Local Singer/Songwriter Jeff Fleury of “Fleury” Dies: From David B. Productions on Fb, 6/15/15: Sad to hear about the passing of Jeff Fleury of the local 80s band, Fleury, this past weekend. He was the MC of many fun parties when I was a teen. RIP Jeff.
Derek Avila: We were just talking about him the other day after seeing him in the movie Over The Edge!!!!
Joseph D. Cardile: That’s crazy and sad. Jeff worked with my father downtown for a time. The ballad, I think it was called “One More Night,” was my Fleury favs. I wore that tape out. And yes, I said tape.
Chuck Rains: Jeff’s Metalstorm brothers Paul Star, Hans Appleyard, and Doug Clark are working on putting together any news regarding Jeff’s memorial(s). I will forward what I find out in the coming days.
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Saxophonist Ornette Coleman, Jazz Legend, Dies at 85
Alto saxophonist Ornette Coleman, one of the most innovative composers and performers in jazz history, died Thursday morning in Manhattan at age 85. A representative for the musician’s family cited the cause of death as cardiac arrest, The New York Times reports.
Coleman’s influence on jazz music is massive. The saxophonist stirred up the jazz scene starting in the late Fifties, setting aside traditional harmonic and rhythmic rules in favor of an avant-garde approach filled with unorthodox solos and musical structures.
Coleman released his debut studio album, Something Else!!!!, in 1958, and drew attention late in the decade with his performances at New York club the Five Spot, amassing both fans and detractors in equal measure. In 1959, he released what many consider to be his recorded masterpiece, The Shape of Jazz to Come – a breakthrough in the development of free and avant-garde jazz.
Coleman continued to experiment and refine his music throughout the 1960s, working with a rotating series of musicians, including trumpeter Don Cherry and Coleman’s son, drummer Denardo. In 1969, he was inducted into Down Beat’s Jazz Hall of Fame. The following decade saw Coleman form Prime Time, a “double quartet” line-up featuring his alto sax backed by two guitarists, two electric bassists and two drummers.
The saxophonist kept recording in subsequent decades, as his influence on jazz – and even the experimental fringes of rock – continued to swell. Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia played on three tracks for Coleman’s 1988 LP, Virgin Beauty.
The saxophonist kept recording in subsequent decades, as his influence on jazz – and even the experimental fringes of rock – continued to swell. Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia played on three tracks for Coleman’s 1988 LP, Virgin Beauty.
“His playing has a real purity about it, a real beauty,” Garcia told Rolling Stone of Coleman’s revolutionary playing in 1989. “I think it’s very accessible. But the setting against which it occurs is real dense. Ornette’s music is strangely simple and difficult at the same time. The notes are not difficult. But the harmonic relationships that linger behind them are really deep.”
Coleman’s output slowed in the 21st century, though he made notable guest performances on albums by Joe Henry (2001’s Scar) and Lou Reed (2003’s The Raven). His most recent live LP, Sound Grammar, was released in 2006.
In March of this year, Coleman filed a lawsuit against collaborators Jordan McLean and drummer Amir Ziv for allegedly releasing the 2014 LP New Vocabulary without Coleman’s “consent or knowledge.” A box set of the jazz legend’s “Celebrate Ornette” tribute concert – including performances from Sonny Rollins, Patti Smith, Flea and Coleman himself – will be released this fall.
“All I wanted to do was write music that people would like,” Coleman told Rolling Stone in 1989. “I always told people I was commercial, because I was the only person doing what I was doing. Nobody did it but me. There’s not two Coca-Colas; there’s only one Coca-Cola. I thought of myself on that level.”
by Ryan Reed | Rolling Stone | June 11, 2015
https://www.yahoo.com/music/ornette-coleman-dead-at-85-121272417876.html
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Jim Ed Brown – The Browns – Dies
James Edward “Jim Ed” Brown (April 1, 1934 – June 11, 2015) was an American country music singer who achieved fame in the 1950s with his two sisters as a member of The Browns. He later had a successful solo career from 1965 to 1974, followed by a string of major duet hits with Helen Cornelius through 1981. Brown was also the host of the Country Music Greats Radio Show, a syndicated country music program from Nashville, Tennessee.
Brown and his sisters, Maxine and Bonnie, moved to Pine Bluff, Arkansas as children. They formed a singing group in the early 1950s and also sang individually until 1954, when Jim Ed and Maxine signed a record contract as a duo. They earned national recognition and a guest spot on Ernest Tubb’s radio show for their humorous song “Looking Back To See”, which hit the top ten and stayed on the charts through the summer of 1954.
Jim Ed and Maxine were joined in 1955 by 18-year-old Bonnie, and The Browns began performing on Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, Louisiana. By the end of 1955, the trio was appearing on KWTO-AM in Springfield, Missouri, and had another top ten hit with “Here Today and Gone Tomorrow”, which got a boost by their national appearances on ABC-TV’s Ozark Jubilee. They signed with RCA Victor in 1956, and soon had two major hits, “I Take the Chance” and “I Heard the Bluebirds Sing”. When Jim Ed was drafted in 1957, the group continued to record while he was on leave, and sister Norma filled in for him on tours. He was stationed at Fort Carson, Colorado.
