Organist Gene Ludwig passed away yesterday, July 14, 2010. I didn’t know him well, but he was a guest on The Jazz Session in August, 2009, and we spoke several times in person and by phone and email. Gene and his wife Pattye were extremely kind to me and to everyone with whom I saw them interact, particularly during Gene’s performance last year in Schenectady, NY. My thoughts are with Pattye and with their families at this time.

Gene’s Schenectady gig inspired a poem that appears in my book, Unexpected Sunlight. You can read the poem here at jasoncrane.org.

Studs Terkel died today at 96. Here’s the obit from the New York Times.

Thanks for everything, Studs!

Dorothy Flanders

Dorothy Flanders Beloved wife, mother, grandmother CANANDAIGUA – Dorothy M. Flanders, age 92, died Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2008, at M.M. Ewing Continuing Care Center in Canandaigua. She is survived by her husband of 68 years, Bernard J. Flanders of Canandaigua; two daughters, Linda Jacquot of Dresden and Sally (David) Gustavson of Canandaigua; five grandchildren, Tamara Jacquot of Dresden, N.Y., Todd Jacquot of Arizona, Jason (Jennifer) Crane of Albany, N.Y., Gretchen Gustavson of Chili and Dana Cordice of Canandaigua; three great-grandchildren, Sarah Jacquot and Bernard and John Crane; and nieces, Denise (John) Breen of Kentucky and Jill Sohl of Maryland. Mrs. Flanders and her husband moved to Canandaigua from Arizona in 2000. There will be no calling hours. Services are private. Interment will be in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Pittsfield, Mass. Memorial contributions may be made for M.M. Ewing Continuing Care Center to F.F. Thompson Foundation, 350 Parrish St., Canandaigua, NY 14424. Arrangements are by Johnson-Kennedy Funeral Home Inc., Canandaigua.

I miss you, Grandma.

The Family, 2002
Front, left to right: Bernie Crane, Sally Gustavson, Tamara Jacquot
Middle: Jason Crane, Bernie Flanders, Dorothy Flanders
Rear: Gretchen Gustavson, Linda Jacquot, Jennifer Crane, Dave Gustavson

Dorothy and Bernie Flanders, married for 68 years

Here’s the obituary from The New York Times.

Master drummer Max Roach died today at the age of 83. Here’s the story from the New York Times:

• Max Roach, a Founder of Modern Jazz, Dies at 83

I haven’t written anything yet about the death of my favorite writer, Kurt Vonnegut. He’s such a foundation stone in my life, my humor (such as it is), and my appreciation of the world around me. I’ll add to these thoughts soon, but for now let me say:

So it goes.

Tyrone Hill, trombonist with the Sun Ra Arkestra, died March 11 at age 58.

Read the full story.

Here are obituaries in the New York Sun and The Washington Post.

Even if you’re not a jazz fan, you’ve heard Michael Brecker. In addition to his unmatched jazz chops, he’s taken some of the most famous saxophone solos in pop and rock history, playing with everyone from Paul Simon (“Still Crazy After All These Years”) to James Taylor to Steely Dan to Joni Mitchell (including the brilliant live album Shadows And Light“).

In 1997 or 98, I took a master class with Michael Brecker at the Tokyo Blue Note. It wasn’t a master class in the usual sense — it was a room of about 40 people who spent an hour with our jaws hitting the floor as we watched Brecker run through a series of excercises and improv ideas. I don’t know if I left knowing how to play my horn better, but I certainly left with an even deeper respect for Brecker’s artistry.

I only got to see Michael Brecker once in concert. He was playing with Dave Liebman and Joe Lovano. The three of them had just made the album Gathering Of Spirits, and they captivated a roomfull of passionate fans during the International Association for Jazz Education conference in New York in 2004.

I love Michael Brecker’s playing, and I’m truly saddened to hear of his passing.

Alice Coltrane was the wife of saxophonist John Coltrane. In recent years, she’d been on the comeback trail, releasing Translinear Light in 2004 — her first new album in 26 years. She was a wonderful spirit and an inspiration for many, including her son, saxophonist Ravi Coltrane. You can see some good interview footage with Alice Coltrane on Brandford Marsalis’s DVD performance Coltrane’s A Love Supreme: Live.

