Harry Sheppard (April 1, 1928 – December 27, 2022) was an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

vibraphonist The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

who recorded and played with

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, Sol Yaged,

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, and

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. Sheppard grew up in

Worcester, Massachusetts Worcester ( , ) is a city and county seat of Worcester County, Massachusetts, United States. Named after Worcester, England, the city's population was 206,518 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the second-List of cities i ...

, moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, then moved in Houston in 1985 to care for his daughter, who died of cancer about a year later.

Biography

Born in

, Sheppard received his first lesson at the age of eight from his brother. After serving in the Navy, he met his first wife, Betty Ann Miller, when she was 16, and he was 19. His first professional performance in New York was with the Sol Yaged Quintet. In 1954 Sheppard and his wife recorded vocals on the first cha-cha in English called "Cha Cha Cha in Blue." Their marriage lasted into the 1960s. In 1958, Sheppard performed with

Lester Young Lester Willis Young (August 27, 1909 – March 15, 1959), nicknamed "Pres" or "Prez", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and occasional clarinetist. Coming to prominence while a member of Count Basie's orchestra, Young was one of the most i ...

, and others on the TV program ''Art Ford's Jazz Party''. He played with

in the 1960s. In the 1970s, he worked with Deagan to create the electric

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

. After a second marriage ended, he was single for decades until he met, and later married, Pam Bingham, a clarinetist in the Houston symphony. At 84, he suffered two

strokes A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...

, surgeries on his

carotid In anatomy, the left and right common carotid arteries (carotids) (Entry "carotid"
in
Sheppard died on December 27, 2022, at the age of 94.

Discography

* ''Blowing In from New York'' (44 Records, 1978) * ''Viva Brazil'' (Justice, 1990) * ''This-A-Way That-A-Way'' (Justice, 1991) * ''Points Of View'' (Justice, 1992) * ''Your Wish Is My Command'' – Sol Yaged & Tino Valpa with Harry Sheppard (Pine Hill Records, 2019)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Harry 1928 births 2022 deaths American jazz vibraphonists Musicians from Worcester, Massachusetts