Tag Archives: Leon Spencer

Grover Washington

On December 17, 1999, Grover Washington, Jr. died aged 56. He was musician (saxophone), composer and arranger, considered to be one of the founders of the smooth jazz genre. Some of his most popular works feature his own compositions and covers of “Mister Magic”, “Take Five”, “Soulful Strut”, “Reed Seed”, “Black Frost”, “Winelight”, “Inner City Blues” and “The Best is Yet to Come”.  In his career he has performed and recorded with many famous musicians, including Kathleen Battle, Kenny Burrell, Hank Crawford, Charles Earland, Dexter Gordon, Urbie Green, Eddie Henderson, Masaru Imada, Boogaloo Joe Jones, Idris Muhammad, Gerry Mulligan, Don Sebesky, Johnny “Hammond” Smith, Melvin Sparks, Leon Spencer, Mal Waldron, Randy Weston, Bill Withers and Patti LaBelle.

Idris Muhammad

On July 29, 2014, Leo Morris aka Idris Muhammad died aged 73. He was musician (drums, percussion), whose drumming crossed over several musical styles including funk, jazz, and rhythm and blues and has performed and recorded extensively with number of musicians, including  Pharoah Sanders, Gene Ammons, Fats Domino, Roberta Flack, Grover Washington, Sam Cooke, Curtis Mayfield, Lou Donaldson, Bob James, Randy Weston, Bobbi Humphrey, Andrew Hill, Bob Stewart, Sonny Stitt, Ahmad Jamal, John Scofield, George Coleman, Paul Desmond, Grant Green, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Lovano, Tisziji Munoz, Roots, Freddie Hubbard, George Benson, Reuben Wilson and Leon Spencer.