Sid Bernstein – Music promoter who introduced the US to the Beatles and the Stones and was the first to put on concerts at Madison Square Garden. H introduced the US to the Rascal (the US thought they were a black band… for obvious reasons) and everybody I know who knew him, says Sid was a real gentleman. He was 95 years old.
Spas Wenkoff – Vienna State Opera says the Wagnerian tenor. Spas used to specialized in the Italian composers before playing Tristan in “Tristan And Isolde” and become the voice of Wagner for decades. He died in Austria at the age of 84.
Joey Lacaze – The drummer with eyehategod, an alarming an very very heavy sludgemetal band. This is really sludgy stuff, it is all bass and drums quicksand stuff. A friend says Joey died of cancer. He as 42 years old.
Jane Harvey – An excellent Jazz singer who played with the likes of Desi Arnaz, Duke Ellingtton, and Benny Goodman. She retired to raise her son in 1958 and returned to rejoin the Duke Ellington Band. She was singing as late as last year and died last week at the age of 88.
Cedar Walton – Art Blakely Bands pianist with Jazz Messengers, where he performed with the likes of Wayne Shorter. According to Wikipedia: “Many of his compositions have been adopted as jazz standards, including “Firm Roots”, “Bolivia” and “Cedar’s Blues”. “Bolivia” is perhaps Walton’s best known composition, while one of his oldest is “Fantasy in D“.