New Orleans soul and jazz drummer RUSSELL BATISTE Jr. died on Saturday 20th September. He was 57 and his brother posted that he’d suffered a heart attack.
Born in New Orlean, Russell was brought up in a musical family and though drums was his first instrument, he was also proficient on the keyboards, saxophone, guitar and bass. He’s best known for being the drummer in the Funky Meters who evolved out of the original Meters after Art Neville quit.
As a solo artist, he led his own band, Russell Batiste Jr. and the Orkestra from ‘Da Hood and he has released two albums under that name. He was also drummer in the Krown Washington Batiste trio.
