RIP Don Heckman, belatedly

Prominent jazz critic Don Heckman died November 14, 2020 in Los Angeles at age 89, just five

weeks before his 90^th birthday. His health had been in decline for several years.

This article has been updated with additional information from the Heckman family and links to Don’s first blog.

Don was cremated and given a private funeral but a memorial event was delayed because of complications related to the pandemic.

Confirmation of Don’s passing came from his daughter, Allegra Heckman, a few days ago. There had been occasional rumors over the past year, but no obituary was published by his family, not even a mention in the Los Angeles Times, where he was jazz and world music writer for two decades. His family created this Tribute site.

Donald J. Heckman was born December 18, 1930 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He grew up in Miami, where he learned to play clarinet and saxophone. He moved to New York in the 1950s, and became active in avant garde and free jazz as a performer. This paralleled his start as a music writer.

He performed with pianist John Benson Brooks and trumpeter Don Ellis, then formed his own bands with Ed Summerlin. In 1967, the pair released The Don Heckman-Ed Summerlin Improvisational Jazz Workshop on their own Ictus label. The record consisted of four  tracks recorded in 1965 and 1966, featuring Heckman on alto sax and Summerlin on tenor sax. Their sidemen included pianist Steve Kuhn, bassists Ron Carter and Steve Swallow; drummers Joe Cocuzzo and Joe Hunt; trombonist Bob Norden and trumpeter Lew Gluckin. It was re-released in 1968 as Jax or Better on the UK’s Jazz Workshop label. Heckman and Summerlin composed two tracks apiece. Don continued playing on occasion into the 1970s, but after that, only for personal enjoyment.

The Heckman family moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s when Don’s wife, television producer Faith Frenz, was transferred by CBS. In addition to his freelance jazz writing, Don also composed music for children’s TV and audio projects, many for Hanna-Barbera Productions.

Don, who had studied musicology and music theory, wrote about music – principally jazz — in various publications and phases until 2016, primarily in New York City and then on the West Coast. He was a columnist for the The Village Voice, then pop music critic for The New York Times. After Leonard Feather’s death in 1994, Heckman succeeded him as the de facto jazz critic for the Los Angeles Times, where he was a regular contributor until late 2008. He also wrote for Metronome, Jazz Review, Downbeat and JazzTimes. He was a member of the Jazz Journalists Association.

In 2008, Heckman launched a blog, NotesFromtheLeftCoast, on which he worked for several months, including two posts about that year’s JJA Jazz Awards — he was a nominee for the Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism Award (won that year by Doug Ramsey; Heckman was so honored in 2010). Within a few months, he reconceived his effort, establishing the International Review Of Music, which consisted of live concert and recording reviews by himself and several other contributors. His last post, on June 30, 2017 reviewed Terry Gibbs 92 Years Young, Jammin’ at the Gibbs House. The website now appears to be dormant.

In 2015, Heckman and his wife started dividing their time between Los Angeles and southern Oregon to slow their pace and spend more time with his daughter and her three children. He also immersed himself into the local jazz community.

After he was diagnosed with an inoperable illness in 2017, the couple returned to Los Angeles for medical care. Allegra said her brother Alex cared for Don until he passed away peacefully at home.

L.A. music critic and friend Richard Ginell, who last visited Heckman in Oregon in August 2015, cherished their friendship. “Don was always a great colleague, gentle in demeanor, encouraging to everyone in the local jazz press corps, generous in his compliments, open to other forms of music and different interpretations of what jazz is,” Ginell wrote in an email.

“Don’s first love was music. He lived and breathed music,” his daughter said. “His ear was impeccable and he spent all of his time focused on nothing else but music. And family. He helped so many music careers through his admiration and promotion. His contributions to the jazz community and the music world at large should be celebrated, as well as honored.”

Allegra said that her father was working on the outline of a book before he passed away. He planned it as a collection of all of his favorite interviews over the years, adding some fresh thoughts and background. “I am hoping that we can make that still happen for him,” she said.

Heckman is survived by his wife, Faith Frenz Heckman and son Alexander C. Heckman, both of Los Angeles; and daughter Allegra T. Heckman and three grandchildren, of Ashland, Oregon.