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Obituary

New Orleans drumming innovator Reed Vaughan, 75, dies

Source: Charles Suhor
January 7, 2012

Drummer Reed Vaughan, 75, died in New Orleans on December 29, 2011. Vaughan attended Holy Cross High School and played during his early teens in a Dixieland group with trumpeter Murphy Campo and clarinetist Pee Wee Spitilera. At age 16 he studied with drummer Lou Dillon, the versatile leader of the pit band at the Sho-Bar on Bourbon Street, and gained skills in reading and coordinated hand/foot independence. He rapidly became a premier modern jazz artist, jamming frequently with young ...

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Obituary

Bob Brookmeyer R.I.P.

Source: SloaneView
January 4, 2012

A Highly Personal Recollection With the sad news of the death of Bob Brookmeyer, vivid memories of our occasionally turbulent relationship flooded my thoughts. We met in 1961 when he and several other prominent jazz musicians were members of the band playing Bill Finegan arrangements for my first album on the Columbia Records label. Although Bob did eventually achieve sobriety, he was then drinking heavily, and he could be short-tempered and petulant when just moments before he'd been wise and ...

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Obituary

Jazz Face: Christine Rosholt, RIP

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter
December 30, 2011

I first heard Christine Rosholt sing at the Dakota, maybe in 2004. She had a sincere perkiness that was contagious and carried over into her renditions of great tunes from the 30s and 40s. She was just at the beginning of her singing career, and her voice was still finding its mark. But she already knew how to draw in an audience to hear her stories, well prepared from her education at the Children's Theater and as a performance art/photography ...

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Obituary

Jazz Education Pioneer Clem DeRosa Dies, At Age 86

Source: Ed Bride Associates
December 23, 2011

A drummer, leader, composer, educator, and author, DeRosa was co-founder of the International Association for Jazz Education Clem DeRosa, a major figure in jazz performance and education, died peacefully in his sleep, December 20. Succumbing after a long struggle with cancer, he was surrounded by family at his home near Denton, Texas, where he had moved earlier this year. The world of jazz education owes much to DeRosa, as do all followers of big band music. An internationally respected musician, ...

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Obituary

Bob Brookmeyer: 1929-2011

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
December 18, 2011

Bob Brookmeyer died in his sleep Thursday night in a hospital near his home in Grantham, New Hampshire. He would have been 82 on December 19. The cause is reported as congestive heart failure. Several weeks ago, Bob sent me a test pressing of the next album by his New Art Orchestra. He attached a note: This CD is very much a pre-production sample. Please hold close to your vest. I have been listening to it repeatedly and holding it ...

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Obituary

Bob Brookmeyer: 1929-2011

Source: Michael Ricci
December 17, 2011

From bobbrookmeyer.com: It's with great sadness that we share the news that Bob Brookmeyer passed away last night, just three days shy of his 82nd birthday. Bob was an integral force in music, making some of the greatest groups in jazz history what we know and admire today. Whether as a composer, arranger or trombonist, his voice is immediately discernible from the very first note, always bringing a smile and one word: “Brookmeyer." For many of us, Bob has ...

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Obituary

Bob Brookmeyer (1929-2011)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
December 17, 2011

Bob Brookmeyer, whose emotionally strained youth in Kansas City helped him become arguably the most soulful, peppery and lyrical valve trombonists of the 1950s and '60s, died December 15 in New Hampshire. He was 81. In the 1950s, there certainly was no shortage of great trombonists—J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding, Urbie Green, Carl Fontana, Frank Rosolino, Curtis Fuller and many others. But Bob was different for several reasons: For one, Bob played valve trombone, on which a player must use valves ...

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Obituary

Entertaining Musician, Ad Man Paul West Dies

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
December 16, 2011

Paul West, an ebullient pianist, singer and humorist who entertained several generations on Seattle's lounge scene from the 1950s forward, died Monday. He was 76. The cause was prostate cancer. Though Mr. West worked much of his life as an advertising man by day, he played music by night. He was probably best known for his '70s trio BLT—Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato—featuring bassist Rolf Johnson (son of well-known Seattle architect Sig Johnson) and vocalist Gail Clements. Seattle's cocktail-lounge scene—all but ...

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