NEW YORK – Legendary jazz trumpeter Clark Terry, who mentored Miles Davis and Quincy Jones and played in the orchestras of both Count Basie and Duke Ellington and on “The Tonight Show,” has died. He was 94.
Terry’s wife announced his death on his website late Saturday night. Gwen Terry’s statement did not provide further details and she did not immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press.
“Our beloved Clark Terry has joined the big band in heaven where he’ll be singing and playing with the angels,” Gwen Terry wrote on the musician’s official Facebook page.
Terry had been in failing health in recent years after suffering from extreme complications of diabetes. Terry, who had been living in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, entered into hospice care earlier this month.
“The world has lost one of the greatest trumpeters to ever grace the planet,” Quincy Jones wrote on his Facebook page. “Clark Terry was my first trumpet teacher as a teen in Seattle, my idol, and my brother. When he left the Basie and Ellington bands, also two of my idols, to join mine, it was one of the most humbling moments in my life.”