Jazz Nekrolog 2020

obituary

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Other events | General Nekrolog 2020

This is a list of well-known personalities from the field of jazz who died in 2020 . As in the general Nekrolog 2020, the entries are made in descending order and alphabetically for the same date.

McCoy Tyner
December 11, 1938 - March 6, 2020

August

Day	Surname	Origin / occupation	Age	receipt
29th August	Jürgen Schadeberg	South African photographer	89	[2]
August 27	Ronnie Kole	American pianist	89	[3]
August 25	Itaru Oki	Japanese trumpeter and cornet player	78	[4]
August 23	Peter King	British saxophonist	80	[5]
August 23	Seong-yeon Park	South Korean singer	77	[6]
August 23	Charlie Persip	American drummer	91	[7]
20th of August	Fritz Lohmeier	German trombonist and singer	83	[8th]
18th of August	Hal Singer	American saxophonist	100	[9]
13 August	Steve Grossman	American saxophonist	69	[10]
August 11th	Belle du Berry	French singer and songwriter	54	[11]
August 10	Joe Segal	American music organizer	94	[12]
August 9	Waldemar Bastos	Angolan singer and composer	66	[13]
August 9	Salome Bey	Canadian singer and actress	80	[14]
August 9	Duane Tatro	American musician and film composer	93	[15]
August 7th	Michael Kelly	American saxophonist	74	[16]
6th of August	Angelo Testanero	American arranger	100	[17]
5th of August	Pete Hamill	American journalist and essayist	85	[18]
5th of August	Chip White	American drummer	75	[19]
August 2nd	Larry Novak	American pianist	87	[20]

July

Day	Surname	Origin / occupation	Age	receipt
July 31	Ruth Weiss	Austrian-American poet and performance artist	92	[21]
30th July	Keith LaMotte	American trumpeter and mellophone player	81	[22]
30th July	Georgia Urban	American music critic	93	[23]
29th of July	Mimi Blacker	French tap dancer	92	[24]
29th of July	Dave MacKay	American pianist	88	[25]
July 28th	Terry Coen	American music A&R	73	[26]
July 28th	Bent Fabricius-Bjerre	Danish pianist and composer	95	[27]
July 28th	Bob Neloms	American pianist	78	[28]
July 26th	Claude Etienne	French saxophonist	89	[29]
July 26th	William Howland Kenney	American historian and jazz researcher	80	[30]
July 25th	Helen Jones Woods	American trombonist	96	[31]
July 25th	Dante Stephensen	American nightclub owner ( Dante's Town the Hatch )	84	[32]
21 July	Mieko Hirota	japanese singer	73
21 July	Annie Ross	American singer and actress	89	[33]
July 19	Cor Fuhler	Dutch pianist and live electronics technician	56	[34]
16th of July	Donald E. McCaslin	American pianist and vibraphonist	93	[35]
15th of July	Larry Davis	American trumpeter	75	[36]
July 12	Leonard Morton	American pianist and arranger	92	[37]
10th of July	Alice Day	American singer	74	[38]
10th of July	Eddie Gale	American trumpeter	78	[39]
10th of July	Gordon Stone	American banjo and pedal steel guitar player	71	[40]
July 9	Chris Fletcher	British percussionist	68	[41]
July 6th	Ennio Morricone	Italian composer	91	[42]
July 6th	Joe Porcaro	American drummer and percussionist	90	[43]
5th July	Cleveland Eaton	American jazz and funk musician	80	[44]
5th July	Paul Faulise	American trombonist	88	[45]
3rd of July	Martin Spiegelberg	German author, guitarist, trumpeter	65	[46]
2nd July	Arthur Johnson, Sr.	American saxophonist	89	[47]
2nd July	Nikolai Kapustin	Soviet and Ukrainian composer and pianist	82	[48]
2nd July	Tony Zamora	American saxophonist and university professor	90	[49]
July 1	Matthias Kaul	German drummer, percussionist and composer	71	[50]

