Obituary News

Jazz Patriarch Ellis Marsalis Sr. Dead at 96

Source: All About Jazz
September 22, 2004

Ellis Marsalis Sr, patriarch of the family of jazz greats that includes his grandsons Wynton and Branford, died over the weekend at the age of 96, a New Orleans funeral home said on Wednesday. Marsalis, who took an active role in the civil rights movement, died at an area hospital on Sunday. Marsalis was a poultry farmer who converted a barn along the Mississippi River into a motel in 1943.

The 40 room motel catered to African-Americans, who were not ...

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Ernie Ball Dies at 74 -- Maker of Guitar Strings

Source: All About Jazz
September 10, 2004

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (AP) - Ernie Ball, a pioneer maker of rock 'n' roll guitar strings used by legions of artists from the Rolling Stones to Merle Travis, has died. He was 74. Ball died at his home Thursday after an ongoing illness, the mortuary handling services announced. His strings and instruments were used by music stars over the past four decades, from B.B. King to Metallica. Beginning with a small music shop in the San Fernando Valley, Ball ...

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Donald Leslie Dies at 93 -- Creator of the Leslie Keyboard Speaker

Source: All About Jazz
September 10, 2004

LOS ANGELES - Donald James Leslie, who created and manufactured a speaker that refined the sound of the Hammond organ and helped popularize electronic music, has died. He was 93. Leslie died Thursday of natural causes at his home in the foothill community of Altadena, 12 miles northeast of Los Angeles. His body was to be cremated at Cabot and Sons Mortuary in Pasadena on Tuesday, mortuary owner Wendell Cabot said. Born in Danville, Ill., he lived in Glendale and ...

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Northwest bluesman Tom McFarland dead at 59

Source: All About Jazz
September 9, 2004

TACOMA, Wash. -- Tom McFarland, a well-traveled blues shouter, guitar player and composer who placed a vital role in reviving Seattle's blues scene in the 1970s, is dead at age 59.

McFarland, who performed with such blues greats as Charlie Musselwhite, Otis Rush and Isaac Scott, died in his sleep early Friday at home in West Valley, Utah, said his son, Thomas Riley McFarland of Tacoma.

He had been unable to play for five years because of health problems, including ...

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Saxophonist Noble 'thin Man' Watts Dead at 78

Source: All About Jazz
August 26, 2004

DELAND, Fla. - Blues and jazz saxophonist Noble “Thin Man" Watts, who led the house band at Sugar Ray Robinson's club in Harlem and played on rock 'n' roll tours with Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis, has died. He was 78.

Watts, who had been in a nursing home for months struggling with emphysema and pneumonia, died Tuesday at The Alliance Community in DeLand.

Watts released a series of singles on Baton Records, including the instrumental hits “Hard Times ...

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J.B.'s bassist Bertand Odom dead at 72

Source: All About Jazz
August 24, 2004

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Film Composer Elmer Bernstein Dies at 82

Source: All About Jazz
August 24, 2004

LOS ANGELES - Film composer Elmer Bernstein, who created a brawny, big-sky theme for “The Magnificent Seven," nerve-jangling jazz for “The Man With The Golden Arm" and heart-rending grace notes for “To Kill a Mockingbird," has died.

Bernstein, whose prolific career spanned seven decades and earned him 14 Academy Award nominations, an Oscar win and an Emmy Award, died in his sleep at his Ojai home Wednesday, August 18, said his publicist, Cathy Mouton. He was 82.

Although he won ...

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Guitar genius Tony Mottola dead at 86

Source: All About Jazz
August 12, 2004

DENVILLE, N.J. -- Tony Mottola, a guitarist who played with Frank Sinatra and on NBC's “The Tonight Show" over the course of a 50-year career, has died. He was 86.

Mottola died Monday at Saint Clare's Hospital of complications from double pneumonia and stroke.

Longtime friend and colleague Bucky Pizzarelli described Mottola as being able to read any piece of music put in front of him.

“He could interpret something and it was really Tony Mottola," Pizzarelli told The Star-Ledger ...

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