Geraldine de Haas, a vivacious vocalist who sang with the famed sibling group Andy and The Bey Sisters in the 1950s and 1960s and became a pioneering impresario and tireless jazz patron in Chicago for over four decades, died of natural causes on Tuesday, July 28, 2026, at Englewood Health Hospital. She was 91. Her son, actor/singer Darius de Haas, announced her passing.
Although de Haas was part of an internationally acclaimed family group that brilliantly blended jazz, gospel, and soul stylings, it was her indefatigable and affirmative leadership as a jazz presenter, producer, and advocate that extended her positive influence across several generations in the Windy City. Howard Reich, Emmy Award-winning author and former Chicago Tribune jazz critic, noted, "Geraldine de Haas was one of the most inspired and influential impresarios that Chicago – and jazz itself – has ever had. The Duke Ellington tribute concert she created in Chicago's Grant Park in 1974 made possible the now-famous Chicago Jazz Festival."
Born Geraldine Wideman, later Bey, on January 16, 1935, in Newark, NJ, she was the seventh of nine children. A graduate of West Side High School, she was a founding member of the combo Andy and the Bey Sisters, alongside her sister Salome and brother Andy. Their first major gig was at Miami's Cotton Club in 1957, and they were managed by Newport Jazz Festival founder George Wein. The group's sophisticated and soulful blend of jazz and jazz-adjacent genres foreshadowed groups like The Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 by several decades. They recorded three albums for RCA Victor and Prestige: Andy and the Bey Sisters, Now! Hear!, and 'Round Midnight. They embarked on a 16-month European tour that included an engagement at the Paris Blue Note and a performance in a jam session featuring legendary bebop drummer Kenny Clarke and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, filmed by filmmaker Roger Vadim and featured in the Chet Baker film Let's Get Lost. The group disbanded in 1967.
After the trio's European tour, Bey met the Indonesia-born, Netherlands-raised bassist Edgar de Haas, who had performed with Chet Baker, Don Byas, and Zoot Sims in Europe, moved to the U.S. in 1957, worked with Miles Davis, formed his own quartet in 1962, and toured with Peter, Paul & Mary and Johnny Mathis. They married and moved to Chicago in 1968, where Edgar worked as the house bassist at The Jazz Showcase.
While raising a family in Chicago, de Haas joined the city's Free Street Theater and performed in several stage productions including Hair, Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope, Showboat, and To Be Young, Gifted and Black. In the early 1970s, she started producing jazz events. When Duke Ellington died in 1974, she produced an influential Ellington tribute at Grant Park that united the Chicago jazz community and evolved into the Chicago Jazz Festival. The success of that tribute paved the way for other music festivals in the city. As de Haas told the PBS show Chicago Tonight, "they saw where many people from every corner of this city gathered to hear this wonderful music."
Two-time Grammy-winning vocalist Kurt Elling stated, "I am deeply saddened by the loss of my dear friend and mentor, Geraldine de Haas. As much as anyone of stature on the Chicago scene, she welcomed and encouraged me in my early years. In her gracious way, and by the example of her own performances, she showed me how to carry myself on stage, how to work with instrumentalists, how to connect with audiences, and how to sing 'the real thing.' Her extraordinarily soulful recordings with her sister Salome and her brilliant brother Andy Bey are essential listening for any true connoisseur of jazz singing."
In 1980, de Haas earned a B.A. in music education from Chicago State University. In 1981, she founded Jazz Unites, Inc., a not-for-profit organization created to bring jazz to the public and encourage the genre as a form of cultural and personal expression. She also served as its CEO and President. She produced and presented jazz festivals and performances, including the 1983 South Shore Jazz Festival, and served as Director of Performing Arts and Access Programs for the Illinois Arts Council from 1983 to 1993.
De Haas received numerous citations and awards, including The Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Award, a Mannes/New School Duke Ellington Scholarship in her name, a Lifetime Achievement Award from Chicago Jazz Magazine, The Paul Robeson Award, and a 2010 Jazz Hero Award from the Jazz Journalists Association. Chicago vocalist Tammy McCann said, "We have lost someone so extraordinarily special. Geraldine de Haas made an impact in Chicago that will reverberate for years to come. She saw something in me and other young artists and elevated the level of our performance in such a thoughtful way. Her outstanding talents soared without an ounce of ego or competition, only collaboration and excellence."
In 2013, de Haas and her husband moved to Lambertville, NJ, to be closer to their children. She is survived by her son Darius, her daughter Aisha, and her son-in-law Kyle Rudy, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband Edgar (1930-2022), her brother Andy Bey (1939-2025), and her sister Salome Bey (1933-2020).
For de Haas, the main imperative for her tireless years of service was to expose jazz to everyone. "The key for me was to bring the best of the world to our community," she told Dr. Gloria Latimore-Peace on The H30 Art of Life TV show. "People need to see what we have given to this world. That's the only reason why I work." Arrangements for a celebration of her life will be announced later.
