JACK

Just heard the sad news that jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette has passed away at the age of 83. The trio he was most famous for playing with is now down to one, that being Keith Jarrett, the legendary pianist of the group.

I'm not going to write too much about DeJohnette’s legacy as a musician or his extensive discography, much of it associated with ECM Records. I’ll just say that his being part of what I consider the greatest jazz trio in history was enough to secure his immortality. It’s a shared immortality because, although each of the men who made up the group — Keith Jarrett on piano, Gary Peacock on bass, and Jack DeJohnette on drums — had remarkable careers outside their work together, what they created as a trio was pure, transcendent magic. I was fortunate enough to see them play live a couple of times at the Festival Hall, South Bank, and feel blessed to have witnessed them perform while still at the height of their musical powers.

DeJohnette's sublime use of brush circles, press rolls, and cymbal swells is forever legendary, and there is perhaps no more sublime example of his artistry than on the double-trio album Tribute, which my late father first introduced to me after picking up a copy from Tower Records in London and which I remember we often played in a state of near-reverent awe. The sand-sweeping subtlety of DeJohnette's brushwork, combined with the shimmering cymbal patterns that reflected the deep-gold alloy they're made from, demonstrated a range from traditional steady swing to heavy bebop/modal drumming that is without doubt some of the best you’ll find in the history of the form.

I have no doubt DeJohnette could play with just a pair of matchsticks on the back of a matchbox and it would be fire.

Rest in peace, drummer boy.

Jack DeJohnette (August 9, 1942 – October 26, 2025)