ANITA O’DAY
October 18, 1919-November 23, 2006

Jazz Vocal legend Anita O’Day passed this morning October 23, 2006 at 6:17AM in West Los Angeles. The cause of death was cardiac arrest according to her manager Robbie Cavalina.

Born Anita Belle Colton in Chicago, Illinois on October 18, 1919, O’Day got her start as a teen. She eventually changed her name to O’Day and in the late 1930′s began singing in a jazz club called the Off- Beat, a popular hangout for musicians like band leader and drummer Gene Krupa. In 1941 she joined Krupa’s band, and a few weeks later Krupa hired trumpeter Roy Eldridge. O’Day and Eldridge had great chemistry on stage and their duet “Let Me Off Uptown” became a million-dollar-seller, boosting the popularity of the Krupa band. Also that year, “Down Beat” magazine named O’Day “New Star of the Year” and, in 1942, she was selected as one of the top five big band singers.

After her stint with, Krupa, O’Day joined Stan Kenton’s band. She left the band after a year and returned to Krupa. Singer Jackie Cain remembers the first time she saw O’Day with the Krupa band. “I was really impressed,” she recalls, “She (O’Day) sang with a jazz feel, and that was kind of fresh and new at the time.” Later, O’Day joined Stan Kenton’s band with whom she cut an album that featured the hit tune “And Her Tears Flowed Like Wine”

In the late’40s, O’Day struck out on her own. She teamed up with drummer John Poole, with whom she played for the next 32 years. Her album “Anita”, which she recorded on producer Norman Granz’s new Verve label, elevated her career to new heights. She began performing in festivals and concerts with such illustrious musicians as Louis Armstrong, Dinah Washington, Georg Shearing and Thelonious Monk. O’Day also appeared in the documentary filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 called “Jazz on a Summer Day”, which made her an international star.

Throughout the ’60s Anita continued to tour and record while addicted to heroin and in 1969 she nearly died from an overdose. O’Day eventually beat her addiction and returned to work. In 1981 she published her autobiography “High Times, Hard Times” which, among other things, talked candidly about her drug addiction.

Her final recording was “Indestructible Anita O’Day” and featured Eddie Locke, Chip Jackson, Roswell Rudd, Lafayette Harris, Tommy Morimoto and the great Joe Wider. A documentary, “ANITA O’DAY-THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER” will be released in 2007.

The great saxophonist Dewey Redman passed away on September 2. Here’s a tribute from All About Jazz.

Famed trumpeter Maynard Ferguson died this week at the age of 78. Here’s the full story at All About Jazz.

This week on The Jason Crane Show, I’ll feature an archival interview with Maynard Ferguson.

There’s also a lot of great Maynard material at maynardferguson.com.

Legendary Brazilian composer Moacir Santos died August 6. Do yourself a favor and pick up his recent 2-CD collection Ouro Negro. You can get it with the link below. Santos was a real genius, and a big favorite of mine when I hosted Traffic Jam and played “The Latin Set” each day. Here’s an obituary from All About Jazz.

Jazz trumpeter and composer Malachi Thompson has died. Read a tribute to this musical pioneer.

Filed by Ruiz’s daughter, Aida Ruiz, the negligence suit alleges the security workers didn’t even call an ambulance for Ruiz after the May 19 incident, but instead threw him out of the club.

Police said the incident first was investigated as an attack, but evidence indicated Ruiz sustained his injuries in a fall that left him unconscious. (He never regained consciousness.)

Utopia manager Fred Woodruff said he had not heard about the lawsuit.

From wire reports

PIANIST HILTON RUIZ DEAD AT 54
By JANET McCONNAUGHEY
Associated Press

NEW ORLEANS – Jazz pianist and composer Hilton Ruiz, who came to New Orleans to work on a Hurricane Katrina benefit recording, died early Tuesday, his agent and manager said.

Ruiz, who turned 54 on May 29, had been comatose at East Jefferson General Hospital since he fell early May 19 in front of a French Quarter bar.

