Jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco dies at 91

PANAMA CITY, Fla. – Renowned jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco, who led the way on his instrument in the transition between the swing and bebop eras, has died at the age of 91, his family said Friday.

DeFranco’s family told the Associated Press that the famed musician died Wednesday evening at a Panama City hospital. His wife, Joyce, said he had been in declining health in recent years.

DeFranco, who began his professional career as a teenager in the late 1930s, made both concert and recording appearances with many of the top singers and musicians of his era, including Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Tony Bennett, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum.

“Buddy DeFranco almost single-handedly was the clarinetist who moved the harmonic and rhythmic language forward from where Benny Goodman left off into the much more adventurous territory of bebop and beyond, while never forgetting his roots in swing music,” leading jazz clarinetist Ken Peplowski said in an email to the AP.

DeFranco performed at leading venues around the world and was repeatedly recognized as the top jazz clarinetist in magazine polls conducted by Downbeat, Metronome and Playboy.

DeFranco’s family asked that contributions in his memory be made to the nonprofit Buddy DeFranco Jazz Festival which is held each spring at the University of Montana in Missoula.