Obituary News

Hank Crawford Saxophonist for Ray Charles Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
February 3, 2009

Hank Crawford, whose fluidly emotional saxophone solos as a sideman for Ray Charles led to a long career as a leader of jazz and soul bands and a lengthy discography for Atlantic, Kudu and Milestone Records, died Thursday at his home in Memphis. He was 74.

The cause was complications of a stroke he had in 2000, his sister Delores said.

Beginning in the early 1960s, when Mr. Crawford was music director for Charless big band and also recorded on ...

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Lukas Foss Prolific American Composer Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
February 3, 2009

Lukas Foss, the polyglot American composer, conductor and pianist who directed half a dozen Ojai Music Festivals, led marathon concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and succeeded Arnold Schoenberg as head of composition at UCLA, has died. He was 86.

Foss died Sunday at his home in New York, according to his wife, Cornelia Foss. No cause of death was given, but Foss was known to have had Parkinson's disease.

Lukas Foss Lukas FossAmerican composer Aaron Copland once called Foss' works ...

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Hank Crawford

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
February 2, 2009

Hank Crawford, another of the cadre of Ray Charles saxophonists who went on to their own fame, died on January 29. David “Fathead" Newman and Leroy “Hog" Cooper, Crawford's colleagues in the Charles band, died earlier last month. Crawford's alto, Newman's tenor and Cooper's baritone saxophones were integral to Charles's big band in the 1950s and early '60s. Crawford's own recording and touring bands were among the finest medium-sized groups of the era. Some of his earliest and best work ...

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Sat Eye Candy: R.I.P. John Martyn

Source: JamBase
February 1, 2009

WE BID FAREWELL TO ONE OF THE HEAVIEST ROMANTIC SOULS MUSIC HAS EVER KNOWN

Time after time, I held it Just to watch it die Line after line, I loved it Just to watch it cry

Bless the weather that brought you to me Curse the storm that takes you away

In music we sometimes stumble upon an unknown country, fresh landscape of such varied, wonderful terrain that one knows ...

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Not Fade Away: Remembering Buddy Holly

Source: All About Jazz
January 31, 2009

Next Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that claimed the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. The Big Bopper Richardson.

In the current issue of Rolling Stone, Hollys friends, family and fellow musicians remember an artist who helped invent rock & roll as we know it today. Jonathan Cott revisits 1959s Winter Dance Party, which would become known as rocks Tour From Hell, as it wound its way across the frozen Midwest hitting places like ...

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George Perle Theorist and Composer Championed Atonal Music Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
January 31, 2009

Scholar, theorist and composer George Perle, always highly regarded by his peers, began to draw wider public attention only after he won a Pulitzer Prize and MacArthur Fellowship in 1986. The American music theorist and scholar who was widely regarded as the composer who put a human face on atonal music, has died. He was 93.

Always highly regarded by his peers, Perle began to draw wider public attention only after he won a Pulitzer Prize -- as well as ...

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John Martyn Respected British Singer-Songwriter Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
January 30, 2009

John Martyn, 60, a British singer-songwriter whose soulful songs were covered by Eric Clapton and others, died Thursday, according to a statement on Martyn’s official website. It did not give a cause of death for the musician, who lived in Ireland.

A skilled guitarist and earthy vocalist influenced by folk, blues and jazz, Martyn performed with -- and was admired by -- musicians including Clapton, Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, and Phil Collins.

Martyn was born Iain David McGeachy near London ...

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Irving Bush Trumpeter Played with Big Bands L.A. Philharmonic Passes

Source: Michael Ricci
January 29, 2009

Irving Bush, a trumpeter with a broad range of musical interests, including jazz and classical, who later in life served as personnel manager for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, has died. He was 78.

Bush died Jan. 8 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of complications from multiple myeloma, according to Kazue McGregor, the Philharmonic librarian.

Bush started his career playing with many top-name big bands, including ones led by Harry James and Nelson Riddle. He also worked in the ...

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