An iconic drummer who performed with some of the most influential and important names in music history has died after a long career in the industry.
A press representative for record label ECM confirmed the news of musician Jack Dejohnette on Monday, and Dejohnette’s personal assistant noted that he died due to complications from congestive heart failure.
Dejohnette is likely best known for his appearances on albums from Miles Davis, working with the legendary jazz icon during the fusion phase of his career.
Born in Chicago in the early 1940s, Dejohnette began his musical journey by playing piano and drumming. “Piano and drums are part of the percussion family,” he once said in an interview.
“There’s no separation: learning one thing feeds the other.”
Jack Dejohnette’s Incredible Career
Dejohnette performed in various bands and groups across genres in the 1950s, but settled on jazz as his preferred style of music. He worked with the greats from an early age, once sitting in during a performance with John Coltrane in his hometown. Dejohnette called the experience of playing alongside Coltrane as “really great, physical and spiritual.”
The musician would move to New York City in the 1960s, dropping out of college with only $28 to his name. In NYC, Dejohnette would work with Freddie Hubbard, Jackie McLean, Charles Lloyd and Keith Jarrett – one of his most frequent co-collaborators on various projects throughout the years.
“I think playing with Miles, with Dave Holland, Chick Corea and Wayne Shorter was a very exciting period,” Dejohnette said about performing with Davis at the end of the decade, as he began to experiment past the boundaries of traditional jazz.
“We always couldn’t wait to get on the bandstand to see what kind of mischief we could get into.” Dejohnette once said that working with Davis and his band was a gradual process, as each member would find their part of the song and flow with their leader as he incorporated his own solo vision.
“When it would start percolating, then Miles would then play a solo over that and then let it roll, let it roll until he felt it had been exhausted,” he said. Dejohnette left Davis’ band in the early 70s, choosing to experiment with different techniques and sounds after Davis seemed to focus on a specific direction.
Dejohnette’s Work After Davis
Dejohnette released over 50 albums in his career, most of which included him as a bandleader or co-leader. On some of those recordings, he was able to focus on piano – the instrument that first drew him to create music as a child.
“I feel like I’m riding a wave, an energetic, creative wave. I feel like I’m being carried by the creative consciousness. I hear Miles in my head sometimes, or I hear Coltrane,” Dejohnette said in an interview with Best Self Media back in September.
“I think that corroborates that we never die.… I believe that we are infinite. We go through the process of birth and death, and death is just a mechanism by which the soul departs the physical body. But only a portion of that soul is in this physical body. People talk about life after death and immortality. We are immortal already.”
Dejohnette’s legacy will live on in his own music, as well as the influence he had on future generations of musicians. Rest in peace to Jack Dejohnette, and we send condolences to his family, friends and loved ones during this difficult time.
