Jane Little, 87, bassist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, died Sunday after collapsing during a performance.
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She was married to principle flautist Warren Little of the same orchestra, for 41 years before he died. The event gave her the record for longest professional tenure with a single orchestra, a record that is pending and under review by the Guinness World Records. At 16 years old, the Georgia-born musician joined the Atlanta Symphony Youth Orchestra and then went on to play with the ASO for a whopping 71 years. When they Wednesday, she joked that it was a good thing her husband played such a small instrument so he could carry her bass for her.
“Wrapping one’s hands around a bass requires a great degree of physical strength something that at 87-years-old and 4 feet, 11 inches, Little did easily for more than seven decades”, the orchestra said in a statement.
Her success in a role traditionally reserved for men served as an inspiration, said the orchestra’s executive director Jennifer Barlament.
“We can truly say that Jane Little was fortunate to do what she loved until the very end of her storied life and career”, Hawk said in a statement. She collapsed onstage mid-performance yesterday. “A couple of years ago during summer break, she broke her pelvis”.
She was tenacious, miraculously fighting off multiple health challenges to tag her world record. She often quipped that she wanted to take up bass guitar and form a jazz group called The Grannies. They were inseparable until Warren’s death in 2002. Little is survived by her nephews and several great nieces and nephews.
During media interviews about her world record-setting performance in February, Little was fond of stating her plans for retirement after finishing the current Atlanta Symphony Orchestra season.
When she joined in 1945, the musical ensemble was a youth orchestra.
Details of a memorial service were still pending on Monday, the orchestra said.
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The couple had no children, and in 2002 – after almost five decades of marriage – her husband died. “We will miss her greatly”.
