Jack DeJohnette, Celebrated Jazz Drummer, Passes Away at 83
Photo: Dino Perrucci
Jack DeJohnette, the audacious jazz drummer known for his innovative and bold drive behind the kit while backing genre greats over a 60-year tenure, has passed away. The artist, who lent his talents and dexterity as both a bandleader and sideman, died on Sunday evening, October 26, according to his loved ones. DeJohnette was 83 years old.
The musician’s passing was confirmed in a post on social media: “It is with great sadness that we announce the death of Jack DeJohnette. He died peacefully in Kingston Hospital, NY. He was surrounded by his wife, family, and close friends. Jack was a NEA Jazz Master. His legacy will live on.”
DeJohnette was born in Chicago and was musically inclined from a young age, beginning piano at 4, before switching to drums at age 13. Lessons came from a neighbor, jazz drummer Bobby Miller Jr., who coaxed the artist’s avant-garde, R&B, and hard-bop tendencies. Family also influenced DeJohnette, particularly his uncle, Roy Senior Jr., a Windy City disc jockey and vice president and co-founder of the National Black Network of Black Broadcasters.
While DeJohnette often led his own ensemble, he also supported others through the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, among them Roscoe Mitchell and Richard Abrams. The Swinging Sixties provided a track for career advancement, as well as opportunities to perform with renegades of the craft, Sun Ra and his Arkestra.
In 1966, he made the full leap to the Big Apple, where he joined the Charles Lloyd Quartet, which introduced DeJohnette to longtime collaborator Keith Jarrett. The move also sparked work with Bill Evans, Jackie McLean, Abbey Lincoln, and Betty Carter, and by 1968, he had made the switch from Lloyd’s jazz combo to Evans’ group. In this setting DeJohnette took part in the band’s headline slot at the Montreux Jazz Festival, which was captured on the subsequent live album, Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival. The same year, he worked with saxophonist Stan Getz, leading to his first recording with Miles Davis.
By 1969, DeJohnette had replaced Tony Williams in Miles’ band, after the trumpeter observed the drummer’s knack for interpreting rock and roll grooves through the spontaneity of jazz. Around this time, DeJohnette began participating in Miles’ Bitches Brew sessions, taking the role of rhythm lead, alongside Billy Cobham, Lenny White, and Don Alias.
DeJohnette supported Miles’ live performances at Fillmore East and West, which were later delivered as live albums, and remained under his direction for three more years. During this period, he collaborated with bandmates Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, and others, contributed to the 1971 releases Live-Evil and Jack Johnson, 1972’s On the Corner, and did session work on the 1981 compilation LP Directions. The musician parted ways with Davis’ group in mid-1971, though he remained a part of ensuing live performances.
His 1968 debut album, The DeJohnette Complex, found him on melodica and drums, while his mentor Roy Haynes handled much of the beat. The onset of the ‘70s triggered the arrivals of Have You Heard?, Sorcery, and Cosmic Chicken. The aforementioned releases precluded his partnership with ECM, which offered increased musical freedom.
DeJohnette founded the short-lived ensemble Compost in 1972, pushing the boundaries of experimental music beyond the average consumer’s interest. He also took work as a sideman, rejoining Getz’s lineup from 1973 through October 1974, along with Dave Holland. The aforementioned artist [sans Getz] and guitarist John Abercrombie briefly toted the title the Gateway Trio.
Directions, a group founded in 1976 with sax player Alex Foster, bassist Mike Richmond, and Abercrombie, continued his Gateway connections before the arrival of New Directions, which kept Abercrombie in the fold, along with Lester Bowie and Eddie Gomez. The group concurred with Special Edition, DeJohnette’s first band as a leader to receive critical acclaim, and introduced a rotating cast of horn players: David Murray, John Purcell, Arthur Blythe, and Chico Freeman.
While Special Edition was a driving force in his career, DeJohnette never shied from side work, including recording as a member of Jarrett’s trio in 1983 and joining him on the road in 1985. Along with Gary Peacock and Jarrett, the ensemble remained accomplices for more than 25 years. During this time, he also returned to his first instrument, the piano.
The 1980s found DeJohnette on 80/81 with Pat Metheny, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, and Michael Brecker. Through the pre-aughts decade, he continued his work in Special Edition, while also touring with Metheny, Herbie Hancock, and Holland, releasing Parallel Realities as a result. In 1993, he released a collaboration inspired by Indigenous elders, Music for the Fifth World, with Vernon Reid and Scofield.
In 1994, DeJohnette toured as an unaccompanied pianist, reviving his status as a multi-instrumentalist following his Berklee College of Music award and Honorary Doctorate of Music. The start of the 2000s found DeJohnette nominated for a Grammy for his work on Jarrett’s live LP, The Out-of-Towners.
DeJohnette engaged in new projects, the Latin Project with Giovanni Hidalgo, Luisito Quintero, Jerome Harris, and others, in addition to his own self-titled quartet with Harris, Danilo Perez, and John Patitucci. Also filling his time was a tribute project to a friend, Tony Williams and his trio, Lifetime, with Larry Young and McLaughlin.
In 2005, DeJohnette also started his own label, Golden Beams Production, and released Key of Om under it. The set leaned electronic, intended to inspire meditation, and was nominated for Best New Age Album at the Grammys.
Two years later he joined Bruce Hornsby and Christian McBride in studio for Camp Meeting, with Pat Metheny credited as “De Facto” Executive Producer.
DeJohnette’s status as a bandleader and sideman lingered and accounted for 2012’s Sound Travels with Hornsby, Esperanza Spalding, Lionel Loueke, Jason Moran, and others. That year, he also received the NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship for his achievements in the genre.
DeJohnette carved a unique path and delineated his skills through stylistic excellence in jazz, loose free jazz, R&B, and world music. He was in-demand drummers, with the tenacity to carry forward tradition while also integrating abstraction and individualist cues that have inspired a new generation of jazz torchbearers.
According to reports, DeJohnette passed away as a result of congestive heart failure. Like his family shared on social media, “His legacy will live on” through the music.
