Musician James Mtume dies passes away at 76

James Mtume the RampB and jazz percussionist recording artist and producer best known for the 1983 smash Juicy Fruit and his work with Miles Davis and other top jazz musicians has died at the age of 76According to Variety the news was confirmed by his son to a music publication among other sources though no cause was citedMtumes affiliation with Davis began with 1972s funkdriven On the Corner and he also worked with jazz greats such as pianist McCoy Tyner trumpeter Art Farmer keyboardist Lonnie Liston Smith Jr saxophonists Gato Barbieri and Pharoah Sanders and even Duke EllingtonIn his solo music Mtume ran the gamut from disco to avantgarde jazz as well as dramatic compositions for television New York Undercover and film Native SonMtume also produced and cowrote hit singles for Stephanie Mills Never Knew Love Like This Before and Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway The Closer I get To You in collaboration with his musical partner and fellow Davis alum Reggie LucasHe was born into jazz royalty in Philadelphia as the son of saxophonist Jimmy Heath Raised by his stepfather Philly jazz pianist James Forman the young musician grew up with activist roots and moved to California in the mid60s on a swimming scholarshipThere he joined the Black empowerment group the US Organization and recorded his earliest solo albums starting with AlkebuLan Land of the BlacksAfter returning to the East Coast Mtume played with jazz bandleaders such as McCoy Tyner and Freddie Hubbard as well as recording with his uncle Albert Tootie Heath on the Kawaida albumAround this time Mtume joined Miles Davis band for a fouryear stint that included some of the jazz legends most adventurous material including Dark Magus and PangaeaAs per Variety an active advocate for young musicians executives and activists Mtume said in a 2014 Red Bull Music Academy speech I believe that every generation produces its own music and actually this is one of the most fertile times ever for young artists with the Internet and social mediaHe continued But we are reaching the point of considering How are we defining and redefining originality One of the things that is missing is people having their own fingerprint on their music And thats the most important thing having your own voiceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever