Photo www.reverbnation.com - courtesy of Travis Broxton.
By Sam DeLeo | November 28th, 2014Piano legend Joe Bonner, who worked with giants from the jazz world on over 40 albums, passed away in Denver on Nov. 20. The coroner reported he died in his sleep from heart disease. He was 66.
Bonner was an internationally renowned pianist who was born in the same town of Rocky Mount, N.C., as Thelonious Monk. He played with jazz masters like Roy Haynes, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw, Pharoah Sanders, Billy Harper, Harold Vick and Max Roach. He had a distinguished roster of albums as a leader, as well. And though the above gives context to his accomplishments, it doesn’t tell all of Bonner’s story.
Denver was Bonner’s adopted home on and off for decades after he arrived in 1976. I didn’t know Joe well, but, starting in the early ‘90s, I saw him play often at clubs and after-hours jam sessions, and occasionally ran into him at Capitol Hill bars. No one else matched his symphonic style of playing. Beyond his technique, Joe was a complex composer and relentless in pursuit of his aesthetic.
Stories traveled regularly about town detailing Bonner’s exploits. He was bohemian and eccentric, and he didn’t seem to care what people thought. And Bonner also had his demons.
“I didn’t have to fit into any category,” he said in the liner notes to his masterful album, “Impressions of Copenhagen.” But, he didn’t always feel that free.
read more: http://www.heyreverb.com/blog/2014/11/28/joe-bonner-denver-musicians-gov-john-hickenlooper-remember-late-jazz-legend/97604/
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