Rich was fast, Krupa was smooth, but Jack DeJohnette was melodic. He played R&B, hard bop, and avant-garde stylings … and always made it look easy. Jack left us at the age of 83 just a few weeks ago, on October 26th. He was a pianist, composer, and most of all a drummer, whose command and versatility made him one of the standout instrumentalists of the past five decades and an indispensable figure in era-defining jazz. He fearlessly embraced abstraction and his approach, which could be hushed or explosive, freely swinging or fiercely funky, built bridges between the old and the new. He once referred to himself a “colorist on the drums.”
Shadow Dance (above) opens with a DeJohnette drum solo, which leads into just one color of a largely new age electronic rainbow, borrowing heavily from the pop-rock genre. It features Herbie Hancock playing piano and keyboards, Pat Metheny on guitar, and Dave Holland on bass, rounding out the quartet. Rider (below) is a classic example [from 1985] of just how funky Jack could be in driving the trio … which includes Keith Jarrett at the piano and Gary Peacock on bass. Jack DeJohnette leaves a large legacy but even larger shoes to fill.
