DEATHS ; Notable Passings; The Thread to Pay Last Respects

I grew up playing big band music, on saxophone, clarinet and very little flute. I love it all.



Hal Sherman, my jazz ensemble director in high school. I played with most of the guys playing in this reunion band, and know most of the rest... I was sitting in the audience, wiping away a tear or two during the evening at Dimitriou's Jazz Alley in Seattle. My brother is playing bari sax, which I also played as a senior.

 

Bill Buckner, baseball great who'll forever be known for one (mis)play, has died, aged only 69:

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/baseball/mlb/obituary-bill-buckner-1.5151818

He missed a routine grounder from Mookie Wilson in the '86 World Series, in which Boston ultimately lost.

He and future Blue Jay Wilson became good friends:

 

Sox Nation long ago took Buckner back into its good graces. We never would have won that pennant without him, and we all know it was John MacNamara's meatheaded managing that cost us that game and series. One of the loudest ovations I ever heard at Fenway was the day Buckner returned to the Sox for a career-end engagement in 1990. Any hard feelings were long gone.

The funny thing is, though, my most indelible memory of Bill Buckner is one image: him standing in front of a chain-link fence, underneath a giant BankAmericard "Think Of It As Money" billboard, watching Hank Aaron's 715th home run fall into the Braves' bullpen. Forty-five years later, that's still the first thought that comes to mind for me when his name comes up.

 

Leon Redbone RIP

 

In addition to being a noted hat wearer and well-dressed gentleman, Redbone was quite the character. He had a wry and eccentric sense of humor about him, and his voice was described as sounding like a "drunken trombone". He claimed to be 127 years old, but it's pretty well established that he was 69. They don't make too many like Leon. The world is now a little less fun.

 

Dammit, dammit, dammit...http://www.msn.com/en-ca/entertainm...ne-dies-at-69/ar-AAC9iyi?li=AAggNb9&ocid=iehp

 

So sorry. Loved his style and music.
HD

 

We had a chance to get him here years ago, and for some dumb reason or other the negotiations collapsed and it never happened. That's the greatest missed opportunity for a show we've ever had, and now we'll never get it. Very depressing.

 

My introduction to Leon Redbone came when a friend played his album On the Track for me back in 1976, and specifically the song "Desert Blues". I can't say I was a card-carrying fan, but I liked his music well enough every time I heard it. Still, I was saddened to learn of his passing.

 

A unique individual and a sound all his own . RIP Leon.

 

Malcolm John Rebennack, better known as Dr. John, died "towards the break of day" today of a heart attack. He was 77 years old.

 

http://www.nitetripper.com/

 

Death is rarely a good thing, but this one really bothers me.

 

An unidentified body found alone in a house in Oregon two months ago has been identified as that of original TV "Mouseketeer" Dennis Day.

No relation to Jack Benny's tenor of the same name, the 76-year-old Day had been reported missing by his husband last year, and no trace of the former child performer was found until the body was discovered on property Day owned in the town of Phoenix, Ore. Although the body was too damaged to allow positive DNA or dental-record identification of the remains, forensic scientists say they have confirmed that it was Day's, but authorities have not revealed what caused his death.

Day was an original member of the "Mickey Mouse Club" from its formation in 1955 thru the 1957 season, and had a career on the stage as a dancer-actor in Los Angeles and New York into the 1980s.

 

He had a pretty grand sendoff, Scotty. His Second Line gathering outside Kermit's Treme Mother in Law Lounge before hitting the streets.

 

That was awesome. Wish I was there (but I usually wish I was in NOLA).

I dug the little guy on trombone about a minute in.

Sent from my moto g(6) using Tapatalk

 

That was sweet. That whole group on the bones had it going on. I too love NOLA but it causes my usual over indulgence in food and drink to look like snack time at day care.