John Abercrombie, Renowned Jazz Guitarist, Dead at 72
John Abercrombie, renowned jazz and fusion guitarist, has died at age 72, according to a post on his Facebook page.
An alum of the Berklee College of Music, Abercrombie became hugely influential within the jazz fusion genre through his recordings for the ECM label.
Albums like 1975's Timeless—which Abercrombie recorded with Jack DeJohnette and keyboardist Jan Hammer—would come to define the label's groundbreaking sound.
Aside from his dozens of recordings as a band leader, Abercrombie was for decades also a frequent member of the highly regarded trio Gateway, along with DeJohnette and bassist Dave Holland.
Abercrombie remained active until he was sidelined by a stroke earlier this year, releasing Up and Coming with his John Abercrombie Quartet in January.
You can listen to some of his work below.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Jackson is an Associate Editor at GuitarWorld.com. He’s been writing and editing stories about new gear, technique and guitar-driven music both old and new since 2014, and has also written extensively on the same topics for Guitar Player. Elsewhere, his album reviews and essays have appeared in Louder and Unrecorded. Though open to music of all kinds, his greatest love has always been indie, and everything that falls under its massive umbrella. To that end, you can find him on Twitter crowing about whatever great new guitar band you need to drop everything to hear right now.
“If he were just a pop guitar player, he would be a legend – this cat is arguably one of the greatest players to ever exist”: Cory Wong and Andy Timmons on the brilliance of George Benson, and his essential contributions to the guitar vocabulary
“You don’t want the soul to be detached from things because you’ll just have gratuitous shredding”: Marcus King on the current state of the guitar scene – and why there's hope for the future