June

Day	Surname	Origin / occupation	Age	receipt
June 29th	Jerry Bruno	American bass player	100
June 29th	Johnny Almond	American composer	94	[51]
June 28th	Simon H. Fell	British bass player and composer	61	[52]
June 27th	Freddy Cole	American pianist and singer	88	[53]
25th June	Edward Anderson	American trumpeter	54	[54]
25th June	Jacques Coursil	French philosopher of language and trumpeter	82	[55]
25th June	Gilbert Matthews	South African drummer	76	[56]
June 24th	Jacques Demetre	French blues historian	96	[57]
June 24th	François Nikol Levy	Haitian musician and band leader	73	[58]
June 21st	Niki Wuchinger	Austrian trumpeter	97	[59]
20th June	Frederick "June" Davis	American musician	93	[60]
18th of June	Vera Lynn	British singer	103	[61]
18th of June	Macaé	Brazilian saxophonist	82	[62]
17th of June	Hugh Fraser	Canadian pianist and trombonist	62	[63]
15th June	Pierre Sim	French bass player	91	[64]
14th June	Ronald Keezer	American percussionist and university professor	80	[65]
14th June	Keith Tippett	British pianist	72	[66]
14th June	Wim Winsemius	Dutch discographer	75	[67]
June 11th	Tom Gekler	American trombonist	84	[68]
June 11th	Patrick Kelly	British trombonist and founder of the Berkshire Youth Jazz Orchestra	68	[69]
June 10th	Peter Marxen	German restaurateur (Onkel Pö's Carnegie Hall)	80	[70]
June 9th	Benny Likumahuwa	Indonesian musician	73	[71]
8th June	Daniel Ossig	French saxophonist	82	[72]
June 7th	Frank Bey	American blues musician	74	[73]
June 4th	Peter Clan Crawford	American guitarist, producer and restaurateur	69	[74]
June 4th	Arthur Hoyle	American trumpeter	90	[75]
June 4th	Dulce Nunes	Brazilian singer	90	[76]
3rd of June	Ivar Lindell	Swedish bass player	80
3rd of June	Tony Romandini	Canadian guitarist	91
2th of June	Werner Boehm	German pianist and singer	78	[77]
2th of June	Charlie McPhee	American musician	75	[78]
June 1st	Myroslaw Skoryk	Ukrainian composer	81	[79]

May

Day	Surname	Origin / occupation	Age	receipt
31. May	Michel Aumont	French clarinetist	62	[80]
31. May	Bob Northern	American bugler	86	[81]
30th May	Philippe Schoonbroodt	Belgian journalist	≈62	[82]
30th May	Don Weller	British saxophonist	79	[83]
May 29th	Jeanie Lambe	Scottish singer	79	[84]
28th of May	Lennie Niehaus	American saxophonist	90	[85]
28th of May	Michael Martello	American guitarist	92	[86]
28th of May	Carei Thomas	American pianist	81	[87]
May 26	Rob Anderson	American Club Owner (Parchman Farm)	71	[88]
May 24th	Jimmy Cobb	American drummer	91	[89]
May 21	Synnöve Rehnfors	Finnish jazz and pop singer	92	[90]
May 21	Grace Testani	American singer and composer	69	[91]
May 19th	William Awihilima Kahaialiʻi	American musician	59	[92]
17th of May	John Cumming	British music organizer and producer	71	[93]
17th of May	Christopher Loudon	Canadian journalist	62	[94]
17th of May	Lucky Peterson	American blues musician	55	[95]
May 16	Donn Trenner	American arranger and pianist	93	[96]
May 14th	Joey Giambra	American trumpeter, gastonomist and actor	86	[97]
May 14th	Melva Houston	American singer	70	[98]
May 13th	Herman Sandy	Belgian trumpeter	98	[99]
12th of May	Bob Pilsbury	American pianist	93	[100]
May 11	Darick Campbell	American steel guitarist	53	[101]
10th of May	Aldo Bassi	Italian trumpeter	58	[102]
10th of May	Henry Estrada	American saxophonist	83	[103]
5th of May	Sweet Pea Atkinson	American R&B singer	74	[104]
10th of May	Buddy Sullivan	American saxophonist	97	[105]
May 6th	Dick Rosenzweig	American manager and music organizer ( Playboy Jazz Festival )	84	[106]
5th of May	Sonny Cox	American saxophonist and basketball coach	82	[107]
5th of May	Alfred "Uganda" Roberts	American percussionist	77	[108]
May 4th	Aldir Blanc	Brazilian composer and writer	73	[109]
May 4th	Frederick Tillis	American saxophonist and university professor	90	[110]
2.May	Richie Cole	American alto saxophonist	72	[111]
2.May	Duane Solem	American trombonist	90	[112]
2.May	Gilbert Sigrist	French pianist	82	[113]
2.May	Joe Weldon	American pianist	94	[114]
1st of May	Romolo Ferri	American pianist	89	[115]
1st of May	Jürgen Wuchner	German bass player	72	[116]

April

Day	Surname	Origin / occupation	Age	receipt
April, 30th	Tony Allen	Nigerian drummer	79	[117]
April 27	Frank Cullen	Irish saxophonist	85	[118]
April 27	Rafael Bassi Labarrera	Colombian radio presenter, jazz promoter and writer	72	[119]
April 27	Danny Leake	American guitarist
April 27	Rob Saunders	American guitarist	69	[120]
26th of April	Big Al Carson	American singer, tuba player and horn player	66	[121]
26th of April	Les Tomkins	British journalist	89	[122]
April 24th	Phil Broadhurst	New Zealand jazz musician and radio presenter	70	[123]
April 22	Bootsie Barnes	American saxophonist	82	[124]
April 21	Hugh O'Connor	Canadian saxophonist	92	[125]
April 21	Jacques Pellen	French guitarist	63	[126]
20th of April	Michael Cogswell	American musicologist and founding director of the Louis Armstrong Archive	66	[127]
April 19th	Ian Whitcomb	British singer and ukulele player	78	[128]
April 19th	Sue Davies	British gallery owner	87	[129]
17th April	Henry Grimes	American bass player	84	[130]
17th April	Giuseppi Logan	American woodwind	84	[131]
17th April	Bob Mielke	American trombonist	94	[132]
17th April	Paul Shelden	American clarinetist and university professor	79	[133]
April 16	Ron Gill	American singer and radio producer	≈85	[134]
April 15th	Lee Konitz	American saxophonist	92	[135]
April 14th	Ron Rubin	British pianist and bass player	86	[136]
April 13th	Ryō Kawasaki	Japanese guitarist	73	[137]
April 13th	Tom Tipton	American jazz and gospel singer	86	[138]
April 13th	Joe Torres	American salsa and Latin jazz pianist	76	[139]
12. April	Louis van Dijk	Dutch pianist	78	[140]
12. April	John Gilmore	American pianist	75	[141]
12. April	Gert Pfankuch	German festival organizer and concert agent	65	[142]
11 April	Jymie Merritt	American bass player	93	[143]
10th of April	Big George Brock	American blues musician	87	[144]
10th of April	Samuel Hargress Jr.	American club owner ( Paris Blues )	84	[145]
9th April	Andy Gonzalez	American Latin jazz bassist	69	[146]
9th April	Richard Teitelbaum	American composer, synthesizer player and improvisation musician	80	[147]
April 8th	Peter Ecklund	American trumpeter	74	[148]
April 8th	Joan Wildman	American pianist and university professor	82		[149]
7th of April	Betty Bennett	American singer	98	[150]
7th of April	Eddy Davis	American banjo player	79	[151]
7th of April	Sanne van Hek	Dutch trumpeter	41	[152]
7th of April	Hal Willner	American music producer	64	[153]
7th of April	Otto Wolters	German pianist	81
April 6th	Onaje Allan Gumbs	American pianist, keyboardist and arranger	70	[154]
April 6th	David Horowitz	American pianist and composer	77	[155]
April 5th	Scott Bassinson	American pianist	64	[156]
4. April	John Bucher	American cornetist	89	[157]
4. April	Lorraine Stern	American singer	101	[158]
2nd of April	Lysa Dawn Robinson	American drummer	55	[159]
April 1st	Ronnie Hughes	British trumpeter	94	[160]
April 1st	Ellis Marsalis	American pianist and jazz teacher	85	[161]
April 1st	Bucky pizzarelli	American guitarist	94	[162]
April 1st	Dieter Reith	German pianist, organist, arranger and composer	82	[163]
April 1st	Harold Rubin	Israeli artist and clarinetist	87	[164]

