Obituary News

Jazz and Fine Wine/ Robert Mondavi's "Time" Has Come

Source: Michael Ricci
May 17, 2008

Powerful ambassador for California wine. One of the best-known figures in American viticulture, had little formal training in making wine. His exile from the family business became the stuff of legend.

Robert Mondavi, the pioneering Napa Valley vintner whose drive and salesmanship revolutionized the way the world thought about California wine, died peacefully Friday at his Yountville, Calif., home, a spokeswoman for the Robert Mondavi Winery said. He was 94.

The son of an Italian-born grape wholesaler from the Central ...

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John Rutsey Rush Drummer

Source: All About Jazz
May 16, 2008

Original Rush Drummer John Rutsey Dies

John Rutsey, a founding member of the seminal Canadian rock band Rush, has died, his family announced. He was 55. Rutsey played drums with Rush from 1968 to 1974, as well as on the band's eponymous debut album, but departed soon afterwards, apparently due to a lifelong illness stemming from diabetes. In an obituary published in the Toronto Star, his family said his May 11 death was caused by “complications from his lifelong affliction ...

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The Legacy of Bob Florence

Source: All About Jazz
May 16, 2008

Arranger, composer Bob Florence died today in Southern California at 1:04 PM, May 15, following a lengthy hospital stay. He had been fighting pneumonia for some time and all his recent engagements had been cancelled. Bob Florence had garnered national and international acclaim as a jazz composer, arranger, bandleader, keyboardist, accompanist, and educator, and was slated to lead this summer's All-Star Big Band in a concert of his music, which was often nothing short of sensational. Instead, Kim Richmond, faculty ...

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Warren Cowan Star Publicist Dies

Source: All About Jazz
May 15, 2008

Legendary Hollywood press agent Warren Cowan, who represented such stars as Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman and Frank Sinatra, has died. (Pictured on left with his wife Barbara)

Warren Cowan & Associates spokeswoman Jazmine Vicenty confirmed early Thursday that Cowan had died. She declined to give other details, he was 87. The trade paper Daily Variety reported Cowan died Wednesday night of heart failure and cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. The jovial Cowan, known for working the press lines at awards ...

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Ilyas Malayev, Uzbek Musician and Poet

Source: Michael Ricci
May 14, 2008

Ilyas Malayev, a musician and poet renowned in Uzbekistan and transplanted to Queens, where he was a legend among fellow Bukharan Jews, died on Friday May 2, 2008 in Flushing. He was 72 and lived in Forest Hills. The cause was pancreatic cancer, said Lana Levitin, his manager. Before emigrating from his native land in Central Asia, Mr. Malayev won fame and official plaudits in the former Soviet Union for his interpretation of the shash maqam, a body of folk ...

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Robert Rauschenberg Pioneer of Pop Art

Source: Michael Ricci
May 13, 2008

Pop artist Robert Rauschenberg dies in Fla. at 82

Robert Rauschenberg, whose use of odd and everyday articles earned him a reputation as a pioneer in pop art but whose talents spanned the worlds of painting, sculpture and dance, has died, his gallery representative said today. He was 82. Rauschenberg died Monday, said Jennifer Joy, his representative at PaceWildenstein gallery in New York. Rauschenberg, who first gained fame in the 1950s, didn't mine popular culture wholesale as Andy Warhol did ...

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Larry Levine "Wall of Sound" Engineer

Source: All About Jazz
May 13, 2008

Larry Levine: Gold Star recording engineer who played a crucial role in the building of Phil Spector's “Wall of Sound"

Larry Levine, the recording engineer who helped translate the grandiose sonic vision of record producer Phil Spector into some of the biggest-selling and most influential recordings of the rock era, died Thursday, on his 80th birthday, at his home in Encino.

The announcement by his wife, Lyn, gave no cause of death, but he had suffered from emphysema and heart ...

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Italian Free Jazz Pioneer Mario Schiano Dies at 75

Source: All About Jazz
May 13, 2008

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