Bess Bonnier Passes
BY LARS BJORN
Bess Bonnier, one of the major figures in Detroit’s jazz life in the last sixty years, passed away in her Grosse Pointe home on October 6, at 83 years of age.
Bonnier was part of the second generation of beboppers who emerged in Detroit in the 1950s. While attending Northern High School she met one of the leading lights of this remarkable group of musicians, Tommy Flanagan. She formed her own trio in the mid-1950s and recorded Theme For The Tall One for Argo Records in Chicago in 1958. This was long out of print, but was re-released in 2009 (available as an MP3 for download from Amazon and iTunes). For half of the 1960s she teamed up with vibraphonist Jack Brokensha and his quartet at his club in the New Center area.
Bonnier was an active jazz educator since the seventies, when she worked at Detroit’s Cass Technical High School as an artist-in-residence. Her more recent recordings are Love Notes and Suite William on Noteworks Records. The former features the quartet of younger musicians she frequently played with in recent years, including bassist Paul Keller. The latter is a unique tribute to Shakespeare where her tunes combine a jazz sextet and a variety of voices. It is the logical artistic outcome for someone with an English degree and bebop mentoring from some of the masters of the craft.
Some of the highlights of her performing career were probably the concerts in Detroit and New York, which celebrated the Detroit piano tradition. At a Detroit Piano Summit in New York in 1981, she played with her old friends from the fifties who all ended up in the Big Apple: Barry Harris, Tommy Flanagan, and Roland Hanna. She stayed in contact with them, particularly Harris, through most of her life.
Bess Bonnier was the recipient of numerous awards. In 2003 she was given the SEMJA Award for her contributions to the Detroit jazz community as a pianist and educator in a celebration at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge. I had the privilege of knowing Bess for over twenty years. It started with an interview at her house for my Detroit jazz history research. She was a delightful interviewee with a keen intelligence and a great sense of humor. I will miss her both as a person and an essential member of the Detroit jazz community. If you also miss Bess, you can attend a memorial service to celebrate her life at the Grosse Pointe Unitarian Church on November 15, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., followed by a more informal gathering at the Blue Pointe restaurant at 17131 East Warren (just east of Cadieux) in Detroit. |