March

Day	Surname	Origin / occupation	Age	receipt
March 31	Donna Caroll	Argentinian actress and jazz singer	81	[165]
March 31	Janet Grice	American bassoonist and music teacher	64	[166]
March 31	Alex Layne	American bass player	81	[167]
March 31	Wallace Roney	American trumpeter	59	[168]
March 30	Riachão	Brazilian samba musician	98	[169]
March 29	Claude Abadie	French clarinetist	100	[170]
28th March	Lyn Christie	Australian bass player and university professor	91	[171]
28th March	Winicjusz Chróst	Polish guitarist	68	[172]
28th March	Bubbha Thomas	American drummer and music educator	82	[173]
27th of March	Wayman Henry	American guitarist	66	[174]
26th of March	Olle Holmquist	Swedish trombonist	83	[175]
26th of March	Pat Longo	American saxophonist	90	[176]
26th of March	Bob Ojeda	American trumpeter	78	[177]
26th of March	Simeon Shterev	Bulgarian flautist	76	[178]
26th of March	Scott Steed	American bass player	62	[179]
25th March	Robin Frost	American ragtime compinist	89	[180]
25th March	Freddy Rodriguez senior	American saxophonist	89	[181]
March 24th	Manu Dibango	Cameroonian musician	86	[182]
March 23	Joe Amoruso	Italian pianist	60	[183]
March 22	Charles Eakin	American university professor and composer	≈92	[184]
March 22	Jürgen Mattern	German pianist	80
March 22	Eric Weissberg	American singer and musician	80	[185]
March 21st	Betty Dorsey	American singer	74	[186]
March 21st	Karl Theodor Geier	German bass player	88	[187]
March 21st	Alain Lesire	Belgian pianist	82	[188]
March 21st	Mike Longo	American pianist and composer	83	[189]
March 21st	Ray Mantilla	American drummer and percussionist	85	[190]
March, 20th	Karin Oehler	German singer	69
March, 20th	Kenny Rogers	American singer	81	[191]
19th March	Wray Downes	Canadian pianist	89	[192]
March 16	Tom Scanlan	American journalist and music critic	96	[193]
March, 15	Steve Eliovson	South African guitarist	≠ 65	[194]
March, 15	Barry branch	American guitarist	78	[195]
the 14th of March	David Beekley	American trombonist	79	[196]
the 14th of March	Genesis P-Orridge	British musician and performance artist	70	[197]
the 14th of March	Eva Pilarová	Czech jazz and pop singer	80	[198]
March 12th	Don Burrows	Australian woodwind	92	[199]
March 12th	Danny Ray Thompson	American woodwind	73	[200]
March 10th	Marcelo Peralta	Argentine saxophonist	59	[201]
March 10th	Mal Sharpe	American trombonist, comedian, and television presenter	83	[202]
8th of March	Reinhard Giebel	German pianist and author	80	[203]
7th March	Charlie Baty	American blues guitarist	66	[204]
6th March	Peđa Đikanović	Montenegrin jazz guitarist	47	[205]
6th March	McCoy Tyner	American pianist and composer	81	[206]
4th of March	Edson Alves	Brazilian guitarist, composer and music producer	68	[207]
2nd March	Susan Weinert	German guitarist and composer	54	[208]
1st March	Aad Bos	Dutch producer	88	[209]
1st March	Jack Surbeck	Swiss trumpeter	84	[210]

February

Day	Surname	Origin / occupation	Age	receipt
February 29th	Bill Smith	American clarinetist and composer	93	[211]
27th of February	Arthur Goldstein	American pianist and university professor	75	[212]
27th of February	Gerti Jankejova	German producer	75	[213]
27th of February	Jyrki Kangas	Finnish bass player and producer	76	[214]
February 26th	Buddha Scheidegger	Swiss pianist	79	[215]
February 25	Dave Rae	British banjo player and singer		[216]
February 24th	Harold Woodrow	American banjo player	94	[217]
February 23	Peter Schimke	American pianist	59	[218]
February 23	Vince Weber	German pianist	66	[219]
February 22	Sterling Nelson	American music organizer ( Evergreen Jazz Festival )		[220]
21st of February	Hervé Brisse	French tuba player and orchestra leader		[221]
19th of February	Bob Cobert	American film composer	95	[222]
19th of February	Mike Krepper	American saxophonist and clarinetist	68	[223]
February 18	Jon Christensen	Norwegian drummer	76	[224]
February 17th	Henry Gray	American blues musician	95	[225]
February 17th	Ror Wolf	German writer, artist and jazz author	87	[226]
February 15th	Prince Musarurwa	Zimbabwean musician, songwriter and producer	31	[227]
February 12th	Larry Garland	American pianist	84	[228]
February 11th	Joseph Shabalala	South African singer	79	[229]
February 10th	Lyle Mays	American pianist and keyboardist	66	[230]
February 9	Helmut Nieberle	German guitarist	63	[231]
February 5th	Laurie Morgan	British drummer	93	[232]
February 4th	Kamau Brathwaite	Barbadian writer and music historian	89	[233]
3 February	Louis Lince	British banjo player	77	[234]
February 1st	George Blondheim	Canadian composer, orchestra conductor and arranger	63	[235]
February 1st	Howard E. Smither	American musicologist and musician	94	[236]

