Nonagenarian Jazz Musicians

[Stereojack]

With the recent death of Barry Harris at 91, I got to wondering how many major jazz artists are still with us over 90? So far, I've been able to come up with five:

Sonny Rollins, 91

Kenny Burrell, 90

Roy Haynes, 96

Lou Donaldson, 95

Bill Crow, 94

Any others? 

[Dan Gould]

Terry Gibbs is 97.

[mjazzg]

Marshall Allen is 97 and still touring internationally

[cliffpeterson]

Sheila Jordan-93

Ted Brown-93 or 94.

Edited December 29, 2021 by cliffpeterson

[T.D.]

David Amram 91

[sidewinder]

And not forgetting Benny Golson - 92

and Dame Cleo Laine - 94

Edited December 29, 2021 by sidewinder

[brownie]

Martial Solal 94

[sidewinder]

Tony Kinsey - 94

Phil Nimmons - 98

Edited December 29, 2021 by sidewinder

[Milestones]

I know that quite a few are no longer playing, which is fine at that age.  I know most musicians would prefer to play until they drop, but sometimes you just have to retire.

Is Benny Golson still active?

 

[Pim]

2 minutes ago, Milestones said:

I know that quite a few are no longer playing, which is fine at that age.  I know most musicians would prefer to play until they drop, but sometimes you just have to retire.

Is Benny Golson still active?

 

I saw Benny in spring 2019. Don’t know bout now but would understand he does not perform these days with COVID and stuff…

[BillF]

13 minutes ago, Milestones said:

I know that quite a few are no longer playing, which is fine at that age.  I know most musicians would prefer to play until they drop, but sometimes you just have to retire.

Is Benny Golson still active?

 

Labelled "Streamed live on July 27 2021".

Edited December 29, 2021 by BillF

[Ken Dryden]

Dick Hyman is still around at 94 though he may not be performing, I am unsure. I saw him at Dizzy’s in 2019 with Ken Peplowski and Bill Charlap.

Edited December 29, 2021 by Ken Dryden
Added age.

[sidewinder]

Bill Holman - 94

Vi Redd - 93

[BillF]

2 hours ago, Stereojack said:

With the recent death of Barry Harris at 91, I got to wondering how many major jazz artists are still with us over 90? So far, I've been able to come up with five:

Sonny Rollins, 91

Kenny Burrell, 90

Roy Haynes, 96

Lou Donaldson, 95

Bill Crow, 94

Any others? 

So good that we now have nonagenarians in a profession where people used to die at 25 (Charlie Christian, Clifford Brown, Scott LaFaro) or 26 (Fats Navarro).

[Ken Dryden]

Doc Severinsen is 94.

Toshiko Akiyoshi is 92.

[jlhoots]

Anthony Ortega - 93

[Milestones]

Thanks for the video of Benny Golson.  As many know, Golson is a great storyteller, and his recount of hearing about Clifford Brown's death and writing his famous tribute is priceless.  A very touching performance too, with the audience so respectful that you could hear a pin drop.

 

[sidewinder]

Sam Noto - 91

[kh1958]

Ahmad Jamal is 91.

[Ken Dryden]

Guitarist John Pisano turned 90 this year and is evidently still playing.

[Gheorghe]

I was lucky I saw quite some of those from your list performing live:

Sonny Rollins (oh boy, he was 49 when I saw him)
Lou Donaldson (the last time I saw him he was 87 )
Benny Golson on several occasions when he was in his early 70´s 
Roy Haynes when he was about 80
Marshall Allen when he was 95 and looked much younger. 
But sorry to say I never saw Kenny Burrell live. It seems he didn´t tour that much in Europe/Austria.....
I saw Dick Hyman only on the Charlie Parker Dizzy Gillespie film "Hot House", but some idiots filmed only his hands, so you can´t see him playing. 

[Alex Potts]

Dave Bailey - 95

Arthur Edgehill - 95

Gene DiNovi - 93

Emil Mangelsdorff - 96

Gabe Baltazar - 92

Eddie De Haas - 91

Helen Merrill - 91

Dizzy Reece - 90

George Freeman - 94

Dick Garcia - 90

Johnny Pate - 98

Tox Drohar??

[clifford_thornton]

Arthur Edgehill is still alive? I know he was living in a retirement community down in Deltona, FL. Glad to hear he's still with us.

FWIW Tox Drohar is back to performing under his prior name, Dick Scott. He lives in Switzerland.

[Dan Gould]

2 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

Arthur Edgehill is still alive? I know he was living in a retirement community down in Deltona, FL. Glad to hear he's still with us.

+1. Same with Dizzy Reece and Dave Bailey. Kind of assumed at this stage they'd moved on, glad to know they are still with us.

 

[Rooster_Ties]

Dizzy Reece??!!! 

I had no idea he was still with us.