Kenny Hurst on Fb, 3/24/16: Sad to announce my Dear Friend and Talented singer of Killian Dare and Lillian Axe and Logan, Mr. John “Johnny” Logan Vines has passed. I will never forget the great times we had under the same management and mutual respect we shared. His great friend and drummer Mark Kelley had the fortune to see Johnny a few days before he passed and was able to solidify all the feeling and respect they shared as Brothers From Another Mother. R.I.P., Johnny. I will miss you, my Friend.
[No more info was available.]* * * * *
ANDREW LOOMIS, DRUMMER FOR DEAD MOON
His Musical Legacy Defined Pacific Northwest Rock ‘n’ Roll: Andrew Loomis, the drummer for the seminal Oregon rock band Dead Moon, has died. Loomis was a founding member of the group, which formed in 1987 and took a hiatus in 2006; since then, Loomis and the band’s other two members, Fred and Toody Cole, have reunited sporadically for occasional Dead Moon shows and tours, and Loomis drummed for another band, the Shiny Things. While Loomis was cancer free at the time of his death, he had been diagnosed with lymphoma last year and spent much of 2015 fighting hard, undergoing surgery and radiation treatment for the disease and combatting some other health problems.
Loomis’ passing is an immense loss for Portland’s music scene and music in general. Dead Moon remain one of the most important and best bands to emerge from the Pacific Northwest, and have garnered regional acclaim and a significant fanbase overseas, as well as influencing countless bands in its wake. The Coles are justifiably renowned for their longtime dedication to DIY music—not only with Dead Moon but with the couple’s other bands, including Pierced Arrows and the Rats (and Fred Cole himself has lately been no stranger to his own health scares in recent months). But Loomis was a vital and foundational member of the Coles’ best-known and best-loved band, and his contribution to some of Oregon’s greatest rock ‘n’ roll music is immense. His achievements were enormous and his loss is incalculable.
Loomis’ companion Neva Knott posted the following in the public Dead Moon Fan Club Facebook group this afternoon:
It is with the heaviest heart I’m writing this. Andrew passed away at 4:50 this afternoon. He took a sudden and sharp, unexpected turn for worse a couple of weeks ago and has been in the hospital since Feb. 25. Tests determined he had a series of mini strokes at home, then developed respiratory problems over this past weekend. This morning he was put on a morphine drip, passed peacefully with his brothers, sister, Ruby Ann Swaner Whitfield, and me with him. We’ll throw a wake at Dante’s as soon as we can. Ironically, he is still cancer free.
Our condolences to all of Loomis’ friends and family. On a personal note, Andrew made music that touched me very deeply—and rocked my face off. The ability to see him regularly perform with Dead Moon around town in the early ’00s, complete with Loomis’ famous Jack Daniels/candle drum setup, was something I did not take for granted, and their first reunion gig at the Crystal Ballroom in 2014 was positively unforgettable. My turntable will be spinning Dead Moon records tonight and for the foreseeable future. Thank you, Andrew. You were incredible.
By Ned Lannamann
http://www.portlandmercury.com/blogtown/2016/03/08/17739955/andrew-loomis-drummer-for-dead-moon-has-died
[COMBO Newsletter Member Gregory Ego sent us this info. thank you for letting us know of Mr. Loomis’ passing, Greg.]* * * * *
DAVID BAKER, JR. – JAZZ COMPOSER
David Nathaniel Baker Jr. (December 21, 1931 – March 26, 2016) was an American symphonic jazz composer at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington. He has more than 65 recordings, 70 books, and 400 articles to his credit.
Baker was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and attended Crispus Attucks High School. He was educated at Indiana University, earning the Bachelor of Music degree in 1953 and the Master of Music in 1954. Baker studied with J. J. Johnson, János Starker, and George Russell.
His first teaching position was at Lincoln University in Jefferson, Missouri in 1955. Lincoln is a historic black institution, but it had recently begun to admit a broad diversity of students. Baker was resigned his position under threats of violence after he had eloped to Chicago to marry white opera singer Eugenia (“Jeannie”) Marie Jones. Missouri still had anti-miscegenation laws. One of Baker’s students at Lincoln University was the composer John Elwood Price.
