Percy Heath R.I.P.

[LAL]

R.I.P

I just got the Fantasy MJQ set, so I'll be listening to it this weekend.

[Hardbopjazz]

All I can say is, FUCK.

Man, we lost another great one. I am truly depressed.

RIP. I will really miss him. My all time favorite bass player. At least he's left us with so much music to enjoy.

[Brad]

I'll be playing some MJQ. My condolences to the Heath family. RIP and thanks.

[Hardbopjazz]

It seems as if we lost a lot of cats these past two weeks. It feels as if we will soon need a forum just for deaths.

[chris olivarez]

RIP to the great man. I'll be playing some Heath Brothers tomorrow.

[Big Al]

RIP, Mr. Heath. What Sangrey said!

His elegant playing on Cannonball Adderley's Know What I Mean, and in particular his sensitive accompaniment to Bill Evans on "Elsa" from that album, put him in my top ten of favorite bassists!

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, this is getting to be a drag.

Cheers to you Percy,

RIP

Edited April 29, 2005 by clifford_thornton

[slide_advantage_redoux]

RIP Percy

Thanks to everyone who posted the great pics.

[scottb]

The Heath Brothers were the first jazz legends I saw live. They played with Sir Roland Hanna on piano, who has also passed. It was a night I will treasure in my memory.

It was obvious all four were class acts and had love for each other, the music and the crowd they were performing for. He was like a kind grandfather who could swing like hell.

[Soul Stream]

I really enjoyed talking to Percy that one time and helping him with his bass. One of the best walking basslines in F is Percy on "Walkin'". One of the first non-organ basslines I learned. I'm going to ask Marchel Ivery if we can play "Walkin'" tommorrow night in honor of Percy....

[B. Goren.]

RIP Percy Heath. Sad times.

[Guy Berger]

RIP Percy. A very underrated bassist. I'll have to put on Miles Davis and the Modern Jazz Giants or Know What I Mean.

Guy

[cannonball-addict]

Wow this is so sad. I am almost crying for a guy I saw twice in my life. So much of my favorite jazz in the world had Percy Heath playing bass.

Spinning The Last Concert right now. I didn't know so many people had this LP. I thought it was a minor one since it was clearly not their last concert, was it??

any details about a funeral or memorial service would be greatly appreciated as I finish school in a few days.

[sidewinder]

Oh no, what terrible news to wake up to. At least Percy lived a good long life. RIP and condolences to the family, I'll spin some MJQ today in memorium.

These past 2 weeks have been unbelievable in jazz-RIP terms..

[James]

Spinning The Last Concert right now. I didn't know so many people had this LP. I thought it was a minor one since it was clearly not their last concert, was it??

The MJQ disbanded in '74 and reunited in '84. Check out the disc "Echoes" The Modern Jazz Quartet 1984 - Together again. (Pablo) That recording was followed by "This One's for Basie" -- also on Pablo. ('85) In '88 they released "For Ellington" on the East/West label. And so on.

[7/4]

April 29, 2005

Percy Heath, Bassist of Modern Jazz Quartet, Dies at 81

By PETER KEEPNEWS, NYTimes

Percy Heath, whose forceful and buoyant bass playing anchored the Modern Jazz Quartet for its entire four-decade existence, died yesterday in Southampton, N.Y. He was 81 and lived in Montauk, on Long Island.

The cause of death was bone cancer, his family said.

Mr. Heath recorded with most of the leading musicians in modern jazz, including Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. But from the early 1950's through the middle 1970's, most of his recording activity and all of his live performances were devoted to the group known to its fans around the world as the M. J .Q.

He had been playing bass for only about four years when he became a charter member of the quartet, whose musical director was the pianist and composer John Lewis. "John told me, 'Percy, you don't know enough about what we're going to do, so you better get yourself lessons,' " Mr. Heath told the jazz critic Gary Giddins. "John's music was a challenge and I appreciated it."

Mr. Heath proved to be a quick study, mastering Mr. Lewis's sophisticated compositions and arrangements and adding an unpretentious, bluesy sensibility of his own. He rarely took a solo, and his role in the quartet by its very nature drew less attention than the work of Mr. Lewis and the vibraphonist Milt Jackson. But his contributions were no less essential to the group's distinctive sound, or to its remarkable longevity and success.

Percy Heath was born on April 30, 1923, in Wilmington, N.C., and grew up in Philadelphia. His father was an amateur clarinetist and his mother sang in a church choir. He and his two younger brothers all became interested in music early in life.

