Results for "Obituary"

Joe Beck Jazz Guitarist with Sinatra, Davis Dies

July 29, 2008

Joe Beck, 62; jazz guitarist collaborated with Sinatra, Davis, other top musicians was honored five times by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences as a “Most Valuable Player." Joe Beck, a jazz guitarist who collaborated with artists such as Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and James Brown, died July 22 at a Connecticut hospice after ...

Hiram Bullock Charismatic Jazz-Rock Guitarist

July 28, 2008

Hiram Bullock was a talented and charismatic guitarist, a rock'n'roller with a jazz head who bridged the world of sophisticated pop and the avant-garde New York jazz scene. A super-session player, Bullock was mentored by the producer Phil Ramone, and his work can be heard on Steely Dan's Gaucho (1980), Paul Simon's One Trick Pony (1980), ...

Youssef Chahine Renowned Egyptian Filmmaker Dies

July 28, 2008

In more than 40 films and documentaries, Youssef Chahine sought to capture and defend the spirit of multicultural tolerance against the forces he saw undermining it: fundamentalism, dictatorship and imperialism. Youssef Chahine, an Egyptian filmmaker whose work over nearly five decades made him a renowned figure in Arab cinema, died Sunday at Al Maadi Military Hospital ...

George H. Russell Guitarist and Composer Dies

July 27, 2008

George H. Russell, a veteran record promoter, guitarist and composer, died of a heart attack July 19 at his home in Laguna Beach, said Sandra Gillard, his companion. He was 89. Russell was commissioned to write the music for “Encounter Near Venus," a children's story ballet presented by Ballet Pacifica in Orange County in 1975. He ...

Hiram Bullock Late Night with David Letterman Guitarist Dies

July 26, 2008

Hiram Bullock, onetime barefoot guitarist for Paul Shaffer's World's Most Dangerous Band, dead at the age of 52. Bullock had been fighting a tumor in his throat since January. Bullock played guitar behind Shaffer from the debut of Late Night With David Letterman in 1982 until 1984; rumor had it that he suffered from an attendance ...

The Little Giant Steps On: Johnny Griffin, 1928-2008

July 26, 2008

News came this Friday morning via several sources that tenor saxophonist and hardbop great Johnny Griffin has passed away from a heart attack at the age of 80. Ben Ratliff has an obituary online for the New York Times, and Doug Ramsey has posted a tribute that includes a link to a retrospective he wrote earlier ...

Retake: Tom Talbert

July 26, 2008

Lately, I've been missing Tom Talbert. I went into the archive to see what Rifftides had to say about him following his death a little more than three years ago. Here is one paragraph of the remembrance: Tom died on Saturday, a month short of his eighty-first birthday. An elegant, soft-spoken man, he was ...

Johnny Griffin RIP

July 26, 2008

Johnny Griffin, a tenor saxophonist whose technical command set standards for his instrument and who refused to compromise his art, died today at his home in the village of Mauprevoir in France. From Ben Ratliff's obituary of Griffin in today's New York Times: His height -- around five feet five -- earned him the ...

Guitarist Joe Beck Dead at 62

July 26, 2008

Saxophonist Johnny Griffin Dies at 80

July 25, 2008

Johnny Griffin, a jazz tenor-saxophonist from Chicago whose speed, control, and harmonic acuity made him one of the most talented musicians of his generation, and who abandoned his hopes for an American career when he moved to Europe in 1963, died Friday at his home in Availles-Limouzine, a village in France. He was 80 and had ...