He died about 3:50 a.m. Tuesday, agent Joel Chriss said in a telephone interview from New York.

Ruiz, of Teaneck, N.J., has been described as one of the most versatile musicians in jazz, playing bop, Afro-Cuban, stride and many other styles.

“He’s one of the few musicians on the scene that is equally at home in both the jazz genre and the Afro-Cuban genre in a complete sense. … He really can play the blues, too. For real,” trombone player Steve Turre, who had known Ruiz since 1975, said in an interview the week after Ruiz fell. “There’s a lot of people who dabble with both worlds. But very few can authentically deal with both. And he’s one of them. That’s your rarity.”

He described Ruiz as a complex man and a brilliant musician, a pianist, composer and bandleader of genius.

Ruiz came to New Orleans with Marco Matute, a producer for the M27 World label, to shoot video to go along with a Hurricane Katrina benefit compact disc of New Orleans music, attorney Mary Howell said before his death. They arrived May 18, she said.

“They spent the whole day filming, riding in carriages, talking to people about New Orleans,” She said.

She said Ruiz “got very involved in the situation here” after playing in a New York benefit concert for the hurricane’s victims.

The family has been “inundated with calls from people wanting to help.” They asked for prayers; an account to help pay Ruiz’ medical expenses was set up, Howell said.

Trained in classical music as well as jazz, Ruiz played at Carnegie Recital Hall when he was 8 years old. His teachers included jazz pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams; in his early 20s, he and Turre both worked with saxophone player Rahsaan Roland Kirk.

In an interview with Ted Panken, for liner notes on his 2003 CD, “Enchantment,” Ruiz said Kirk – known, among other things, for playing a saxophone and two of its turn-of-the-century cousins at once – nurtured and demanded versatility.

“All the music I enjoyed was part of the Rahsaan experience,” Ruiz told Panken. “He played the music of Fats Waller and James P. Johnson. Real down-home blues, as they’re called. The great composers of classical music. Music from all over the world – Africa, the Orient, the Middle East. We had to play all these musical flavors every night.”

He was playing with Latin groups in his early teens. His first recording, at age 14, was with a group called Ray Jay and the East Siders. While still in his teens, Ruiz worked with tenor saxophonists Frank Foster and Joe Henderson and trumpeters Joe Newman, Freddie Hubbard and Cal Massey.

“I was pretty lucky in being exposed to a lot of different kinds of music, and studying them with good teachers,” he said, quoted in a biography on the Telarc International Corp.’s Web site.

The many musicians with whom he worked included Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie and Charles Mingus.

He was among musicians featured on the 1997 video The Best of Latin Jazz, and his song “Something Grand” is part of the American Beauty soundtrack.

Billy’s passing
BY ROGER FRIEDMAN
6-6-2006

‘FIFTH BEATLE’ BILLY PRESTON DEAD AT AGE 59

The great singer-songwriter and performer Billy Preston, the real “Fifth Beatle” has died after a long illness as a result of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications. As a result of a medical insult he’d been in a deep coma since last November 21st, but was still struggling to recover. He died at Shea Scottsdale Hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona where he’d lived for the last couple of years.

Billy was called the Fifth Beatle because he played keyboards on Let it Be, The White Album and Abbey Road. He also played on the Rolling Stones’s hit song Miss You, and often played with Eric Clapton. He also did the organ work on Sly & the Family Stone’s greatest hits. Preston’s own hits included “Nothing from Nothing,” “Will it Go Round in Circles,” and “You Are So Beautiful,” which Joe Cocker turned into an international hit.

Preston was actually mentored by Ray Charles, and acts like Little Richard, Mahalia Jackson, and James Cleveland had a huge impact on him at a young age. In the early 60s, Billy went to Europe with Little Richard who playing in Hamburg. The Beatles were the opening act and as the story goes he was the one who made sure they got fed.

His friendship with them lasted through the 1960s and he was the first act signed to Apple Records thanks to George Harrison. The resulting album is called “That’s the Way God Planned It.” In 1971, Preston played in “The Concert for Bangla Desh.” Last year, in one of his final appearances, he performed at a renuion in Los Angeles for the release of the Bangla Desh DVD with Ringo and Harrison’s son Dhani on guitar.

