With the recent passing of Dave Brubeck at age 91 (a day short of 92) I started wondering how many of his generation are still around and perhaps even active.
The first to come to mind is Marian McPartland who is 94.
Help build a list of others.
Hmm. Hank Jones died recently. Sonny Rollins is in his 80’s - is that close enough? Same with guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli and piano player Ahmad Jamal…
Ramsey Lewis is a young pup: born May 27, 1935 (age 77)
Never heard of him, but how about “The Fiddling Viking” - Svend Asmussen, born 28 February 1916 (age 96)
He’s not as big a name as the ones that have been mentioned so far, but Lionel Ferbos is 101 and still working.
Eugene Wright, Brubeck’s old bassist, will be 90 next year.
Sonny Rollins is still a youngster at 82, as is Ornette Coleman and Pete Fountain. Fats Domino is 84.
I’m blanking on his name but there’s a guy that still plays every Saturday night in New Orleans who is 100 years old. He played with Louie Armstrong.
Just a few years ago, my wife and father-in-law got to see him here in Austin at the Paramount Theater as opening act for… Dave Brubeck!
Is it Lionel Ferbos, whom I mentioned in post #5? I never heard that he played with Armstrong, although he did play with some other greats such as Mamie Smith and Captain John Handy. He is 101 years old and leads the Palm Court Jazz Band in New Orleans every Saturday night.
Yes, him. He was on a recent episode of Treme. Maybe I’m misremembering him talking about playing with Armstrong.
Louis. Louis Armstrong. And he pronounced it “Lewis”.
“This is Louis, Dolly.” And in any case, it’s not spelled “Louie”.