Obituary News

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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Molly Bee Country Singer Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
February 11, 2009

Molly Bee, a country singer popular in the 1950s and 1960s who was a teenage star on television's Hometown Jamboree and The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show, has died. She was 69.

Bee, who lived in Carlsbad, Calif., died Saturday of complications related to a stroke at Tri-City Medical Center in Oceanside, said Michael Allen, her son.

Molly Bee At 10, she sang “Lovesick Blues" for country singer Rex Allen and soon debuted on his radio show. Within two years, she ...

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Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez, Who Provided the Bass Line for the Buena Vista Social Club, Died Monday at 76.

Source: All About Jazz
February 10, 2009

HAVANA Orlando “Cachaito" Lopez, considered the “heartbeat" of Cuba's legendary Buena Vista Social Club for his internationally acclaimed bass playing, died Monday of complications from prostate surgery, fellow musicians said. He was 76.

Lopez, a founding member of the band brought together in the 1990s by American guitarist and producer Ry Cooder, died in a Havana hospital several days after surgery, said Manuel Galban, a Cuban musician who played with Lopez for decades.

“We have lost a great companion," said ...

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Blossom Dearie (1926-2009)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
February 10, 2009

Blossom Dearie, a delicate pianist, composer, arranger and singer with a helium-high voice who helped pioneer vocalese in New York and Paris in the late 1940s and early 1950s, died on Saturday in Greenwich Village after a long illness. She was 82.

Dearie was a regular at 52d St. clubs and the salon apartment of arranger Gil Evans in the late 1940s. Her earliest vocalese recordings for the Spotlite label in 1948 were arranged by Gerry Mulligan and featured bop ...

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