Obituary News

Alfred Shaheen Hawaiian Print Pioneer Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
January 4, 2009

Shaheen revolutionized the garment industry in postwar Hawaii by designing, printing and producing aloha shirts and other ready-to-wear items under one roof. Elvis Presley wore a red aloha shirt in this Alfred Shaheen print on the album cover for the Blue Hawaii soundtrack in 1961.

Alfred Shaheen, a textile manufacturer who revolutionized the garment industry in postwar Hawaii by designing, printing and producing aloha shirts and other ready-to- wear items under one roof, has died. He was 86. Shaheen died ...

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Dizzy Gillespie Sounded Some of Modern Jazz's Earliest Notes

Source: Michael Ricci
January 3, 2009

Dizzy Gillespie, the trumpet player whose role as a founding father of modern jazz made him a major figure in 20th-century American music and whose signature moon cheeks and bent trumpet made him one of the world's most instantly recognizable figures, died yesterday (January 7, 1993) at Englewood Hospital in Englewood, N.J. Mr. Gillespie, who was 75, had been suffering for some time from pancreatic cancer, his press agent, Virginia Wicks, said. In a nearly 60-year career as a composer, ...

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Rainbow Room to Close Grill Citing Economy

Source: All About Jazz
January 3, 2009

The recession has reached the ritzy Rainbow Room, the special- occasion spot that overlooks midtown Manhattan from high above the tourist-attracting Rockefeller Center skating rink.

With business slowing and the lease in dispute, the venue's Italian- themed Rainbow Grill restaurant plans to shutter as of Jan. 12, a spokesman said Saturday. Its bar, banquet space and the weekend dinner-dancing sessions that reflect its glamorous history will continue on the 65th floor. “It's a very difficult decision to make, given the ...

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Vincent Ford Songwriter for Bob Marley Dies

Source: All About Jazz
January 3, 2009

Some claim Marley gave friend credit to help him support himself. Vincent Ford, a songwriter credited with composing the Bob Marley reggae classic “No Woman, No Cry," has died in Jamaica. He was 68.

Ford died Sunday at a hospital of complications from diabetes, said Paul Kelly, a spokesman for the Kingston-based Bob Marley Foundation.

The song, which appeared on Marley's 1974 Natty Dread album, was inspired by the Kingston ghetto of Trench Town where Marley and Ford ...

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Jack Quigley Composer Conducted 'World Around Us' Dies

Source: All About Jazz
January 3, 2009

Musician Jack Quigley Composer, conductor and pianist Jack Quigley died Dec. 14 in Burbank, Calif. after a heart attack. He was 79.

Born in Taunton, Mass., he attended the Boston U. School of Music. During that time, his composition for string quartet was performed by the Boston String Quartet. In 1958, he conducted a weeklong series, The World Around Us for WJAR TV in Providence, R.I., which explored the phenomena of jazz in America. His recording career began soon thereafter, ...

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Travolta Lawyer Issues Statement "Heartwrenching"

Source: All About Jazz
January 3, 2009

John Travolta's teenage son likely will be buried in Florida following his death at the actor's home in the Bahamas, an attorney said Saturday.

Preliminary plans are to fly the body of 16-year-old Jett Travolta to Ocala by midweek, Michael McDermott, Travolta's corporate and commercial attorney. Travolta, 54, and his wife, actress Kelly Preston, 46, have a house in Ocala.

“John and Kelly are still sleeping," McDermott said late Saturday morning. “They probably stayed up most of the night ... ...

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John Travolta's son Jett dies at 16

Source: All About Jazz
January 2, 2009

Teenager was on family vacation in Bahamas Jett Travolta, died Friday morning in the Bahamas after suffering a fatal seizure.

Police in the Bahamas say John Travolta's teenage son has died after injuring himself at the actor's vacation home. Police spokeswoman Loretta Mackey says 16-year-old Jett Travolta hit his head in a bathtub Friday morning. She said he was declared dead at Rand Memorial Hospital on Grand Bahama Island.

Jett was the oldest child of Travolta and his ...

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Freddie Hubbard (1938-2008)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
December 31, 2008

Freddie Hubbard, one of hard bop's most versatile and soulful trumpeters who in the 1960s appeared on one essential album after the next, died yesterday in Los Angeles of a heart attack. He was 70.

Hubbard, like Lee Morgan, Donald Byrd and Booker Little, was an heir to Clifford Brown's searing, rapid-fire trumpet style. Often paired with Hank Mobley and Wayne Shorter on Blue Note recordings, Hubbard also recorded with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers in the early and ...

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