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When a significant jazz musician passes away, I like to celebrate their accomplishments during Jazz Nightly. I’ll either feature a special set of their music or dedicate a full hour to their legacy. Typically this happens about every other month or so. But last week there were several nights in a row when I played music from notable jazz musicians who died of complications from COVID-19. This really emphasized to me the seriousness of the pandemic and how no one is completely safe from it.
Trumpeter Wallace Roney was 59 when he died on March 31. He was one of the celebrated Young Lions of the 1980s who helped revive acoustic jazz after a decade dominated by the electric sounds of jazz-rock fusion. One of his early champions was Miles Davis, who made the younger musician his only protégé. The influence of Davis on Roney’s playing was strong, but he eventually found his own voice.
It was only this past January when guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli celebrated his 94th birthday. Through his long career he played with everyone from Benny Goodman to Paul McCartney. After a busy career as a session musician in the 1950s and 60s, he gained more recognition in jazz circles beginning in the 1970s. He had a warm, understated style and was a master of the often-unheralded rhythm guitar. He died on April 1.
New Orleans pianist Ellis Marsalis had a big impact in jazz, not as a performer, but as an educator and patriarch of a famous jazz family. Four of his six sons became musicians – saxophonist Branford, trumpeter Wynton, trombonist Delfeayo and drummer Jason. Several of Marsalis’ young students also became renowned musicians, including trumpeters Terence Blanchard and Nicholas Payton, saxophonist Donald Harrison and pianist/singer Harry Connick, Jr. It was only after his sons Branford and Wynton emerged on the national stage in the 1980s that Marsalis began receiving attention for his own playing and composing. He died April 1 at the age of 85.
Beyond the jazz world, singer-songwriter and producer Adam Schlesinger also died of complications from COVID-19 on April 1. As the co-leader of the bands Fountains of Wayne and Ivy, Schlesinger created impeccably crafted pop songs filled with strong melodies, hooks and witty lyrics. He was the go-to guy to write music for fictional bands in the movies That Thing You Do and Josie and the Pussycats. His prolific talent for writing songs in any style is heard in the more than 100 tunes he co-wrote for the television series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. He was 52.
Soul-folk singer Bill Withers was another beloved musician who died last week. Although he died of heart complications and not COVID-19, the singer’s death still stung in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. His passing at the age of 81 came as the public drew inspiration from his music with health care workers, choirs, artists and others posting their own renditions of his 1972 hit “Lean on Me.”
Several other notable musicians died from COVID-19 earlier in March, including Dizzy Gillespie’s former pianist Mike Longo, Argentine saxophonist Marcelo Peralta and African saxophonist Manu Dibango. It's very likely there will be others in the weeks ahead. (And just as I post this, the great singer-songwriter John Prine has succumbed to coronavirus complications at 73.)
Because we draw so much comfort in the music of our favorite artists during difficult times, it’s a shock when they’re suddenly taken from us, especially by the very thing we’re afraid of. It seems unusually cruel. Their deaths just add to the pain and fear we sought refuge from in their music.
But they don’t have to. While we mourn their passing, Wallace Roney’s virtuosic trumpet solos and Bucky Pizzarelli’s tasty guitar licks are just as uplifting as they always were. A wry, catchy Fountains of Wayne song still brings a rush of pop-fueled energy. And Bill Withers’ “Lean On Me” will always inspire people to come together. Music not only helps us get through tough times. It also gives us a reason to make the effort.