LA CRESCENTA, Calif., Jan. 31 (UPI) -- Jazz drummer Sherman Ferguson, who played on more than 80 albums with Dizzy Gillespie and George Shearing among others, has died at age 61.
Ferguson died from complications of diabetes at his home in La Crescenta, Calif., Jan. 22, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday. He was a member of the jazz studies faculty at UCLA.
Ferguson's career spanned more than four decades. He moved from his Philadelphia home to Los Angeles in 1976 for session work as well as teaching at the University of California, Irvine, the California Institute of the Arts and the Los Angeles Music Academy.
Jazz guitarist Kenny Burrell, founder and director of UCLA's jazz studies program, told the Times Ferguson was "an extraordinary talent and a major figure in the Los Angeles jazz scene."
Ferguson was once quoted as saying: "When people ask me what I do, I don't tell them I'm a musician; I say I'm a jazz musician. I'm proud of it. I'd wear it as a statement on my forehead if I could."
He is survived by his wife and a sister.
