Gold Medalists Abound at Big Band Olympics

Jack Bowers

Senior Contributor since 1997

A former newspaper writer / editor who has been writing about big-band Jazz for more than fifteen years.

Recent articles (1,750 total)

Published: June 15, 2011

Trumpeter Eugene "Snooky" Young, whose long career included time with bands led by Jimmie Lunceford Jimmie Lunceford
1902 - 1947
composer/conductor , Count Basie Count Basie
1904 - 1984
piano and Thad Jones Thad Jones
1923 - 1986
trumpet / Mel Lewis Mel Lewis
1929 - 1990
drums and three decades with Doc Severinsen's Tonight Show band, died May 11 in Newport Beach, California. He was 92 years old. Young, whose stamina was almost beyond belief, played most recently as a member of the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra. Young was named an NEA Jazz Master in 2009.

Bob Flanigan, one of the founding members of the Four Freshmen vocal group, died May 15 at his home in Las Vegas. He was 84 years old. Flanigan, a tenor who was the group's original lead singer, sang with the Freshmen until 1992, making him its longest-serving member. Besides singing, he played trombone and bass with the group. Over the years, the Four Freshmen recorded more than fifty albums and received six Grammy Award nominations. The other members of the original Four Freshmen were Flanigan's cousins, Don and Ross Barbour, and Hal Kratzsch, a classmate a Butler University.

Coming Events

The 2011 Jazzschool Girls' Jazz & Blues Camp for grades 6-12 will be held August 8-12 at the Jazzschool in Berkeley, California. As was true of last year's inaugural camp, the faculty is comprised of musicians from the excellent Montclair Women's Big Band and the Jazzschool itself, coordinated by Jean Fineberg and Ellen Seeling. For information, phone 510-758-2200 or e-mail girlscamp@jazzschool.org

The Delaware Gap (Pennsylvania) Celebration of the Arts (COTA) Jazz and Arts Festival is set for September 9-11, this year celebrating the music of vocalist Bob Dorough Bob Dorough
b.1923
piano . For more information, phone Lauren Chamberlain, 973-769-9246, or go online to www.cotajazz.com

And that's it for now. Until next time, keep swingin' . . .!

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