Tony Bennett

[Milestones]

So Tony Bennett has set the record for the oldest person to release an album of new material (not that the songs are new).  That is remarkable....good for him.  The man does not seem to "there" at all in his everyday life, but give him a song to sing he can still do it...and one can even listen to it.

But I would have thought a jazz guy would hold the record.  I know Jimmy Heath was well past 90 on his his last record.  Roy Haynes would, I think, be older than Bennett... so if he recorded now....  Lou Donaldson?  But he has not recorded, I believe, in over two decades. Pianists? 

Some jazz artists have lived a very long time, and most of them do not stop performing.    

So whose record did Bennet break?

 

Edited October 9, 2021 by Milestones

[Ken Dryden]

Trumpeter and vocalist Doc Cheatham was still playing gigs when he died a few days short of 92 in June 1997, not long after a gig at Blues Alley. He was 91 when he recorded a CD with Nicholas Payton for Verve in 1996.

Eubie Blake was active playing well into his nineties, but I am not sure that he made any new recordings after the mid-1970s. After his death in 1983, supposedly at the age of 100, it was later discovered that he was only 96.

The record may be held by Alto saxophonist Benny Waters, who celebrated his 95th birthday with three days of recording at Birdland. As I remember, he was a Jehovah's Witness or Christian Scientist, he refused treatment for a treatable illness and died the following year at 96.

.

 

[Chuck Nessa]

Sigh.

[Milestones]

Thanks for the info on Benny Waters.  I had never heard of this artist. 

 

 

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

yea this is a total scam

[EKE BBB]

Martial Solal's last disc was recorded on January 23, 2019 at the Salle Gaveau in Paris. He was 91 years old by then. So he's also probably in the Top 5 for jazz musicians. Of course, provided that this ranking makes any sense. 😁

Edited October 9, 2021 by EKE BBB

[mjazzg]

Marshall Allen's 97 and he recorded and released an album with the Arkestra last year

[clifford_thornton]

^^^

[Rooster_Ties]

13 hours ago, mjazzg said:

Marshall Allen's 97 and he recorded and released an album with the Arkestra last year

Yeah, hell of a good point.  He was sure going strong when I saw the Arkestra under his leadership 3 times, almost 20 years ago.

[Hardbopjazz]

15 hours ago, mjazzg said:

Marshall Allen's 97 and he recorded and released an album with the Arkestra last year

Yes. I was thinking about him.