Notable musicians we lost this year include saxophonists Peter Brötzmann and Charles Gayle, bass improviser Richard Davis, and trombonist Curtis Fowlkes.
It’s FRESH AIR here. Every year around this time, Kevin Whitehead, our jazz critic, pays tribute to the jazz artists we lost that year. Prior to their passing, he paid respects to Ahmad Jamal and Wayne Shorter. Bassist Richard Davis is the first of four more people he now remembers losing their lives.
KEVIN WHITEHEAD, BYLINE: Richard Davis bowing the bass in back of Eric Dolphy during Duke Ellington’s “Come Sunday” Davis gained respect as a new music interpreter thanks to his classical technique. He was one of the greatest and most accomplished bass improvisers because of his inventiveness. He performed avant-garde and exploratory jazz, particularly in the 1960s, and is well-known for being all over Van Morrison’s album “Astral Weeks.” Alongside drummer Alan Dawson and pianist Jaki Byard—who were typically heard providing backup horn players—Richard Davis was a member of one of the greatest rhythm trios of the era. It’s astounding how much bass Richard Davis could play in a group.
WHITEHEAD: During the 1980s and 1990s, the dynamic downtown New York improv scene featured trombonist Curtis Fowlkes as a key player. He performed with many other artists, including John Zorn, Henry Threadgill, Bill Frisell, Don Byron, and John Lurie’s Lounge Lizards. Fowlkes could also sing with grace, but his trombone work was especially beautiful, with high notes that had a lot of pop. This is Curtis Fowlkes playing with his long-running downtown band, The Jazz Passengers, which he co-founded.
WHITEHEAD is trombonist Curtis Fowlkes. Dramatic free jazz saxophonist Charles Gayle, who enjoyed screaming high notes on tenor saxophone like he was speaking in tongues, passed away this year. Gayle was another mainstay of downtown New York. He might give religious titles to his compositions and preach during a concert. Strong feelings overlaid technical demonstrations were his preference. However, when he was in the right mood, Charles Gayle had a playful way with little twisted phrases and bent notes that sounded like voices.
WHITEHEAD: Besides Charles Gayle, other fiery tenors who died in 2023 include New Orleans’ Kidd Jordan, Chicago’s Mars Williams and an imposing giant of European improvised music for six decades, Germany’s Peter Brotzmann. Here’s the start of his classic 1967 octet recording “Machine Gun.”
(SOUNDBITE OF THE PETER BROTZMANN OCTET’S “MACHINE GUN, SECOND TAKE”)
WHITEHEAD: That wall of sound mostly comes from triple tenors Brotzmann, Willem Breuker and Evan Parker. Peter Brotzmann’s maximalism epitomized German-style ’60s free music – play loud and long, preferably after lots of alcohol, an indulgence he later gave up with little loss of intensity. Few saxophonists were louder. There’s a story about him trying out horns in an isolation booth at the Selmer saxophone factory and being heard all over the building. Peter Brotzmann also liked his squealing high notes.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WHITEHEAD: But he ends that improvisation, quietly slipping into Thelonious Monk’s ballad “Crepuscule With Nellie,” played straight. The pioneers of European improvised music all revered the American jazz giants.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
WHITEHEAD: The many jazz notables who died in 2023 include singers Carol Sloane, Astrud Gilberto and Tony Bennett, saxophonists Tony Coe and Carlos Garnett, bassists Bill Lee and Harrison Bankhead, drummers Butch Miles, Ralph Humphrey and Redd Holt, pianist Karl Berger and ragtimer Max Morath, cellist Tristan Honsinger and arranger Don Sebesky. Also a major composer, Carla Bley, who died in October. She deserves and gets a longer tribute next time. As a teaser, let’s go out with Bley’s Christmas brass arrangement of her early tune “Jesus Maria.”
(SOUNDBITE OF CARLA BLEY’S “JESUS MARIA”)
GROSS: Kevin Whitehead is the author of the books “Play The Way You Feel: The Essential Guide to Jazz Stories On Film,” “Why Jazz?” and “New Dutch Swing.” Tomorrow on FRESH AIR, it’s a David Byrne Christmas. Byrne co-founded and fronted the band Talking Heads. He put together a playlist of his favorite Christmas songs for us and will be with us to play and talk about them. If you get depressed around Christmas, there are some songs on his list for you. And we’ll hear a great Christmas song written and performed by David Byrne. I hope you’ll join us.
To keep up with what’s on the show and get highlights of our interviews, follow us on Instagram @nprfreshair. FRESH AIR’s executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. Our interviews and reviews are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Ann Marie Baldonado, Therese Madden, Thea Chaloner, Seth Kelley, and Susan Nyakundi. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. Our co-host is Tonya Mosley. I’m Terry Gross.
