Remembering Jazz Vocalist John Minnock (1959–2024): His Fifth and Final Album is Released This Weekend

NOTE: An edited version of this was published by Nitelife Exchange last month; this is the full version of my essay.

I met jazz vocalist John Minnock as a fan first — I reviewed his show at the Metropolitan Room in 2014 — and later became a friendly acquaintance as I followed his career through many shows and the release of four CDs from 2016–2022. It was with great sadness that he passed away suddenly in late February, just two months before the release of his fifth CD, A Different Riff: Minnock Sings Shire, a jazz tribute to the music of David Shire (featuring the legendary Dave Liebman, who worked with Minnock frequently over the years). A show had been scheduled at Birdland in late April, but the release date of April 26th is still firm.

We shared the bond of being from Boston. Although Minnock was born and raised in Albany, NY, he was a music major at Boston University and, after earning an MBA at Washington University in St. Louis, returned to Boston and made it his home.

Erick Holmberg, a lifelong friend since his BU days, recalls his trademark sense of humor as well as other fascinating details, such as his ability to play the tuba. Minnock also participated in Stage Troupe, BU’s legendary extracurricular theater group for undergrads who weren’t necessarily theater majors. Holmberg later contributed lyrics to many songs on Minnock’s third album, Herring Cove (2020).

For most of his working years, Minnock had a day job in the corporate world at Brown Brothers Harriman as a Systems Analyst, but frequented open mics and had side gigs at the Airport Hilton and the Encore Lounge at the Courtyard Marriott in Boston.

Boston-based singer Lynda D’Amour met Minnock at the Encore Lounge, where she also had gigs, and they became friends and, often, duet partners. “The magic about him as a singer was that he paid so much attention to details,” D’Amour recalled. “He was always working on his skill set, upping his game. And,” she continued, “he would have me spitting out laughing whenever we got together.”

Holmberg said that, at some point, Minnock decided he wanted to get serious about his music career. He began booking shows in New York rooms like Don’t Tell Mama, the Metropolitan Room, 54 Below, and Birdland, and continued to perform in Boston as well. In his live shows, he often added a couple of blues tunes outside of his jazz repertoire, which really allowed him to let loose with his vocal prowess.

Minnock released his first CD, Every Day Blues, in 2016, when he was fifty-six years old. This album included many modern standards (“This Masquerade” and “New York State of Mind”, for example) as well as one of his trademark songs that he often performed live: “Every Day I Have the Blues” (Memphis Slim/Peter Chatman), made popular by B.B. King. That same year, he won the Hot House Jazz Fans Decision Award for his shows at the Metropolitan Room.

Gwen Kelley, then the publisher of Hot House Magazine, introduced him to Lydia Liebman, who became his agent, guiding him through four more albums and more prominent gigs. “He became close with my entire family,” she told me. She introduced him to her father, Dave, the legendary saxophonist, and her mother, Caris Visentin Leibman, who later gave him ear training lessons. “Not an easy thing to do as you get older, but John always wanted to improve,” Liebman said.

She continued. “John was primarily in jazz but he had a background in musical theater. He had a grasp of both of these worlds. He wanted to get more into the jazz language, and that meant having an ongoing ‘conversation’ with musicians on stage, as opposed to the band being your backup.”

His lively sophomore album was 2018’s Right Around the Corner, which included a standout cover of “Moon River” and songs by lesser known songwriters. A highlight was “New York, New York” (Jay Brannan), a comic rendering of what it’s like living in New York. Minnock was so convincing on this number that I told him I thought he had written it and that he had lived in New York, neither of which was true. He did write both words and music to the CD’s fun title tune.

The third recording was Herring Cove (2020), perhaps his most personal album. In making the album, Holmberg and Minnock talked about how there were no out, gay jazz performers and Minnock said, “Well, let’s be the first.” This was explored in their song “Unconditional,” which powerfully suggested that love is, in fact, conditional with family when you are the gay son — never said directly, but easily understood. Minnock also completely reinvented his cover songs, such as his rendering of Diane Warren’s “If I Could Turn Back Time” on the same album — so different from Cher’s version that it’s almost unrecognizable, but brilliant in its own right.

2022 saw the release of Simplicity. Here, Minnock was more straightforward with his coming out, with the song “He Was Brazilian” (Holmberg/Mathis Picard) (also released as a single), and he was comfortably switching pronoun genders in his live shows. The album featured only eight songs, but had longer versions of classics like “Angel Eyes” (Earl Brent, Matt Dennis) and “Maiden Voyage” (Herbie Hancock).

Minnock’s musicianship was first and foremost, and he hired the very best — and often not the usual ones we see in the clubs. Minnock also produced, or had a strong hand in producing, many of his recordings.

As for the upcoming album, which was co-produced by Dave Liebman and David Shire, Lydia Liebman said, “It wasn’t always easy for these two men from different genres to agree on the right approach, but I think David Shire appreciated John as a singer and John was a great mediator between them.” The album, as well as the three preceding it, is on Dot Time Records.

Shortly before his untimely death, Minnock told a journalist he believed this was his best album.

A single from the album has been released (“What About Today?”) and there is a private celebration of his life that is planned for the last weekend in April at Arriba Arriba, where he could often be found sipping a margarita.

One thing we know for sure. The memories are there for those fortunate enough to have met him or to have seen one of his shows. And the masterful recordings are with us. John Minnock’s legacy is solid and timeless.