NEW YORK — Jack DeJohnette, a celebrated jazz drummer who worked with Miles Davis on his landmark 1970 fusion album and collaborated with Keith Jarrett and many other greats of the genre, has died at 83.
The acclaimed drummer died Sunday in Kingston, New York, of congestive heart failure, surrounded by his wife, family and close friends, his assistant, Joan Clancy, told The Associated Press.
A winner of two Grammy awards, the Chicago-born DeJohnette began his musical life as a classical pianist, starting training at age 4, before taking up the drums with his high school band. He was in demand in his early years as both a pianist and a drummer.
He achieved international recognition in the 1960s through his involvement with the Charles Lloyd Quartet. Over the years he collaborated not only with Davis and Jarrett but also with John Coltrane, Sun Ra, Thelonious Monk, Bill Evans, Stan Getz, Eddie Harris, Herbie Hancock, Betty Carter and many others, according to biographical material provided by representatives.
In 1968, DeJohnette joined Davis and his group to work on music leading up to Davis’ 1970 studio album, “Bitches Brew.”
In a Sessions Panel interview, DeJohnette spoke of how he he’d been freelancing in New York when he had an opportunity to join Davis in the studio, at a time when experimentation with genres had become “the new frontier, so to speak.”
“Miles was in a creative mood,” DeJohnette said, “a process of utilizing the studio to go in every day and experiment with grooves. A lot of the music is not that structured … it was a matter of grooves, and sometimes a few notes or a few melodies. You’d turn the tape on and just let it roll.”
“Days and days and days of this would go on,” DeJohnette added. “We never thought about how important these records would be, it was just we knew it was important because Miles was there and he was moving forward with something different.”
Rolling Stone, which listed DeJohnette as one of the top 100 drummers of all time (at No. 40), cited the drummer’s “own innate knack for turning a memorable tune.”
DeJohnette recorded on various labels but mostly on ECM. In addition to his own many projects and bands, he was a member for more than 25 years of a trio with Jarrett and Gary Peacock.
His two Grammys were for new age album (“Peace Time”) in 2009 and for jazz instrumental album (“Skyline”) in 2022.
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