RIP: Joe Lee Wilson, jazz vocalist who performed with Miles Davis and Archie Shepp

RIP: Joe Lee Wilson, jazz vocalist who performed with Miles Davis and Archie Shepp

From The Guardian:

The reputation of Joe Lee Wilson, the jazz vocalist, who has died aged 75, never matched those of such male stars as Jon Hendricks, Mark Murphy or Kurt Elling — yet his eloquent baritone voice invited him into their league, even if an easygoing nature and an inclination to sidestep the mainstream diverted him.

Wilson’s rich sound reflected an African-American swing tradition that embraced such early black pop stars as Billy Eckstine, but he also drew on the raw passions of the blues, and fuelled the mix with the volatile ingredients of 1960s free-jazz. He performed with some of the music’s biggest stars (including the saxophonist Sonny Rollins, and the trumpeters Miles Davis and Freddie Hubbard), but also with such luminaries of the avant garde as the saxophonist, actor and writer Archie Shepp and the revolutionary drummer Sunny Murray.

• Joe Lee Wilson: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Lee_Wilson

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