PANAMA CITY, Fla. Renowned jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco, who led the way on his instrument in the transition between the swing and bebop eras, has died at the age of 91, his family said Friday.

Virtually singlehandedly [DeFranco] has kept the clarinet alive as a jazz instrument since it fell out of fashion with the demise of the Swing Era over 50 years ago. At 83, he continues to practice on ...

Renowned jazz clarinetist Buddy DeFranco – who collaborated with Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and other top singers and musicians of his era – has died at the age of 91, his family said Friday.

A brilliant jazz improviser who toured with Count Basie and Billie Holiday, DeFranco devised many new paths for his instrument as small-group... Buddy DeFranco: The Clarinetist Who Swung To Bebop ...

There's perhaps no better person to pay tribute to the late Buddy DeFranco than Eddie Daniels. When he was barely a teenager, Daniels heard DeFranco's album "Mr. Clarinet," a 1953 small-group bebop ...