Bill Russell Obituary – The Independent
William Wagner ('Bill') Russell, jazz historian, violinist, composer, producer, born Canton Missouri 26 February 1905, died New Orleans 9 August 1992. ONE OF the most shameful and yet most productive periods in the history of jazz was at the time of the internecine wars between the followers of New Orleans jazz and those of the then new be-bop music. It has never been clear why the former, characterised by sandals and scraggy beards, were known…