The great vibraphonist Walt Dickerson has passed away, according to the following message circulated by drummer Andrew Cyrille, an important collaborator of Dickerson's:
"To all concerned:
I was asked to inform you of the regrettable death of vibraphonist,
Walt Dickerson, by his beloved wife, Elizabeth. Walt passed away on May 15
from cardiac arrest. He was 80 years of age and lived in Willow Grove, PA.
In sympathy,
Andrew Cyrille"
*****
As some readers might remember, I've been fascinated with Dickerson's music for some time, and I was lucky enough to to spend an amazing afternoon with him back in '03. Here you can find the full transcript of our conversation:
Walt Dickerson interview - 6/29/03
Part I
and
Part II
My JazzTimes piece that resulted from this interview can be read here.
Strangely, just last night I came across a download of Dickerson's Tell Us Only the Beautiful Things LP. This was the only Walt album I was unable to track down back when I was researching the story; can't wait to dig into it.
It's very, very sad that Dickerson never emerged from his silence to record again. When I spoke with him, he told me he was still playing every day...
3 comments:
props to you for keeping tabs on mr. dickerson, a great artist. i think your interview w/him is the only comprehensive info we have now from his later years.
Thanks so much for the Dickerson interview. I love his work and as we all know, there's just not to much info to be found on WD, even at death, so huge applause from me to you. In answer to your query of other records in the vibe vein, Jay Hoggard's SOLO VIBRAPHONE is a must-have. His later work, at least the 2 or 3 I have heard, didn't do much for me, but this 1978 recording is fantastic.
I feel sad. wish you well, walt...
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