Baker thrived in the Indianapolis jazz scene of the time, serving as a mentor of sorts to Indianapolis-born trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Originally a talented trombonist, he was forced to abandon that instrument after a jaw injury left him unable to play (although he played on the George Russell Sextet album Ezz-thetics after sustaining the injury).
Following the injury, he learned to play cello, a rare instrument in the jazz world.
Baker’s shift to cello largely ended his career as a performer and marked a period of increased interest in composition and pedagogy. Among the first and most important people to begin to codify the then largely aural tradition of jazz he wrote several seminal books on jazz, including Jazz Improvisation in 1988.
Baker taught in the Jazz Studies Department at Indiana University. As an educator he helped make Indiana University a highly regarded destination for students of jazz. Probably the best known students to pass under his tutelage are Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Peter Erskine, Jim Beard, Chris Botti, Jeff Hamilton, and the jazz-education mogul Jamey Aebersold.
Baker’s compositional works are often cited as examples of the Third Stream Jazz movement, although they run the gamut from traditional jazz compositions intended for improvisation, to through-composed symphonic works. He wrote over 2,000 compositions.
Mr. Baker was commissioned by more than 500 individuals and ensembles, including Josef Gingold, Ruggerio Ricci, Janos Starker, Harvey Phillips, the New York Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Beaux Arts Trio, Fisk Jubilee Singers, Trumpeter David Coleman, Louisville Symphony, Ohio Chamber Orchestra, the Audubon String Quartet, and the International Horn Society. His compositions, tallying over 2,000 in number, range from jazz and sonatas to film scores. He received significant media attention for his Concertino for Cell Phones and Orchestra, premiered in Chicago in October 2006, with a European premiere in Dvorak Hall, Prague, Czech Republic.
Baker was nominated for the 1973 Pulitzer Prize. He has also been nominated for a Grammy Award (1979). He was honored three times by Down Beat magazine: as a trombonist, for lifetime achievement, and most recently, in 1994, as the third inductee to their jazz Education Hall of Fame. He received the National Association of Jazz Educators Hall of Fame Award (1981), President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching (1986) from Indiana University, the Arts Midwest Jazz Masters Award (1990), and the Governor’s Arts Award of the State of Indiana (1991).
A dedicated music educator as well as composer and performer, Mr. Baker’s involvement in music organizations encompassed membership on the National Council on the Arts; board positions for the American Symphony Orchestra League, Arts Midwest, and the Afro-American Bicentennial Hall of Fame/Museum; and past chairs of the Jazz Advisory Panel to the Kennedy Center and the jazz/Folk/Ethnic Panel of the NEA. He was president of the International Association for Jazz Education, and later president of the National jazz Service Organization and senior consultant for music programs for the Smithsonian Institution.
Pianist Monika Herzig of Indiana University wrote a book about David Baker. David Baker: A Legacy in Music was published in 2011 by Indiana University Press.
Baker performed with his second wife Lida, a flautist, since the 1990s. He died on March 26, 2016, at age 84 at his Bloomington, Indiana home. He is survived by his wife and daughter.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Baker_(composer)
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Other Notable Musicians’ Deaths…
March 2016
31: Bram Beekman, 66, Dutch pianist
30: Andy Newman, 73, British pianist (Thunderclap Newman) (death announced on this date); Larry Payton, American R&B drummer (Brass Construction) (death announced on this date); Gianmaria Testa, 57, Italian singer-songwriter.
26: David Baker, 84, American jazz musician; Marinko Madžgalj, 37, Serbian actor, singer and television presenter; Ross Shapiro, American musician (The Glands) (death announced on this date); Joe Skyward, 57, American musician (The Posies, Sunny Day Real Estate), prostate cancer.
25: Josef Anton Riedl, 86, German composer.
24: Roger Cicero, 45, German jazz and pop musician, stroke.
23: Gegham Grigoryan, 65, Armenian opera singer; Jimmy Riley, 61, Jamaican reggae musician, cancer.