Legendary jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, who mentored Miles Davis and Quincy Jones and played in the orchestras of both Count Basie and Duke Ellington and on “The Tonight Show,” has died. He was 94.
Terry’s wife announced his death on his website late Saturday night. Gwen Terry’s statement did not provide further details, and she did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.
“Our beloved Clark Terry has joined the big band in heaven where he’ll be singing and playing with the angels,” Gwen Terry wrote on the musician’s official Facebook page.
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Terry continued to make occasional club appearances as an octogenarian although his diabetes forced him to curtail touring.
The esteem his fellow musicians felt for Terry was reflected in December when the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis took a detour to Pine Bluff, Arkansas, during a day off on their tour to play an impromptu concert for Terry at his hospital.
“Even before we started playing, many of us were full of emotion,” Marsalis wrote at the time. “He was the first great jazz trumpeter I had ever heard actually playing live. His spectacular playing made me want to practice (of course) but his warmth and optimism made me want to be a part of the world of jazz.”
