Obituary News

David Carradine Dies at 72; Star of 'Kung Fu'

Source: Michael Ricci
June 5, 2009

Carradine was found dead in his hotel room in Bangkok, where he was working on a movie. A Thai newspaper indicates he committed suicide.

David Carradine, who became a TV icon in the early 1970s starring as an enigmatic Buddhist monk with a flair for martial arts in “Kung Fu" and more recently played the head of a group of assassins in the “Kill Bill" movies, has been found dead in Bangkok, Thailand. He was 72.

Carradine was found hanged ...

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Sam Butera 1950s-'60s Tenor Saxophonist with Louis Prima Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
June 5, 2009

Tenor sax player Sam Butera joined up with Louis Prima -- a fellow New Orleans native of Italian heritage -- in 1954, and for almost two decades they recorded hit albums for Capitol Records, were nightclub fixtures from Las Vegas to New York and appeared in movies and on television.

He was best known for his musical partnership with entertainer Louis Prima. They were a nightclub fixture and appeared on TV and in movies.

Sam Butera, a hard-swinging tenor saxophonist ...

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Koko Taylor: 1928-2009

Source: JamBase
June 4, 2009

“QUEEN OF THE BLUES" KOKO TAYLOR 1928 - 2009

Koko Taylor Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the “Queen of the Blues," won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more ...

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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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