Harry Sheppard (April 1, 1928 – December 27, 2022) was an American jazz vibraphonist who recorded and played with Roy Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Red Allen, Cozy Cole, Sol Yaged, Georgie Auld, Clark Terry, Al Cohn, Zoot Sims, Lana Cantrell,[1] Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Ben Webster,[2] Barbra Streisand, Doc Severinsen, and Coleman Hawkins.
[3] Born in Worcester, Massachusetts,[4] Sheppard received his first lesson at the age of eight from his brother.
In 1958, Sheppard performed with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Billie Holiday, and others on the TV program Art Ford's Jazz Party.
After a second marriage ended, he was single for decades until he met, and later married, Pam Bingham, a clarinetist in the Houston symphony.
At 84, he suffered two strokes, surgeries on his carotid arteries and a tongue cancer diagnosis, but continued playing.