January

Day	Surname	Origin / occupation	Age	receipt
31 January	William Zickos	American drummer	90	[237]
January 30th	Lucien Barbarin	American trombonist	63	[238]
January 28th	Bob Nave	American musician and broadcaster	75	[239]
January 27th	Alberto Naranjo	Venezuelan drummer, composer and arranger	78	[240]
January 27th	Luther Randolph	American soul musician and producer	84	[241]
January 24th	Dean Mochizuki	American saxophonist	64	[242]
January 24th	Calder Prescott	New Zealand pianist and radio presenter	88	[243]
January 24th	Leo Ursini	American saxophonist and flautist	82	[244]
January 25th	Bob Gullotti	American drummer and university professor	≈70	[245]
January 20th	Xavi Turull	Spanish percussionist	59	[246]
21th January	Norm Amadio	Canadian pianist	91	[247]
21th January	Billy Georgette	Canadian pianist	85	[248]
January 19th	Heinz Bühler	Swiss trumpeter	78	[249]
January 19th	Jimmy Heath	American saxophonist	93	[250]
January 19th	Robert Parker	American R&B singer	89	[251]
January 18th	Heidi Lore Deleuil	American club owner ( Heidi's Jazz Club )	79	[252]
January 17th	Bob Adams	American banjo player	82	[253]
January 17th	Claudio Roditi	Brazilian trumpeter	73	[254]
15. January	Geoff Castle	British pianist and synthesizer player	70	[255]
15. January	Bruno Netti	German-Czech-American musicologist and ethnomusicologist	89	[256]
January 14th	Bernard Samuel	American pianist	71	[257]
11th January	Victor Graham	British trumpeter, arranger and producer	100	[258]
10. January	Wolfgang Dauner	German keyboardist and pianist	84	[259]
10. January	Angel "Cachete" Maldonado	Puerto Rican percussionist	68	[260]
January 9th	Gianni Sanjust	Italian clarinetist	85	[261]
January 7th	Pat Collins	Irish violinist		[262]
6th January	James Butler	American trombonist	77	[263]
January 5th	Rich Harney	American pianist	65	[264]
January 5th	Peter Wertheimer	Israeli-Romanian woodwinds	72	[265]
January 3rd	Jak Kilby	British photographer		[266]
January 2nd	Lorraine Chandler	American soul singer, songwriter and producer	73	[267]
January 2nd	Lloyd Poissenot	American photographer	72	[268]
January 1st	Tommy Hancock	American western swing musician	90	[269]
January 1st	Katsura Shinnosuke	Japanese rakugo speaker and pianist	67	[270]

Date unknown

	Surname	Profession / known by	Age	receipt
Announcement of death on August 28th	Lillette Jenkins-Wisner	American pianist and singer	96	[271]
Announcement of death on August 28th	Steve Sample Sr.	American arranger, composer and music educator		[272]
Notice of death on August 1st	Malik B.	American musician	47	[273]
Notice of death on July 28th	Bill Davies	British trumpeter and band leader	83	[274]
Notice of death on July 28th	Ross Carnegie	American pianist	95	[275]
Notice of death on July 2nd	Tony Zamora	American music organizer and saxophonist		[276]
Announcement of death on May 27th	Peter Krag	American pianist	34	[277]
Announcement of death on May 19th	Lance Martin	American flautist	60	[278]
Announcement of death on April 18th	Lee Boswell	American jazz promoter	74	[279]
Announcement of death on April 22nd	Dave Roper	American pianist	82
Announcement of death on April 11th	Jan Forney	American singer	66	[280]
Announcement of death on April 9th	Daniel Chauvet	French music organizer		[281]
Announcement of death on April 9th	Debo Dabney	American pianist and organist		[282]
Announcement of death on March 22nd	Jupp Zeltinger	German vibraphonist	90	[283]
Early 2020	George Berardinelli	American trumpeter and university professor		[284]
Announcement of death on March 7th	Bob Protzman	American music critic	83	[285]
before February 26th	Kendon Everts	American drummer	71	[286]
Announcement of death on February 11th	Allan Johnson	Canadian guitarist	70	[287]
Beginning of January 2020	Guy Remonko	American drummer and percussionist	78	[288]

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mieko Hirota at Discogs (English)
2. ↑ Communication from the Darmstadt Jazz Institute of July 1, 2020
3. ↑ Ivar Lindell at Discogs (English)
4. ↑ [1]
5. ↑ Danny Leake at Discogs (English)
6. ↑ Klaus Gohlke: The man who made jazz great in our region. In: Braunschweiger Zeitung of April 9, 2020 (Paywall)
7. ↑ Communication from the Darmstadt Jazz Institute of April 8, 2020
8. ↑ Communication from the Darmstadt Jazz Institute of April 22, 2020