Obituary News

Lounge Legend Butera, 81, Dies

Source: All About Jazz
June 4, 2009

Swing saxophonist played with Prima Sam Butera, whose saxophone kept the Strip swingin' for 50 years, died Wednesday in Las Vegas. He was 81. The Louis Prima band, with Butera as his saxophone sidekick, gave Las Vegas a distinctive sound and a freewheeling, all-night image when they made the Sahara lounge “The Wildest Show in Town" in late 1954. Prima died in 1978, but Butera kept the legacy going until 2004, when he hung up the saxophone and declared himself ...

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Sam Butera, Former Louis Prima Saxophonist, Dies in Las Vegas at Age 81

Source: All About Jazz
June 4, 2009

Sam Butera, the hard-driving, hard-swinging New Orleans saxophonist who was Louis Prima's longtime musical partner, died Wednesday in Las Vegas following a long illness. He was 81. Mr. Butera joined Prima's band in 1954. With singer Keely Smith, they built one of the most popular acts in the golden age of Las Vegas. Mr. Butera cooked up the arrangements that gave the likes of “Just a Gigolo," “I Ain't Got Nobody" and “Jump Jive An' Wail" maximum impact. “Louis's ace-in-the-hole ...

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Chicago Blues Legend Koko Taylor Dies at 80

Source: All About Jazz
June 3, 2009

Koko Taylor more than once said she hoped that when she died, it would be on stage, doing the thing she loved most: Singing the blues. She nearly got her wish. The Chicago musical icon died Wednesday at age 80 of complications from gastrointestinal surgery less than four weeks after her last performance, at the Blues Music Awards in Memphis, Tenn. There she collected her record 29th Blues Music Award, capping an era in which she became the most revered ...

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Henry 'Butch' Stone Big-Band Singer, Saxophonist with Les Brown Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
May 31, 2009

Henry “Butch" Stone, 96, a big-band singer and saxophonist who had a long association with Les Brown and his Band of Renown, died May 19 at Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Woodland Hills, according to a friend, songwriter and band leader Van Alexander.

A native of New York City, Stone learned baritone saxophone as a boy and played in his high school band and dance orchestra for four years. He also sang with the orchestra.

In the 1930s, he played with ...

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Julie Coryell, Jazz-Rock Historian, Dies at 61

Source: Michael Ricci
May 30, 2009

Julie Coryell, who wrote a seminal history of jazz-rock fusion and while married to the guitarist Larry Coryell, managed his career and contributed to his recordings, died on May 10 in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. She was 61 and lived in Hyde Park, N.Y. The cause was undetermined, said her son Murali. Ms. Coryell’s book, “Jazz-Rock Fusion: The People, the Music,” first published in 1978, was one of the earliest serious histories of fusion. It contained interviews with 58 musicians, including Jaco ...

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Julie Coryell – Jazz Author, Manager, Singer

Source: All About Jazz
May 28, 2009

By Bill Siegel Julie Coryell – jazz author, manager, singer, songwriter, actress, and more – passed away unexpectedly on May 10, at St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, NY. She was 61 years old, and had been living at the Victory Lake Nursing Home in Hyde Park, NY. She collaborated with award-winning photographer Laura Friedman on the book, Jazz Rock Fusion: The People, The Music, first published in 1978 (republished in 2000), and containing in-depth interviews with 58 musicians associated with ...

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Jay Bennett Ex-Member of Wilco Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
May 25, 2009

Jay Bennett, a singer and songwriter who was a former member of the alternative-country band Wilco, died early on Sunday in Urbana, Ill., where he lived. He was 45.

The cause was undetermined. According to a statement posted on undertowmusic.com, the Web site of his management company, Mr. Bennett died in his sleep. Edward Burch, a friend and frequent collaborator, told The Chicago Sun-Times that an autopsy was being performed.

Last month Mr. Bennett complained on his MySpace page about ...

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Natalie Cole Loses Sister to Cancer

Source: All About Jazz
May 24, 2009

Cole had her kidney transplant surgery, while her sister was dying. Natalie Cole had successful surgery, but lost her older sister to cancer.

While Natalie Cole was having a life saving kidney transplant surgery earlier this week, her older sister died, according to the New York Post.

Carole Cookie Coles cause of death was not reported, but Timolin Colin, Natalies younger sister, told the Post, Carole had a cancerous spot.

Our sister Cookie hadnt been to a doctor in 30 ...

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