RIP to Music Legend Barbara Morrison: The Soul Mother of Leimart Park Village

0 Posted by - March 29, 2022 - BLACK MUSIC, BLACK WOMEN, Gone But Not Forgotten, LATEST POSTS

By Victor Trammell

Photo credits: Agenda Magazine

Barbara Morrison, a jazz vocalist, and blues legend died at the age of 72.

According to NBC Los Angeles, the Detroit native and daughter of a doo-wop singer was hospitalized with cardiovascular disease and died on March 16, 2022, from an undisclosed illness. Morrison had type 2 diabetes and had lost both of his legs as a result of it.

For more than a decade, Morrison was a regular at Pip’s on La Brea Avenue, ultimately founding the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center and then the California Jazz & Blues Museum.

“I Know How to Do It” was released in 1996, while “Visit Me” was released in 1999.

Morrison worked with numerous music icons during her lifetime, namely Ray Charles, Ron Carter, Joe Sample, Dizzy Gillespie, Keb’ Mo, Mel Tormé, Nancy Wilson, Joe Williams, Etta James, and blues great Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson, as a guest singer on various projects.

After arriving in LA at the age of 21, she found constant employment with Vinson and as a musician on The Johnny Otis Show, per the MSN. Morrison was an itinerant affiliate professor of worldwide jazz studies at UCLA, where she imparted her musical experience and skills. According to MSN, The Los Angeles Times announced that the institution would introduce the Barbara Morrison Scholarship for Jazz in 2020.

Morrison became engrossed in her music after the deaths of her mother, father, and grandmother in 1983.

In late March 2022, a memorial event was held in Leimert Park to remember the late jazz and blues performer.

When Morrison was initially hospitalized earlier this month, a GoFundMe page was set up to “carry on all the wonderful community initiatives and institutions that she has built.”

More than $15,000 was collected using the site.

 

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