Obituary News

William Claxton Photographer Helped Make Chet Baker Famous

Source: Michael Ricci
October 13, 2008

William Claxton, the master photographer whose images of Chet Baker helped fuel the jazz trumpeter's stardom in the 1950s and whose fashion photographs of his wife modeling a topless swim suit were groundbreaking years later, has died. He was 80.

Claxton died from complications of congestive heart failure Saturday morning at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his wife, actress and model Peggy Moffitt Claxton, told The Times.

In a career spanning more than a half century, Claxton also became ...

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Jazz Photographer William Claxton Passes Away

Source: Night Lights Classic Jazz
October 13, 2008

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Gone with the Ages the Coconut Grove

Source: Michael Ricci
October 13, 2008

The Ambassador Hotel lesson Demolishing such iconic buildings not only destroys history, it wastes resources. By Diane Keaton

Last week, I drove past the 22-acre vacant lot once known as the Ambassador Hotel. As I looked at the rubble of our lost cause, I pulled over, sat back and gave in to a feeling I can only describe as guilt. I thought about my connection to the once-iconic hotel, about why places like it are so ...

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Jazz Musician Alfred Gallodoro Dies in NY

Source: All About Jazz
October 12, 2008

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Owner of Rusty's Cafe, 'Queen of Toledo Jazz' Dies at Fla. Care Center

Source: All About Jazz
October 12, 2008

Margaret “Rusty" Monroe, 89, the centerpiece of Toledo's jazz scene for decades and whose club, Rusty's Jazz Cafe, became a landmark, died yesterday afternoon at a Punta Gorda, Fla., nursing care center. She died from complications of a fall more than a week ago at her home in Punta Gorda. She'd been dealing with cancer for years, and her health worsened this year, said Suzanne Carroll, a longtime friend and host of the Jazz Brunch program on WRVF, 101.5-FM. “She ...

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Lloyd Thaxton TV Dance Show Host, Dies at 81

Source: Michael Ricci
October 7, 2008

What came to be 'The Lloyd Thaxton Show' began in 1959 and was nationally syndicated in 1964. Amid the dancing teenagers and guest appearances was his unique brand of zany humor.

Lloyd Thaxton, the host of a popular Los Angeles TV dance show in the 1960s who memorably injected a visual zaniness into his daily rock 'n' roll party for teenagers, died Sunday. He was 81.

Thaxton, who later became the Emmy Award-winning producer and director of TV's long-running consumer ...

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Nick Reynolds Founding Member of the Kingston Trio Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
October 2, 2008

In the 1950s, the group helped drive the folk music revival that paved the way for such artists as Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul and Mary.

Nick Reynolds, who as a college student grabbed a guitar, donned a broad-striped button-down shirt and quickly helped propel the 1950s folk music revival to the top of the pop music charts as a founding member of the Kingston Trio, died Wednesday in San Diego. He was 75.

Reynolds had been hospitalized in recent ...

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Norman Hedman, 63, Conga Master, Dies

Source: DeBlaze & Associates
October 2, 2008

Master Conguero, Percussionist, Producer, Composer, Solo Artist July 17, 1945 - September 29, 2008 NEW YORK, New York - October 2, 2008 -- Norman Hedman, whose mastery of crossing more than three decades of music genres and generations, died at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York on Monday, September 29 at the age of 63. Causes included Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Pneumonia. A West Indies native, Hedman is distinguished by having brought the black American sound experience to Afro-Caribbean ...

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