Obituary News

WWII Nurse in Iconic Times Square Kissing Photo Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
June 23, 2010

A nurse famously photographed being kissed by an American sailor in New York's Times Square in 1945 to celebrate the end of World War Two has died at the age of 91, her family said on Tuesday.

The V-J Day picture of the white-clad Edith Shain by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt captured an epic moment in U.S. history and became an iconic image marking the end of the war after being published in Life magazine. The identity of the nurse in ...

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William A. Fraker Hollywood Cinematographer

Source: Michael Ricci
June 21, 2010

William A. “Bill" Fraker, a cinematographer who was nominated for six Academy Awards including for “Looking for Mr. Goodbar," “Heaven Can Wait" and “1941," died June 2nd at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 86 and had cancer.

Fraker, a larger-than-life figure, was one of America's most respected cinematographers, known as much for the enduring images he crafted on classic movies like “Rosemary's Baby" and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" as for his efforts to mentor young ...

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Bill Dixon, Leading Edge of Avant-Garde Jazz

Source: Michael Ricci
June 21, 2010

Bill Dixon, the maverick trumpeter, composer, educator and major force in the jazz avant-garde movement of the 1960s, died on Wednesday at his home in North Bennington, Vt. He was 84.

In the early 1960s, when rock was swallowing popular culture and jazz clubs were taking few chances on the new thing as the developing avant-garde was then known Mr. Dixon, who was known for the deep and almost liquid texture of his sound, fought to raise the profile of ...

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Baseball's Giants of Jazz

Source: All About Jazz
June 19, 2010

We cherish Ernie Harwell and other masters of improvisation because we may not hear a sound like theirs again

Tributes poured in from all over the nation as a city that is falling apart united in its heartache. Seventeen hours after the Tigers opened Comerica Park to the public last Thursday, there was a line around the corner to see the body of a 92- year-old man who described baseball for a living. Detroit grieved for Ernie Harwell, who died ...

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Remembering Bill Dixon: 1925-2010

Source: Michael Ricci
June 17, 2010

By Ben Young

Trumpeter and composer Bill Dixon died June 16th at his home in North Bennington, Vermont after a two-year illness. He was 84 years old.

Dixon was a revered and idiosyncratic figure in the avant-garde of Jazz music, and a creative force who strived at all times to place the music in ever more respectful circumstances. Dixon developed an often controversial profile as an outspoken and articulate defender of musicians' rights as artists, and specifically the challenges to ...

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Legendary P-Funk Guitarist Garry Shider Dies

Source: All About Jazz
June 17, 2010

Legendary funk guitarist Garry Shider, whose work with Parliament and Funkadelic earned him a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, has died. He was 56.

Shider was known to millions of fans as “Starchild" or “Diaperman," the latter because of the loincloth he often wore onstage. Shider's son, Garrett, says his father died Wednesday at his home in Upper Marlboro, Md. He had been diagnosed with brain and lung cancer in March. He then briefly went on ...

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Bill and Fred

Source: Master of a Small House
June 17, 2010

Bill Dixon is gone. Fred Anderson is ailing. This week has been one of the worst in recent memory for creative improvised music. Reason enough to interrupt the relatively rigid format under these rafters for a salvo of positive thoughts beaming out to the families and loved ones of both men. I haven't been as in tune with Bill's recent work, but an out-of-the-blue email from him seven years ago is an event I still treasure. Prompted by ...

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Memorial for Manuel "Michael" Orias

Source: Seattle Jazz Scene
June 15, 2010

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