Bill Lee, the jazz composer and bassist who performed with Bob Dylan and Aretha Franklin earlier than scoring the traditional first 4 movies of his son, Spike Lee, died at his Brooklyn house this morning (Might 24), The New York Times stories, citing the youthful Lee. Invoice Lee’s reason behind loss of life was not offered. He was 94 years outdated.
Lee started his profession as a double bassist in Atlanta and Chicago. He moved to New York in 1959, typically performing in Greenwich Village and reciting his personal poetry between songs. His sterling repertoire included session work for Duke Ellington, Simon and Garfunkel, Harry Belafonte, Judy Collins, and Peter, Paul and Mary. He labored as a composer with Max Roach on a number of of the drummer’s nice data, notably within the late Nineteen Fifties. In 1965, he played bass on Dylan’s “It’s All Over Now, Child Blue.”
As jazz and rock started to meld into jazz-fusion within the Nineteen Seventies, Lee often misplaced work when he refused to swap his upright bass for an electrical mannequin. He was so dedicated to his acoustic instrument that he as soon as advised a reporter for The Boston Globe, “I may by no means reside with myself,” had been he to make the change.
In 1986, as his son launched into a now-legendary movie profession, the elder Lee penned an evocative, character-led theme for debut characteristic She’s Gotta Have It. The movie was a hit, and Invoice Lee went on to attain his son’s subsequent three movies: Faculty Daze, Do the Proper Factor, and the jazz-scene traditional Mo’ Higher Blues.
Within the early Nineties, Lee and his son had a falling out over funds and household issues that put an finish to their inventive collaboration. Spike Lee’s subsequent movies have been scored by jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
Invoice Lee was an avid participant late into his life, internet hosting hours-long jam classes at his condominium in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. In 2013, The New York Times revealed an article in regards to the many noise complaints Lee’s neighbors filed because of his full of life rehearsals that includes drums, bass, trumpet, saxophone, and piano. Lee advised The Instances that, for the previous 40 years, “it was by no means a problem.” “This can be a skilled home with skilled musicians dwelling right here,” Lee’s spouse, Susan, mentioned on the time. “If it bothers you, perhaps this isn’t the place for you.”
Leave a Reply