Jul 22, 2026 12:37 PM
In Memoriam: Rodney Holmes, 1966–2026
Drummer Rodney Holmes, a powerful presence behind the kit who emerged as an in-demand player on the New York scene…
In 1993 Bryson signed to the Telarc Jazz label, which released her first album, I Love Being Here With You.
(Photo: Matthew Rolston/Telarc/DownBeat Archive)Jeanie Bryson, an American singer firmly rooted in the legacies of Peggy Lee and Dinah Washington whose signature style combined jazz, pop and Latin music, died June 19 at a New York hospital after a short bout with an aggressive form of cancer. She was 68.
Born March 10, 1958, in New York City and raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey, Bryson was the daughter of songwriter Connie Bryson and jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie — whose paternity status was kept under wraps for many years. Pianist Kenny Barron was Bryson’s musical tutor from an early age (she played piano and flute as a child), but she didn’t pursue a singing career until well after she graduated from Rutgers in 1981 with a degree in ethnomusicology. In 1993 she signed to the Telarc Jazz label, which released her first album, I Love Being Here With You. Subsequent releases on Telarc included 1994’s Tonight I Need You So and 1996’s Some Cats Know, a tribute to Peggy Lee. In 2001, Koch Jazz released her fourth album, Deja Blue. Other highlights of her recording career included the 1994 Columbia Records release My Solitude: The Billie Holiday Songbook with trumpeter Terence Blanchard.
Bryson abruptly stepped away from singing after guitarist Coleman Mellett, her husband since 2004, died in a February 2009 plane crash at age 34. She eventually made her way back to performing occasionally with encouragement from the New Brunswick Jazz Project in New Jersey.
Bryson worked with Mellett’s brother Zebulon and movie director Michael Molloy to create the 2019 film Sing You a Brand New Song: The Words and Music of Coleman Mellett, which premiered at the New Jersey International Film Festival and won the award for Best Documentary. She continued to maintain a relatively low profile until the 2025 release of the album Sing You a Brand New Song, which she produced over the course of many years with Mellett’s friend Barry Miles in celebration of her late husband’s life and music.
To read DownBeat’s complete May 2025 feature article on the Sing You a Brand New Song project, CLICK HERE.
“We will deeply miss her joyful spirit, her expert commentary and keen insights on tunes and players, and an unflagging passion for both the music and the musicians who make it,” read an official statement on Bryson’s passing published by members of the New Brunswick Jazz Project community. “We will miss her quirky humor and the simple joy she found in nature and watching things grow.” DB
A drummer’s drummer, Rodney Holmes gigged with everyone from Joe Zawinul and Carlos Santana to Steve Kimock and the Brecker Brothers.
Jul 22, 2026 12:37 PM
Drummer Rodney Holmes, a powerful presence behind the kit who emerged as an in-demand player on the New York scene…
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