Jack DeJohnette, the acclaimed American jazz drummer who played alongside Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, and Charles Lloyd, has died at the age of 83.
ECM Records, the label behind many of his recordings, confirmed his death to The Guardian. His personal assistant said he died of congestive heart failure.
His family announced that he “died peacefully in Kingston Hospital” surrounded by relatives and close friends.
DeJohnette’s career spanned more than five decades, during which he recorded and performed in a range of jazz styles, including free jazz, fusion, and post-bop. He appeared on studio and live albums with various prominent artists and led or co-led multiple recording groups under his own name.
His most widely recognized work came during Davis’s groundbreaking fusion period, appearing on “Bitches Brew,” “Jack Johnson,” and “On the Corner.”
Born in Chicago in 1942, DeJohnette grew up under the care of his mother and maternal grandmother, who became his legal guardian, according to People.
His grandmother purchased a small spinet piano, and he started formal piano instruction at around age five. He took up drums in his early teens.
He first performed in local doo-wop and rock groups before turning to jazz. By the late 1950s he was leading his own trio and performing with avant-garde figures such as Sun Ra, Muhal Richard Abrams, and Roscoe Mitchell.
In the mid-1960s, DeJohnette left college and moved to New York City to pursue music full-time, bringing his drums and just $28.
He soon began working with Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, and Charles Lloyd, whose popular quartet also featured pianist Keith Jarrett.
The partnership with Jarrett proved long-lasting, continuing through numerous collaborations in the following decades.
After performing with pianist Bill Evans, DeJohnette caught the attention of Davis, who invited him to join his band in 1969 after Tony Williams’s departure.
DeJohnette remained with Davis for several years, performing on multiple studio and live recordings before leaving the band in 1971.
He released his first album as a bandleader, “The DeJohnette Complex,” in 1968 and went on to record approximately 50 albums as a leader or co-leader.
His association with ECM Records started in 1973 with “Ruta and Daitya,” a duo album with Jarrett, followed by projects with Jan Garbarek, Pat Metheny, and Herbie Hancock.
He later worked with Rollins and Wadada Leo Smith’s Golden Quartet.
A two-time Grammy Award winner, DeJohnette most recently won in 2022 for “Skyline,” recorded with Ron Carter and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master in 2012.
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