More recently, Billy can be heard on the latest albums by Neil Diamond and Red Hot Chili Peppers. He’s also featured on the Starbucks soul album “Believe to My Soul” featuring Mavis Staples and Ann Peebles.

I had the good fortune to know Billy the last few years, and saw him perform–as chronicled in this column–last August at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut and last October at the Atlantis in the Bahamas. He was one of those spectacular performers who put everything into his show even though he had no working kidneys by then and was receiving dialysis. He was a warm, wonderful human being with a mile wide smile. He was also a genius musician, the likes of whom we will not see again.

Rest in peace, Billy. You deserve it.

From BillyPreston.net.

Here are links to several obituaries and tributes:

• Chicago Tribune
• New York Times
• Reuters
• Seattle Times
• Washington Post
• Daily KOS
• Richard Pryor’s official site
• Salon.com’s “Brilliant Careers” feature
• If you’ve never listened to Richard, or if you want to start a collection of his material, Richard Pryor: The Anthology is a great place to start.

I’m very sad to report the passing of Forrest Cummings, who I knew through his work at Jazz90.1, where he hosted the great show Jazz Ain’t Nothin’ But Soul. Forrest was one of those people who make the world a better place, and it was truly an honor to know him and work with him.

Forrest had a show on WRUR for decades, and when his time there ended, I was on the phone with him immediately, asking him to come to Jazz90.1 and work his magic. We met for lunch, and he agreed to make the move. Most of our volunteers and staff members already knew who Forrest was, and he was welcomed with open arms to our Sunday night lineup.

Even after I left the station, I’d see Forrest at Red Wings games (he was on the board of Rochester Community Baseball) and at the Rochester International Jazz Festival and other musical events. It was always a pleasure to see him — everyone always seemed to know him and respect him wherever he was.

My thoughts are with the Cummings family. We’ve lost one of the good guys, but Rochester is a better place because he was here.

Here’s the obituary from The Democrat & Chronicle:

Forrest Cummings, 56, dies

He worked to give back to Rochester and to help children

by Ernst Lamothe Jr.
Staff writer

(September 24, 2005) —

Forrest Cummings Jr. could have left Rochester for bigger cities and bigger opportunities. Instead, he spent his life giving back to the only city that mattered in his book.

Mr. Cummings, 56, died Thursday of a massive heart attack.

He worked more than 20 years as regional director of the state Division of Human Rights. In addition, he served on the boards of the Boys and Girls Club, Urban League, Baden Street Settlement and the Rochester Red Wings.

Brenda D. Lee saw every step of Mr. Cummings’ path from a young boy at Edison Technical and Industrial High School to the man who was well respected in the community.

“He was a person who had incredible discipline on one hand but could be very humorous on the other,” said Lee, a childhood friend. “The person you would see in a social setting was completely different than the person you would see as regional director.”

While his time was often spread thin, one area always had a priority on his schedule.

“He was absolutely passionate about making a difference in the lives of children,” said Lee. “Forrest was an incredible role model for everyone, especially young African-American males.”

Gary Larder, Red Wings president and CEO, said Mr. Cummings was the first board member to financially contribute to offering season tickets for the underprivileged.

“He brought a mature attitude and certainly a team spirit,” said Larder.

When Mr. Cummings died, he was spending time with Maurice Stone, 43, a Penfield man with a developmental disability whom he visited every Thursday. Friends say it was an example of the life Mr. Cummings led.

“Even though he was in a position where he dealt with judges, lawyers and politicians, he was very comfortable with everyday folks,” said the Rev. Lawrence Hargrave, acting dean of black church studies at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School.

“He could walk around the streets of Rochester and people would know him, and he could walk into the highest offices of the state and people would know him.”

Mr. Cummings hosted Jazz Ain’t Nothing but Soul for 26 years on WRUR-FM (88.5) Sunday evenings before moving to WGMC-FM (90.1) for the past two years.

He is survived by his wife, Juliette Rhodes-Cummings. Funeral arrangements are pending.