Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
In Memoriam: John Hammond Jr., 1942–2026
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
“His music will live on forever,” the Onaje Allan Gumbs & Sandra Gumbs Community JazzArts Foundation said in a statement.
(Photo: Courtesy of the Onaje Allan Gumbs & Sandra Gumbs Community JazzArts Foundation)On July 5, a street sign co-named Onaje Allan Gumbs Way was erected at the intersection of De Kruif Place and Dreiser Loop in the Bronx, New York, where Gumbs lived. A pianist, keyboardist, composer, arranger and educator who performed in jazz, R&B, pop and others genres for nearly five decades, Gumbs worked with a wide range of musicians — from Norman Connors and Phyliss Hyman to Kenny Burrell and Kurtis Blow. He died in June 2021.
New York City Councilman Kevin C. Riley, along with the staff of the Onaje Allan Gumbs & Sandra Gumbs Community JazzArts Foundation, officiated the ceremony. Many guest speakers and notable musicians were also in attendance.
“The foundation is happy to announce the street co-naming of Onaje Allan Gumbs,” it said in a statement. “We are all the better for Onaje’s contribution to music. His music will live on forever.” DB
Hammond came to the blues through the folk boom of the late 1950s and early 1960s, which he experienced firsthand in New York’s Greenwich Village.
Mar 2, 2026 9:58 PM
John P. Hammond (aka John Hammond Jr.), a blues guitarist and singer who was one of the first white American…
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“These days, with curated news, where people only get half the story, people can’t even speak to family members anymore,” Schneider laments.
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