Another sad musical passing

Bill Reichenbach Sr., a jazz drummer who played on early bossa nova records with Charlie Byrd and Stan Getz, died yesterday in Hollywood, CA. He was the father of West Coast trombonist Bill Reichenbach, Jr. and singer Kurt Reichenbach.

Jazz Samba, with Getz and Byrd, on which Bill, Sr. played drums, is in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Reichenbach, who operated out of the Washington, DC area when he was active, also played and recorded with a wide variety of other musicians and singers, including Tommy Dorsey and Georgia Gibbs. In preparation for recording the Jazz Samba album, Byrd and Reichenbach traveled to Brazil in 1961 and returned home with a wide variety of research materials, including recordings by Antonio Carlos Jobim which had scarcely been heard north of the border at that point in history.

Reichenbach, Sr's last recording was with his sons, Bill, Jr. and Kurt on the latter's recent CD, The Night Was Blue. Reichenbach's wife died last January. Reichenbach, Sr. has been in failing health recently, and recently moved west to be closer to his sons, but at the present time the cause of death is not known.