Contemporary jazz trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler died earlier this week, being admitted to the hospital after living in a nursing home. He was 84.
Head of jazz at the Royal Academy of Music, Nick Smart announced Wheeler's death on Thursday, stating, "It is hard to express just how large a contribution he made to the music in this country and around the world, and how deeply he touched the musicians that had the honour of working alongside him.”
"With Kenny's passing, we say goodbye to one of the great musical innovators of contemporary jazz," he continued. "His harmonic palette and singularly recognisable sound will live on in the memory of all who heard him and in the extraordinary legacy of recordings and compositions he leaves behind, inspiring generations to come."
The Canadian-born Wheeler became part of the free-improvisation movement after joining the London jazz scene in 1952, eventually playing in groups alongside Ronnie Scott, John Dankworth and Tubby Hayes.
In the 1990s, he released Music for Large and Small Ensembles and Kayak, which some consider his best album. In 1997, Wheeler won critical acclaim for Angel Song, a quartet album featuring Bill Frisell, Dave Holland and Lee Konitz.
Years later, he founded the Junior Jazz program at the Royal Academy of Music and was the subject of a year-long exhibition by the Academy Museum. He celebrated his 80th birthday with a concert in 2010.
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