Jazz trumpeter Wallace Roney, 59, died on Tuesday at St. Joseph’s University Medical Center in Paterson, New Jersey from coronavirus (COVID-19) complications.
Roney took lessons from jazz legends Clark Terry and Dizzy Gillespie and was the protégé of the late Miles Davis. In 1979 and 1980, Roney won the DownBeat Award for Best Jazz Musician of the Year. Later, in 1983, Roney took part in a tribute to Miles Davis at “The Bottom Line” in Manhattan. In 1991, Quincy Jones invited Roney to play alongside Miles Davis at a concert in Montreux, Switzerland. Shortly afterward, Davis died.
Roney released his first album in 1987 titled Venus. He would follow with 21 more, his final release was Blue Dawn-Blue Nights in 2019.
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“Wallace was a global life force in the jazz community. We are devastated that our brother Trumpeter Wallace Roney passed away today due to complications from COVID-19,” family members of Miles Davis posted on Twitter on Tuesday.
