The jazz community is mourning another of its great masters. Legendary trumpeter Freddie Hubbard passed away December 29th in Sherman Oaks, California. Hubbard celebrated his 70th birthday in March with a special appearance at Yoshi's-San Francisco, along with The New Jazz Composers Octet, an ensemble organized by his manager and fellow trumpeter David Weiss. On Nov. 26th, however, Hubbard was admitted to Sherman Oaks Hospital after suffering a heart attack. He remained there until …

By a sad irony, just as the first ever African-American to become president of the United States was being sworn in in Washington DC, one of the legends of African-American music passed away in a Kingston, NY hospital. Saxophonist and flutist David 'Fathead' Newman was best known as a star soloist with the Ray Charles band, but his multi-faceted career was much more than that. His synthesis of styles across the spectrum of black music was unique, combining hard bop, gospel and R&B; the list of a …

Members of the New York jazz community were among those shocked and dismayed by news of a fatal plane accident when they learned that two of their number were among the fatalities in the February 12th crash of Continental Flight 3407. Reed player Gerry Niewood and guitarist Coleman Mellett, en route to a performance with Chuck Mangione and the Buffalo Symphony, were among the 49 people who boarded the flight in Newark, NJ, all of whom perished when the aircraft crashed into a Buffalo house. Reac …

Members of the New York jazz community were among those shocked and dismayed by news of a fatal plane accident when they learned that two of their number were among the fatalities in the February 12th crash of Continental Flight 3407. Reed player Gerry Niewood and guitarist Coleman Mellett, en route to a performance with Chuck Mangione and the Buffalo Symphony, were among the 49 people who boarded the flight in Newark, NJ, all of whom perished when the aircraft crashed into a Buffalo house. Reac …

Jazz has lost one of its greatest unsung heroes. William 'Buddy' Collette, Grammy-nominated woodwind master, bandleader, composer/arranger, political and cultural activist, educator and mentor to two generations of jazz artists died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He had just turned 89 in August. It was my pleasure and privilege to meet Buddy on a number of occasions in the process of preparing a chapter about him in my book The Flute in Jazz: Window on World Music …