Don Heckman - gone but not forgotten

I spent a good chunk of time over the past two weeks digging into the previously unreported passing of respected West Coast jazz critic Don Heckman, who left us in November 2020 after several years of declining health.

Don Heckman

That piece, including a few updates provided by Don’s family, is at the Jazz Journalists Association website. 

 

You can find it right here…

 

Don was a JJA member and won the organization's Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism Award as part of 2010's JJA Awards. He was a nominee in 2008.

 

Deepest condolences to Don's widow, Faith; their two children, Alexander and Allegra; and three grandchildren.

A swinging, sophisticated romp through West Coast Jazz

Trombonist-composer-arranger Dick Hamilton has a thing for West Coast Jazz, no matter how you define it. He grew up in Sarasota, Florida on the west coast of Florida, where as a teenager in the 1950s, he was drawn to the sounds of cool jazz coming out of the west coast of the U.S. - i.e., California. The music of Gerry Mulligan, Dave Brubeck and Shorty Rogers, among others.