Obituary News

Jo Stafford, 90; Singer, Recording Artist Entertained GIs During World War II

Source: Michael Ricci
July 18, 2008

Jo Stafford, a singer who was a favorite of GIs during World War II and whose recordings made the pop music charts dozens of times in the 1950s, died Sunday of congestive heart failure at her home in Century City. She was 90. According to her son, Tim Weston, she had been in ill health since October and had been hospitalized several times since 2002. Stafford had a long career but enjoyed most of her success from the late 1930s ...

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Hayward 'Chuck' Carbo R&B Singer Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
July 18, 2008

Hayward “Chuck" Carbo Singer for Spiders R&B Quintet

Carbo was 82, a singer who fronted the 1950s quintet the Spiders, a group that made the world aware of New Orleans rhythm and blues, died July 11 in New Orleans after a long illness. (pictured with the Spiders far right)

Chuck Carbo and his brother Leonard “Chick" Carbo started singing in their father's New Orleans church choir. They sang with the gospel group the Zion City Harmonizers ...

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Jo Stafford, 90; Pop Singer Won a Grammy for Comedy

Source: All About Jazz
July 18, 2008

Jo Stafford, 90, an exceptionally versatile singer who worked with Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey and the Pied Pipers and shared a Grammy Award with her conductor-husband for their parody of a tone-deaf lounge act, died July 16 at her home in Century City, Calif. She had congestive heart failure. Singer Judy Collins once said Ms. Stafford's poignant interpretation of folk ballads was pivotal to her own career in folk music. Although she made several acclaimed folk recordings, Ms. Stafford was ...

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I'll Be Seeing You: Jo Stafford, 1917-2008

Source: Night Lights Classic Jazz
July 18, 2008

Jo Stafford, one of the last great vocalists from the “songbird" era of big band vocalists, passed away Wednesday at the age of 90. A World War II icon dubbed “GI Jo" and beloved by soldiers for her performances and recordings such as “Long Ago and Far Away," Stafford possessed one of the most graceful, limpid voices in the postwar popular music world, and she retained her popularity into the 1950s, scoring hits on her own and with Frankie Laine. ...

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Gerald Wiggins, 86; Jazz Pianist Performed with Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter, Others

Source: Michael Ricci
July 15, 2008

Gerald Wiggins, a jazz pianist whose long career embraced numerous recordings with his trio, performances with Louis Armstrong, Benny Carter, Roy Eldridge, Zoot Sims, accompaniment for Lena Horne and Nat “King" Cole, and vocal coaching for Marilyn Monroe, has died. He was 86. Wiggins died Sunday morning at Encino-Tarzana Medical Center, where he had spent the last six weeks. According to his wife, Lynn, Wiggins had been in poor health for months. Versatility was Wiggins' stock in trade, but the ...

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Trombonist Ralph Hutchinson Passes at 83

Source: All About Jazz
July 15, 2008

Ralph Hutchinson was one of 'Best Trombone Players Milwaukee Ever Had'. Hutchinson crossed an ocean to find the music he loved, coming to America to be a jazz musician.

Home was in northern England, in a coal-mining town called Newcastle-on-Tyne. He heard the music as a youngster, listening to a battery-powered radio. Later, the trombone became his instrument as he played with bands in Great Britain. In 1948, he took a ship to New York City and first ...

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Goodbye, Gerald Wiggins

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
July 15, 2008

DevraDoWrite reports that Gerald Wiggins died this morning in Los Angeles at the age of eighty-six. Encouraged when he was a youngster by Art Tatum, for decades Wiggins was revered by listeners and musicians--particularly by other pianists. Anyone familiar with his playing could recognize him immediately by his harmonic acuity, touch, use of space and wry turns of phrase. Jimmy Rowles, one of his greatest admirers among fellow pianists, did Wiggins the rare honor of writing the liner notes for ...

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Award-Winning Motion Picture Key Grip Gaylin Schultz Dies

Source: All About Jazz
July 12, 2008

Gaylin Schultz renowned for his camera mount work in major motion pictures.

Schultz was honored with the The Society of Operating Cameramen's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2000 for his work as a Mobile Camera Platform Operator. The “American Cinematography Magazine" highlighted Mr. Schultz's work on the films Le Mans and Jonathan Livingston Seagull in articles published during the 1970s. His most notable work was the landmark car chase scene in Bullitt. Schultz's innovative camera mounts were able to withstand the ...

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