Obituary News

Joe Cuba NYC Salsa Band Leader Dies

Source: All About Jazz
February 16, 2009

Salsa band leader Joe Cuba, dubbed the “Father of Latin Boogaloo" for weaving a fluid, bilingual mix of musical influences, died Sunday in New York City, a member of his group said. He was 78.

The musician, a friend and contemporary of the late salsa giant Tito Puente, died from complications of a persistent bacterial infection at Mount Sinai Medical Center a day after doctors disconnected his life support, said Cheo Feliciano, a longtime friend and singer in the Joe ...

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Gerry Niewood

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
February 16, 2009

Portland, Oregon - At the Portland Jazz Festival between concerts and after hours, much of the talk among musicians is about the death of Gerry Niewood. The saxophonist was one of 50 people who died in a plane crash Thursday night near Buffalo, New York. He and guitarist Coleman Mellett were on their way to Buffalo to perform with Chuck Mangione's band. Mellett was also killed in the crash.

Niewood was a childhood friend of Mangione. He and the trumpeter played ...

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Coleman Mellett One of Fifty Varied Lives Ended on a Cold Foggy Night

Source: Michael Ricci
February 14, 2009

A mere sampling of the musicians and law students, parents and pilots on the flight were among the 50 people who died at roughly 10:20 p.m. Thursday when the 74-seat commuter plane plummeted to earth.

It hit a home in the quiet hamlet of Clarence Center as it approached Buffalo Niagara International Airport a few miles away, killing all 49 on board and one in the home.

It was perhaps not the most glamorous of destinations, or the most luxurious ...

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RIP, Gerry Niewood

Source: All About Jazz
February 14, 2009

Saxophonist and flutist Gerry Niewood died in the plane crash in Buffalo last night. He was a wonderful player whose saxophone was heard most famously with Chuck Mangione and on the Concert In Central Park album by Simon & Garfunkel.

Niewood was one of the first horn players I ever knew by name because Paul Simon yells out his name after a solo on that live album. I’ve always been a huge Chuck Mangione fan, too, and own all the ...

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Estelle Bennett Member of the Ronettes Dies

Source: All About Jazz
February 13, 2009

Estelle Bennett, one of the Ronettes, the singing trio whose 1963 hit Be My Baby epitomized the famed “wall of sound" technique of its producer, Phil Spector, has died at her home in Englewood, New Jersey. She was 67.

Bennett's brother-in-law, Jonathan Greenfield, said police found her dead in her apartment on Wednesday after relatives had been unable to contact her. The time and cause of death have not yet been determined. Greenfield is the manager and husband of Bennett's ...

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Noted Jazz Bassist and Award Winning Comedy Writer, Gordon "Whitey" Mitchell Passes Away on Feb. 17th

Source: Michael Ricci
February 13, 2009

Noted Jazz Bassist, Award-winning Television Writer/Producer and Author, Gordon Whitey Mitchell Loses brave battle with cancer on January 17th, 2009 at age 76 PALM DESERT -- Veteran jazz bassist, award winning television comedy writer, producer and author, Gordon Whitey Mitchell (Feb. 22, 1932 Jan. 17, 2009) has passed away on January 17th, at the age of seventy-six following a heroic two and a half year battle with cancer. He died at his beloved Palm Desert home with Marilyn, his wife ...

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Saxophonist Gerry Niewood Dies in Buffalo Plane Crash

Source: All About Jazz
February 13, 2009

Two Mangione musicians die in plane crash Jazz great in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy

Two members of jazz musician Chuck Mangiones band were among those killed on the plane that crashed into a house near Buffalo, N.Y., a publicist said Friday. Publicist Sanford Brokaw identified the band members as Gerry Niewood, 64, of Rochester, N.Y., and Coleman Mellett of Maryland. Niewood played saxophone and flute and Mellett was a guitarist.

I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy ...

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Vic Lewis (1919-2009)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 12, 2009

Vic Lewis, a British bandleader whose intensive admiration for Stan Kenton and other West Coast jazz artists led him to form one of Britain's most admired American-sounding jazz orchestras of the late 1940s and 1950s, died on Monday in the U.K. He was 89.

Most American jazz fans are unfamiliar with Lewis, primarily because the bandleader toured the U.S. only intermittently during his seven-decade career and recorded almost exclusively in England. Like Ted Heath, another British bandleader who made commercial ...

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