On Sunday September 19, 2010, Grammy-nominated Buddy Collette (William Marcel Collette), Los Angeles-based tenor saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist, a major jazz presence on the West Coast jazz and blues scene, passed away aged 89 years...Having notably collaborated in post-war L.A. with the likes of jazz icons, saxophonist Dexter Gordon, drummer Chico Hamilton, and his lifelong friend, bassist Charles Mingus, Buddy Collette helped to erase the color barriers which separated black and white musicians at that time in the California city (approximately occurred around 1949/1950 when Buddy was performing as the only African American musician in Groucho Marx's orchestra for the “You Bet Your Life" radio and television shows). Buddy's Wikipedia profile is available by clicking here. Read the L.A. Times obituary by Don Heckman by clicking here. There is an on-line memorial/guestbook available here. Funeral services will be held at Faithful Central Church, 400 W. Florence Avenue in Inglewood, California from 11 am to 1 pm PST on Thursday, September 30th, 2010.
