorded artists of all time.  As leader, Jones released 48 albums.

Clark Terry

On February 21, 2015, Clark Terry died aged 94. He was musician (trumpet, flugehorn) and composer, pioneer of the flugehorn in Jazz, educator, and “NEA Jazz Masters” inductee. His career spanned more than seventy years and in which he played with Charlie Barnet (1947), Count Basie (1948–1951), Duke Ellington (1951–1959)  and Quincy Jones (1960). He is among the most recorded Jazz musicians ever.

Charles Mingus

On January 5, 1977, Charles Mingus Jr. Died aged 57. He was musician (bass), composer and bandleader, regarded as one of the most creative and influential Jazz artists of all times.

For his work and contribution to the modern music, Mingus has received many awards including:

  • “Guggenheim Fellowship” (1971).
  • Inducted in the “Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame” (1971).
  • “National Endowment for the Arts” provided grants for a Mingus nonprofit called “Let My Children Hear Music” which cataloged all of Mingus’s works (1988)
  • “The Library of Congress” acquired Mingus’s collected papers in what they described as “the most important acquisition of a manuscript collection relating to jazz in the Library’s history.(1993)]
  • “The United States Postal Service” issued a stamp in his honor (1995).
  • Posthumously awarded the “Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award” (1997)
  • Album “Mingus Dynasty”(1959) inducted in the “Grammy Hall of Fame” (1999)
  • Inducted in the “Jazz at Lincoln Center”, Nesuhi Ertegun “Jazz Hall of Fame” (2005)

Mingus has recorded and performed with some of the most important musicians of the modern music, including: Illinois Jacquet, Dinah Washington, Wilbert Baranco, Ivie Anderson, Lionel Hampton, Red Norvo, Billy Taylor, Oscar Pettiford, Max Roach,  Bud Powell, Paul Bley, Teo Macero, Oscar Pettiford,  Ada Moore,  Charlie Parker, J.J. Johnson, Hazel Scott, John Mehegan,  Thad Jones, John Dennis, Ralph Sharon, Miles Davis, Teddy Charles, The Metronome All-Stars, Jimmy Knepper, Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Max Roach and Eric Dolphy.