In 1959, The Browns scored their biggest hit when their folk-pop single “The Three Bells” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop and country charts. The song also peaked at No. 10 on Billboard’s Rhythm and Blues listing. Remakes of the pop hits “Scarlet Ribbons” and “The Old Lamplighter” continued the hit streak, reaching the top 15 on Billboard’s Pop and Country surveys. The trio had moderate successes on the country music charts for seven years thereafter. In 1963, they joined the Grand Ole Opry and in 1967 the group disbanded.
Brown continued to record for RCA Victor and had a number of country hits, starting in 1965 while still with his sisters. In 1967, he released his first solo top ten hit, “Pop a Top”, which became his signature song. Beginning in 1969, he also gained his own syndicated TV series “The Country Place”, which would become famous for introducing Crystal Gayle. The show ended in 1971. In 1970, he gained a crossover hit with “Morning” which went to No. 4 on the country charts and No. 47 on the pop charts. Other hits included “Angel’s Sunday” (1971), “Southern Loving” (1973), “Sometime Sunshine” (1974) and “It’s That Time Of Night” (1974).
Beginning in 1976, Brown released a string of major duet hits with Helen Cornelius starting with the No. 1 hit, “I Don’t Want to Have to Marry You”. Other hits for the duo included “Saying Hello, Saying I Love You, Saying Goodbye” (1977), “Born Believer” (1977), “I’ll Never Be Free” (1978), “If the World Ran Out of Love Tonight” (1978), “You Don’t Bring Me Flowers” (a cover of the then-recent Neil Diamond-Barbra Streisand hit) (1979), “Lying In Love With You” (1979), “Fools” (1979), “Morning Comes Too Early” (1980) and “Don’t Bother to Knock” (1981).
Brown hosted the syndicated country television show Nashville On The Road, along with Jerry Clower, Helen Cornelius, and Wendy Holcombe. The entire cast was replaced in 1981. The new host, Jim Stafford, kept hosting it until it ended in 1983. He also hosted The Nashville Network programs, You Can Be A Star (a talent show), and Going Our Way, which featured Brown and his wife traveling the U.S. in an RV. Brown lived in the south Nashville suburb of Brentwood, Tennessee with his wife Becky.
Brown announced in September 2014 that he had been diagnosed with lung cancer and had temporarily retired from hosting his radio programs to undergo treatment. In early 2015 he was in remission. However, on June 3, 2015, he stated that the cancer had returned. Brown died a week later on June 11, 2015 at the age of 81.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Ed_Brown
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Rapper MC Supreme Killed in Malibu Car Crash
90s rapper MC Supreme, perhaps best known for his single “Black in America,” was killed Saturday in a suspected DUI in Malibu, authorities confirmed to ABC News. He was 47.
According to the report, Dewayne Lawrence Coleman, known under his stage name MC Supreme, was sitting with a woman in his Honda Civic on the shoulder of the Pacific Coast Highway Saturday morning when a pickup truck slammed into the vehicle.
Coleman’s car then rolled into an embankment above the beach. The pickup then rolled into another parked car on the shoulder with two passengers in it, both of whom are uninjured.
Coleman was pronounced dead at the scene. The woman he was with was transported to a nearby hospital with currently unknown injuries.
Philip Torries II, 34, was arrested after the crash on suspicion of DUI and vehicular manslaughter. He sustained minor injuries.
Coleman released “Black in America” in 1990 on the compilation album “We’re All in the Same Gang.” It also contained the anti-violence hit that shares the album name by the West Coast Rap All-Stars.
Actor Rob Lowe tweeted about the crash, though without mentioning Coleman, using it as an opportunity to criticize Malibu’s leadership.
Malibu’s leadership has pretty much always been a disgrace. Exhibit A: https://twitter.com/malibupatch/status/609887253419163649 …
Authorities are continuing to investigate what caused the crash.
Variety | Alex Stedman | June 14, 2015
https://www.yahoo.com/music/s/rapper-mc-supreme-killed-malibu-car-crash-235553847.html
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Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths…
June 2015
15: Jeanna Friske, 40, Russian singer (Blestyaschie), brain cancer; Mighty Sam McClain, 72, American blues singer.
14: Hugo Blanco, 74, Venezuelan musician and composer (“Moliendo Café”); Boris Godjunov, 74, Bulgarian singer; Walter Weller, 75, Austrian conductor and violinist.
13: Big Time Sarah, 62, American blues singer; Buddy Boudreaux, 97, American jazz saxophonist and band leader; Drs. P, 95, Swiss-born Dutch writer, composer and singer; MC Supreme, 47, American rapper, traffic collision; Ronald Wilford, 87, American orchestra manager (Columbia Artists Management).
12: Fernando Brant, 68, Brazilian poet and composer, complications of liver transplantation; Monica Lewis, 93, American singer and actress (Earthquake), voice of Chiquita Banana (since 1947); José Messias, 86, Brazilian musician and television personality, multiple organ failure from kidney disease; Ernest Tomlinson, 90, British composer.
11: Jim Ed Brown, 81, American country singer (The Browns), lung cancer; Ornette Coleman, 85, American saxophonist and free jazz pioneer.
9: Randy Howard, 65, American country singer, shot; James Last, 86, German composer and big band leader; Pumpkinhead, 39, American rapper; Rainer Riehn, 73, German composer and conductor.