Born in 1924 in Newark, N.J., Vaughan came up in the '40s, alongside bebop, a new jazz style she instantly took to. In the following decades, she proved to be one of the best singers of any genre.
Bley, who died Oct. 17, led her own large and small touring bands from the 1970s until a few years ago — but jazz musicians had been playing her enigmatic compositions long before that.
Bass improviser Richard Davis, trombonist Curtis Fowlkes and saxophonists Charles Gayle and Peter Brötzmann are among the notable musicians we lost this year.