Grady Tate, Prodigious Jazz Drummer And Noted Vocalist, Dies At 85
The drummer was a first call for many of the finest singers of the 1960s and '70s, including Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Lena Horne and Peggy Lee.
Grady Tate, a crisp, swinging drummer who also enjoyed crossover success as a vocalist in a prolific recording career spanning more than 50 years, died on Sunday night at his home in the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan. He was 85. His death was confirmed to NPR by Wendy Oxenhorn, executive director of the Jazz Foundation of America, which provides a range of assistance to musicians. No cause was given.
Tate was one of the most versatile and in-demand jazz drummers of the '60s Orchestra in '62. Among the artists Tate backed were saxophonists and , composer-orchestrators Oliver Nelson and , and organists and .
