1. Jack DeJohnette was born on August 9,1942 and is an American jazz drummer, pianist, and composer.
28 Facts About Jack DeJohnette
1. 2.
Jack DeJohnette has won two Grammy Awards and been nominated for five others.
3.
Jack DeJohnette began his musical career as a pianist, studying from age four with Antoinette Rich, the leader of an all-female symphony orchestra in Chicago, and first playing professionally at the age of 14.
4.
When Jack DeJohnette was 13, he switched to drums and was taught drumming techniques from a local jazz drummer, Bobby Miller Jr, who lived in the same neighborhood.
5.
Jack DeJohnette led his own groups in addition to playing with Richard Abrams, Roscoe Mitchell and other eventual core members of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
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Jack DeJohnette occasionally performed with Sun Ra and his Arkestra, and later in New York as well.
7.
In 1966 Jack DeJohnette moved to New York City, where he became a member of the Charles Lloyd Quartet.
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However, Jack DeJohnette left the group in early 1968, citing Lloyd's deteriorating, "flat" playing as his main reason for leaving.
9.
Jack DeJohnette joined Evans' trio in 1968, the same year the group headlined the Montreux Jazz Festival and produced the album Bill Evans at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
10.
In 1969, Jack DeJohnette left the Evans trio and replaced Tony Williams in Miles Davis's live band.
11.
Jack DeJohnette played on the live albums that would follow the release of Bitches Brew, taken from concerts at the Fillmore East in New York and Fillmore West in San Francisco.
12.
Jack DeJohnette continued to work with Davis for the next three years, which led to collaborations with other Davis band members John McLaughlin, Chick Corea, and Holland; he drew Keith Jarrett into the band.
13.
Jack DeJohnette left the Davis group in mid-1971, although he returned for several concerts through the rest of that year.
14.
Jack DeJohnette recorded, in the early 1970s, the albums Have You Heard, Sorcery, and Cosmic Chicken.
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Jack DeJohnette first formed the group Compost in 1972, but this was a short-lived endeavor, and DeJohnette cited the music as far too experimental to achieve commercial success.
16.
In 1981, Jack DeJohnette performed at the Woodstock Jazz Festival, held in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Creative Music Studio.
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Jack DeJohnette continued to work with Special Edition into the 1990s, but did not limit himself to that.
18.
Jack DeJohnette had, during the 1980s, resumed playing piano, which led to his 1994 tour as an unaccompanied pianist.
19.
Jack DeJohnette began working again with Abercrombie and Holland, reviving the Gateway trio.
20.
In 1990, Jack DeJohnette was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.
21.
The other two new projects were the Jack DeJohnette Quartet, featuring Harris again alongside Danilo Perez and John Patitucci, and the Trio Beyond, a tribute to DeJohnette's friend Tony Williams and his trio Lifetime, featuring John Scofield and Larry Goldings.
22.
Jack DeJohnette founded his own label, Golden Beams Productions, in 2005.
23.
Jack DeJohnette continued to make albums as a leader and sideman throughout this period as well, one of which was The Elephant Sleeps But Still Remembers, a collaboration that documents the first meeting of Jack DeJohnette and guitarist Bill Frisell in 2001 and led to another tour, with Frisell and Jerome Harris.
24.
In 2008, Jack DeJohnette toured with Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, and the Jarrett trio, and the next year won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album with Peace Time.
25.
In 2010, he founded the Jack DeJohnette Group, featuring Rudresh Mahanthappa on alto saxophone, David Fiuczynski on double-neck guitar, George Colligan on keyboards and piano, and long-time associate Jerome Harris on electric and acoustic bass guitars.
26.
In 2012, Jack DeJohnette released Sound Travels, which included appearances by McFerrin, Quintero, Bruce Hornsby, Esperanza Spalding, Lionel Loueke, and Jason Moran.
27.
Whilst Jack DeJohnette is most famous and mostly active as a drummer, he is a schooled pianist.
28.
Jack DeJohnette began studying piano at age four and later took piano lessons at the Chicago Conservatory of Music and played both as a pianist and as a drummer in his early career.