Obituary News

Ed Thigpen 1930 - 2010

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman
January 18, 2010

The esteemed drummer Ed Thigpen, known for his elegant bearing and tasteful timekeeping in support of jazz luminaries such as Oscar Peterson and Ella Fitzgerald, died Wednesday in Copenhagen, Denmark at age 79.Born in Chicago and raised in Los Angeles, Thigpen also had a couple of connections to St. Louis. Between college and his move to New York, he lived here for about a year circa 1950 with his father, the drummer Ben Thigpen; and his brother Bensid ...

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Bobby Charles Louisiana Singer and Songwriter Passes

Source: Michael Ricci
January 16, 2010

Bobby Charles, 71, the singer-songwriter who penned such hits as Fats Domino's Walking to New Orleans,See You Later Alligator by Bill Haley and His Comets and But I Do by Frogman Henry, died Thursday at his home in Abbeville, La.

Charles had diabetes and was in remission from kidney cancer, said his publicist, Karen Johnson, but she did not know the cause of death. He had been living in his native Abbeville since his home in Holly Beach in south ...

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Teddy Pendergrass Dies at 59; Quintessential R&B Boudoir Crooner

Source: Michael Ricci
January 16, 2010

Soul singer combined romantic love songs with a sexy stage presence. Left paralyzed by a 1982 car crash, he established a group for people with spinal cord injuries that focuses on quality of life.

When Pendergrass was a toddler, his mother recognized his talent as a singer. He joined a church youth choir and was ordained a minister at age 10. As a teenager, he joined a group called the Cadillacs, which merged in the late 1960s with Melvin's Blue ...

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Ed Thigpen, RIP

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
January 16, 2010

An American jazz master who relocated to Europe nearly four decades ago died yesterday in Denmark hours after eight of his peers were honored in New York. Drummer Ed Thigpen succumbed to heart and lung problems in a hospital in Copenhagen, his home since 1972. He was 79. Thigpen was universally admired for his technique, which he applied with taste and musicianship that made him one of the best known drummers in the world during his long run as a ...

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Ed Thigpen Jazz Drummer Legend Dies Aged 79

Source: JAZZzology by Richard Watters
January 15, 2010

Ed Thigpen, Chicago-born drummer with the Oscar Peterson Trio during the famed jazz pianist's popular early-'60s period, died on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at the age of seventy-nine in Kingdom Hospital in Copenhagen after being ill for a long period of time.Besides appearing on dozens of albums with Oscar Peterson, Thigpen recorded and performed with many other jazz greats, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Kenny Drew, Johnny Hodges, John Coltrane, and Dinah Washington, as well as pop artists including ...

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Ed Thigpen, 1930-2010: "Mr. Taste" Drummed for Pianist Oscar Peterson's Trio in the Late 1950s And '60s

Source: Michael Ricci
January 15, 2010

Jazz lovers called him “Mr. Taste," and the nickname couldn't have been more fitting. Always fashionably dressed -- and sounding as impeccable as he looked--Ed Thigpen conveyed elegance in every aspect of his life and art. At the same time, his ability to generate propulsive, hard-hitting swing rhythm made him a driving force in pianist Oscar Peterson's great trio of the late 1950s and '60s, which also included bassist Ray Brown. This high-profile spot established Mr. Thigpen, born in Chicago ...

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Ed Thigpen Jazz Drummer Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
January 14, 2010

Jazz drummer Ed Thigpen, who often was described as “Mr. Taste" for his sensitive accompaniment of instrumentalists and singers such as Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Bud Powell and Billy Taylor, died Wednesday at Hvidovre Hospital in Copenhagen. He was 79. Thigpen, who suffered from Parkinson's disease, was hospitalized before Christmas with heart and lung problems. His son, Michel, noted on Thigpens website that his father “passed away very peacefully . . . in the company of his friends and family." ...

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Dennis Stock Friend and Photographer of James Dean Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
January 14, 2010

Dennis Stock, a photographer whose iconic images of James Dean helped seal the actor's legacy after his death in 1955, died Monday in Saratoga, Fla., the Magnum photo agency announced today. He was 81.

Stock shot Dean during the filming of Rebel Without a Cause and in the actor's hometown of Fairmount, Ind. But his best known photo was of Dean walking in the rain in Times Square.

Stock also documented the hippie lifestyle in the 1960s as well as ...

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