Results for "Obituary"

Carl Fontana dead at 75 of complications of Altzheimers

October 11, 2003

A brilliant trombonist who has spent much of the past 40 years playing commercial music in Las Vegas, Carl Fontana occasionally emerges to remind listeners just how technically skilled he is. The son of a saxophonist, Fontana started out playing in his father's group during 1941-1945, but did not gain prominence until he was with Woody ...

Don Lanphere, Seattle Sax great, dead at 75

October 10, 2003

From the Seattle Times: 'Seattle Jazz Patriarch' was top bebop artist By Stephen H. Dunphy Seattle Times associate editor Don Lanphere, the legendary Wenatchee-born bebop jazz saxophone player who overcame dependence on drugs and alcohol to become one of the deans of Seattle jazz musicians, died yesterday at Group Health Eastside Hospital in Redmond. He was ...

Frank Lowe: powerful, undersung free jazz tenor saxophonist

October 8, 2003

Memphis, TN, June 24 1943 - New York, NY, Sept. 19 2003 Woefully undersung until recently, Frank Lowe was a ferociously energetic tenor saxophonist who drew inspiration from the first and second waves of free jazz in the 1960s. Principally remembered for his work with drummer Rashied Ali and a couple of the dozen-plus albums issued ...

Shawn Lane: rock and world-fusion guitarist

October 8, 2003

Shawn Lane Guitarist and keyboardist 3/21/63 - 9/26/03 Guitarist Shawn Lane, who progressed from a teenaged hard-rock star to a master of world fusion music, has died after a drastic battle with lung disease. He was forty years old. Lane began his musical interests very young, studying piano and cello from the ...

Jazz Bassist and Scat Singer Chubby Jackson Dies in Rancho Bernardo

October 7, 2003

Jazz bassist and scat singer Chubby Jackson died in Rancho Bernardo, California on Oct 1, 2003 just shy of his 85th birthday. Chubby was often called the cheer leader of Jazz for his enthusiasm and humor that was so much a part of his musical career. He was respected for his incredible energy on and off ...

Nina Simone: Singer Dubbed The High Priestess of Soul

April 24, 2003

Nina Simone genuinely earned the epithet unique. Although she was once dubbed The High Priestess of Soul, she fitted no precise musical pigeon-holes, and her genius was tempered by an unpredictability which made every concert an adventure for her audience. She could be a wildly inconsistent performer, given to ludicrously overdramatic delivery, ...

Nina Simone: A Tribute

April 23, 2003

For people the world over, the passing of the great, legendary Dr. Nina Simone will be met with much sadness. An often-unsung hero and pioneer in the civil rights movement, Nina was a woman of conviction who left her country of birth rather than compromise her artistic integrity, a woman who challenged the status quo, but ...

Nina Simone is Dead at 70

April 21, 2003

Jutta Hipp: Pianist Made Brief Impact On 50s Bop Scene

April 10, 2003

Jutta Hipp studied painting in Leipzig, but became interested in jazz in the early 1940s, and formed her own group in Munich after the war. She worked with Hans Koller in Europe, and recorded for Blue Note with her own band in 1954. She moved to the USA in 1955 and made further recordings with a ...

Pianist David Azarian Killed in Car Accident

March 31, 2003

By John McElhenny, Globe Correspondent, 3/31/2003 Jazz pianist who fled the Soviet Union to pursue his musical dreams in America was killed Saturday evening when he was struck by a sport utility vehicle while changing a tire on the side of busy Interstate 93 in Stoneham. David Azarian, 51, was replacing a driver-side tire on his ...