Obituary News

Dave McKenna RIP

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
October 19, 2008

That grim parade that Bill Crow mentioned a couple of postings ago shows no sign of running out of marchers. The latest major jazz artist to go is Dave McKenna. The pianist died this morning at the age of 78. His family posted the announcement on his web site, which includes a good biography. YouTube has a slew of videos of McKenna playing. This medley of two of his favorite tunes, “Nobody Else But Me" and “I'm Old Fashioned," is a good ...

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Dave McKenna: Master Jazz Pianist Dies

Source: All About Jazz
October 19, 2008

Dave McKenna was widely regarded as one of the all-time legends of the jazz piano, but often shunned the spotlight to live and work on the Cape. McKenna, who was 78 when he died yesterday in Pennsylvania from lung cancer, is widely regarded among jazz musicians as one of the best jazz pianists ever to play. Born in Woonsocket, R.I., McKenna moved to the Cape in 1966 to raise his sons Stephen and Douglas. Jack Bradley, a friend of McKenna's ...

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Dave McKenna: May 30, 1930 - October 18, 2008

Source: All About Jazz
October 18, 2008

From Dave McKenna's website: It is with great sadness that we let all of Dave's many fans know that he passed away on the morning of October 18. Dave's health had been deteriorating for some time and his death was peaceful, which brings great comfort to all of us who knew and loved him. In time we will be adding a tribute page to this site. Anyone who would like to offer a tribute can send it to Dave McKenna ...

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Jazz, in Black and White

Source: All About Jazz
October 18, 2008

The Sept. 20 obituary of Richard M. Sudhalter discussed his book Lost Chords: White Musicians and Their Contribution to Jazz, 1915-1945. The obituary failed to mention that the book was widely praised for correcting the notion that the roots of jazz were only in African American culture and that its development was virtually without significant contribution by white musicians. Sudhalter thoroughly researched and documented the involvement of myriad white jazz musicians, including Bix Beiderbecke, Jack Teagarden, Jimmy Dorsey and Mildred ...

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Neal Hefti is Gone

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
October 18, 2008

The last thing I want is for Rifftides to become a death watch. Nonetheless, as James Moody says his grandmother once told him, “Folks is dyin' what ain't never died before." Or, to use Bill Crow's words in the subject line of a message today about the arranger, composer and former trumpet player Neal Nefti, “The parade continues."

Hefti died at home in the Toluca Lake community of Los Angeles on Saturday, the same day and a few miles from ...

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William J. Claxton, 80; Made 'Jazz for the Eyes'

Source: All About Jazz
October 17, 2008

As the premier chronicler of West Coast jazz, photographer William Claxton took his subjects out of the shadows and into the light. Instead of posing musicians such as Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins in dark, seedy-looking clubs, wreathed in cigarette smoke, he photographed them on golden beaches, riding on carousels, strolling in the Mojave Desert, emerging from the ocean cradling a trumpet. Mr. Claxton, who worked in a style he called “jazz for the eyes," died Oct. 11 ...

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Neal Hefti Former Big Band Trumpeter, Arranger and Composer Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
October 14, 2008

Neal Hefti, a former big band trumpeter, arranger and composer who worked with Woody Herman and Count Basie and later composed the memorable themes for the movie “The Odd Couple" and the campy hit TV series “Batman," has died. He was 85. Hefti died Saturday at his home in Toluca Lake, said his son, Paul. He did not know the cause of death, but said his father had been in good health. Everybody in the music business loved Neal Hefti. ...

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William Claxton, 1928-2008

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
October 14, 2008

Word has just come in that William Claxton died on Saturday in Los Angeles of congestive heart failure. He was eighty. With his pictures of Chet Baker in the early 1950s, Claxton established himself as a brilliant photographer of jazz musicians and went on to a career as one of the most admired camera artists in the world. He did incomparable work not only in jazz, but also with a varied array of personalities including Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich, Igor ...

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