Obituary News

Frank Wess, January 4, 1922 - October 30, 2013

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
October 31, 2013

We have confirmation that Frank Wess died today. The flutist and saxophonist succumbed to kidney failure at 91. Wess played with undiminished spirit and creativity that kept him in the forefront of jazz soloists for decades after most of his contemporaries had retired or died. A professional from the age of 19, following service in World War Two Wess joined Billy Eckstine’s big band. After earning a conservatory degree in flute, he became a member of Count Basie’s reed section ...

Continue Reading

Lou Reed (1942-2013)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 28, 2013

Lou Reed, whose brutish pop-minimalist songs and flat vocals reflected his painful search for identity and helped influence art-rock, glam, punk, metal, New Wave and grunge, died unexpectedly yesterday (Oct. 27). He had undergone a liver transplant in June. He was 71. The news came as a particular shock to me, as I was preparing to interview Reed at home on Wednesday afternoon for a career-spanning Q&A. A voracious reader, Lou had agreed to the sit-down after reading my interviews ...

Continue Reading

Dick Lapalm: 1927-2013

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
October 10, 2013

Dick LaPalm, one of the music industry's most committed and knowledgeable record promoters who ensured that singles and albums by jazz and pop artists such as Nat King Cole, Ahmad Jamal, Woody Herman, Sarah Vaughan, the Modern Jazz Quartet, Sonny Rollins and many others were played on the air, died October 7. He was 86. [Photo of Dick LaPalm, left, and Nat King Cole in Chicago] Dick's skills were honed in an age before the Internet, when music appeared on ...

Continue Reading

Oscar Castro-Neves dies at 73; bossa nova guitarist and orchestrator

Source: Michael Ricci
October 2, 2013

Famous from age 16, Oscar Castro-Neves toured with Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz and orchestrated music for films and TV. Oscar Castro-Neves, a Brazil-born guitarist who helped to create the cool, sensuous rhythms of bossa nova and orchestrated music for movies including “L.A. Story" and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," has died. He was 73. Castro-Neves had cancer and died Friday in Los Angeles, his wife, Lorraine Castro-Neves, said. Castro-Neves, who was noted for both his virtuosity and his impish sense of ...

Continue Reading

Oscar Castro-Neves dies at 73; bossa nova guitarist

Source: Michael Ricci
October 2, 2013

Oscar Castro-Neves, a Brazil-born guitarist who helped create the sensuous rhythms of bossa nova and orchestrated music for movies including “L.A. Story” and “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” died Sept. 27 in Los Angeles. He was 73. The cause was cancer, his wife, Lorraine Castro-Neves, said. Mr. Castro-Neves, who was noted for both his virtuosity and impish sense of humor, toured with jazz greats Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz. For 10 years, he was guitarist, musical director and vocal coach for Sergio ...

Continue Reading

Oscar Castro-Neves, 73

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
October 2, 2013

News comes of the death of Oscar Castro-Neves, one of the leading guitarists to emerge from Brazil’s bossa nova movement. As samba music moved north in the 1960s and became a powerful element in US popular music and jazz, Castro-Neves was an important player, coach, producer and catalyst. After hearing him at Seattle’s Jazz Alley with pianist Kenny Werner and harmonicist Toots Thielemans in 2005, I wrote:

Thielemans and Werner, long established as a formidable duo, became a virtual ...

Continue Reading

Guitarist Jimmy Ponder (1946-2013)

Source: Michael Ricci
September 19, 2013

By Colter Harper I first met Jimmy when he was teaching at a jazz camp for high school students in Pittsburgh. I was 15, recently turned on to Wes Montgomery, and trying to make sense of the music. Ponder was the first guitarist I had heard in person who embodied the music. He poured himself through the instrument. The sound of his thumb on the Gibson Super 400 was rich, warm, lyrical, and immediate. It was as if he had ...

Continue Reading

Jimmy Ponder: 1946-2013

Source: Michael Ricci
September 18, 2013

Soul-Jazz guitarist Jimmy Ponder was well known to serious jazz lovers for his recordings as a leader and appearances as a sideman on 80 albums. His unique bluesy sound, which incorporated Wes Montgomery's approach of playing octaves with the thumb, has influenced other guitarists. Ponder's playing was described as aggressive rhythm-and-blues figurations with swift and lucid chromatic bop lines. Jimmy released 21 albums since 1969 as a leader on the Muse, Highnote, Cadet, Explore, and LRC labels. He reached the ...

Continue Reading