All three Heath brothers went on to become professional musicians, and eventually they worked together. Mr. Heath took up the bass relatively late in life. His first instrument was the violin, which he studied as a child.

During World War II he served with the Army Air Corps in Alabama, where he trained as a pilot; he was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen.

Mr. Heath began playing bass as a student at the Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia in 1946.

Within a few months he was performing with local jazz bands and working as the house bassist at the Down Beat, a Philadelphia nightclub. He moved to New York City in 1947 with his brother Jimmy, a saxophonist and composer, and in 1950 they both joined Dizzy Gillespie's group.

Not long after that, Mr. Heath and three other former Gillespie sidemen - Mr. Lewis, Mr. Jackson and the drummer Kenny Clarke - formed the Modern Jazz Quartet.

The quartet stayed together from 1952 to 1974, with only one personnel change: Kenny Clarke left in 1955 and was replaced by Connie Kay. After the group disbanded temporarily, Mr. Heath began working with his brother Jimmy and his youngest brother, Albert, a drummer.

The Heath Brothers specialized in a loose, freewheeling brand of jazz that was very different from the more dignified and restrained work of the Modern Jazz Quartet. Percy was also much more prominently in the spotlight; he even played the melody line on several numbers, often on a cello tuned like a bass, which he jokingly called a "baby bass."

The Heath Brothers remained together until the Modern Jazz Quartet reunited in the early 1980's, and they continued to work together occasionally over the next two decades during the quartet's hiatuses. The group recorded albums for the Columbia, Concord, Antilles and Strata East labels.

Percy Heath remained the backbone of the reunited Modern Jazz Quartet for the rest of its existence. He was briefly joined there by his brother Albert, who became the group's drummer after Kay died in 1994.

But Percy finally decided he had had enough of the grueling life of a traveling musician. When he announced that he was through with touring, rather than replace him, the other members of the group decided to shut it down, quietly and without fanfare.

The Modern Jazz Quartet never performed again. Jackson died in 1999, Lewis in 2001.

In recent years Mr. Heath continued to perform occasionally with his brothers, but he spent most of his time at his house in Montauk, where he devoted himself to fishing. He carried a rod when touring with the Modern Jazz Quartet. "I made a living," he once said, "to go fishing."

Mr. Heath's survivors include his wife, June; his sons Percy III, Jason and Stuart; and his two brothers.

More than half a century after he first entered a recording studio, Mr. Heath - who by his own count had played on more than 300 records - did something he had never done before. In 2004, shortly before his 81st birthday, the small Daddy Jazz label released an album by Mr. Heath, "A Love Song." It was his first recording as a leader.

[mikeweil]

Just ordered a copy ...

[Hardbopjazz]

Here's another photo. This was from July 30th 2004 at the Iridium in NYC.

[brownie]

Another gentleman of jazz goes away...

Another one to thank for bringing us so much beautiful music!

I still remember watching and listening to him play with the Modern Jazz Quartet in their glory days.

[Hardbopjazz]

Just ordered a copy ...

I will be doing the same. It took his death for me to get around to buying his CD.

[mmilovan]

R.I.P. Mr. Heath - the real giant, and, as someone said, very underated musican.

I will never forget concert MJQ held in Belgrade so many years ago. Now, if I'm not wrong only Mr Kay is still here with us, 3 members of that famous group left us too fast...........

Edited April 29, 2005 by mmilovan

[Hardbopjazz]

R.I.P. Mr. Heath - the real giant, and, as someone said, very underated musican.

I will never forget concert MJQ held in Belgrade so many years ago. Now, if I'm not wrong only Mr Kay is still here with us, 3 members of that famous group left us too fast...........

Mr. Kay left us first. 1995.

[Lazaro Vega]

What Jim said. I'll join you in the celebration of the life well lived.

And, by the way, Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman AND Roscoe Mitchell....

[LWayne]

Does anyone know whether he played with his brothers last Friday in their scheduled gig for the Tri-C JazzFest in Cleveland?

I had circled this date on my calendar and had planned on attending. However, I was in New Orleans on vacation last week and never made the date. Now it looks like a missed opportunity as I never got to see Percy perform live.

Can't add any more plaudits than what has been cited already. His recorded accomplishments will certainly stand the test of time.

RIP to one of the greats.

LWayne

[JohnS]

Sad news indeed