Eddie Jefferson, a 60-year-old jazz vocalist credited with pioneering vocalese, was shot dead on a Detroit street in the early morning of May 9, 1979. He and saxophonist Richie Cole had just finished a performance at Baker’s Keyboard Lounge and, as Jefferson exited the club around 1:35 a.m., a late-model Lincoln Continental pulled up and someone in the vehicle fired a shotgun. Four shots were reported; one struck Jefferson in the chest. He staggered a short distance and collapsed.

Detroit police traced the fleeing Lincoln Continental to a 41-year-old former dancer who had once worked for Jefferson and been fired from a gig. That man was arrested and charged with murder and the case went to trial in Detroit. After evidence and testimony, a jury acquitted him. The killing remains officially unsolved and the motive tied to their past conflict did not produce a conviction.

Did anyone in the Detroit jazz community or patrons of Baker’s Keyboard Lounge at the time have information about the car, the shooting, or the relationship between Jefferson and the dancer?