Obituary,
Jazz Farewells 2023
As 2023 draws to a close, we'd like to take time to reflect on the many greats who are no longer with us. Back in January, the passing of guitar hero Jeff Beck came as a shock to many. Then there was Wayne Shorter, the leading player of his generation, whose creative legacy was memorialised in an orchestral performance at the Royal Festival Hall in October during this year's EFG London Jazz Festival. Ahmad Jamal, the piano virtuoso with a distinctive sense of freedom and space, died in April — no doubt his work shall live on in the ears of listeners and producers for years to come.
No matter whom you might ask, their love affair with Brazilian music most likely will have been set in stone through their discovery of Astrud Gilberto, that aloof chanteuse whose signature track, 'The Girl From Ipanema', typified bossa nova's exotic mixture of passion and longing. In September, we also lost the astounding bassist Richard Davis — a chameleonic figure who performed with such eclectic artists from Miles Davis to Van Morrison and Bruce Springsteen, as well as playing under Leonard Bernstein and Igor Stravinsky in the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Finally, another great loss to the jazz world was Carla Bley, a groundbreaking composer and bandleader with a consistent track record of music-making on her own terms.
We remember these great musicians and many more in our video below:
Barney Whittaker
