Filipino jazz queen Annie Brazil dies at 85

Annie Brazil poses with one of her biggest fans, Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, late editor in chief of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. (File photo from the Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Internationally renowned Filipino jazz queen Annie Brazil died March 5 of pneumonia arising from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, according to music promoter Dudee Alfonso, who confirmed the news with Brazil’s sons Richard Merk and Raffy Wolfe.

Brazil was 85.

She pursued a long career as a fulltime professional singer in the Philippines as well as overseas, specializing in jazz.

She recalled that in 1969, Duke Ellington, then performing in Bangkok, picked her from the audience “to sing while he played the piano.”

Another memorable moment, she added, was when Ellis Marsalis, father of Wynton Marsalis, asked her “to do a few songs with him at his concert in Manila — with no rehearsals!”

But perhaps her most unforgettable gig was in one edition of the Newport Jazz Festival, where she performed alongside Nina Simone and Miles Davis.

One of Brazil’s biggest fans in Manila was Philippine Daily Inquirer editor in chief Letty Jimenez-Magsanoc, whose last happy nights out before passing away on Dec. 24, 2015 was watching one of Brazil’s club gigs in Makati.

The wake for Brazil starts March 6 at Loyola Memorial Chapels Guadalupe, Makati. /atm