Marta Eggerth, 'the Callas of Operetta,' Dies at 101

Marta Eggerth, an operetta star in Europe and the United States who was almost certainly the last living link to the grand musical confections of Franz Lehar and Emmerich Kalman, died on Thursday, December 26, 2013 at her home in Rye, N.Y. Marta Eggerth was a Hungarian-born singer/actress from "The Silver Age of Operetta". Many of the 20th century's most famous operetta composers, including Franz Lehár, Fritz Kreisler, Robert Stolz...She was 101....NYTimes Obit
A coloratura soprano, Miss Eggerth was often called “the Maria Callas of operetta” for her vocal facility, great charm and sheer ubiquity — in opera houses, on the concert stage, in the movies and on Broadway — in the 1930s and long afterward. Wikipedia

Jazz flutist-Sax player Yusef Lateef, dies...93.

Grammy-winning musician and composer Yusef Lateef, one of the first to incorporate world music into traditional jazz, has died Monday 23 DEC 2013 at his home in Shutesbury in western Massachusetts. He was 93. Lateef, a tenor saxophonist known for his impressive technique, also became a top flutist. He was a jazz soloist on the oboe and played bassoon. He introduced different types of flutes and other woodwind instruments from many countries into his music and is credited with playing world music before it was officially named. From Wikipedia Bio: Yusef Abdul Lateef (born William Emanuel Huddleston, October 9, 1920 – December 23, 2013) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer and educator for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950. Although Lateef's main instruments were the tenor saxophone and flute, he also played oboe and bassoon, both rare in jazz, and also used a number of non-western instruments such as the bamboo flute, shanai, shofar, xun, arghul and koto. He is known for having been an innovator in the blending of jazz with "Eastern" music. Peter Keepnews, in his New York Times obituary of Lateef, wrote that the musician "played world music before world music had a name."

Herman "Trigger" Alpert passed away on Sunday, December 22, 2013.

Herman "Trigger" Alpert (born September 3, 1916) was an American jazz double-bassist. He was born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Alpert attended Indiana University in the late 1930s and moved to New York City, where he played with Alvino Rey in 1940 and with Glenn Miller soon after. Over the course of the 1940s he played with Tex Beneke, Benny Goodman, Bud Freeman, Ella Fitzgerald, Muggsy Spanier, Roy Eldridge, Louis Armstrong, Ray McKinley, Bernie Leighton (1945–46), Frank Sinatra, Woody Herman, and Jerry Jerome. In the 1950s he worked with Artie Shaw, Coleman Hawkins, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Mundell Lowe, Don Elliott, Gene Krupa, and Buddy Rich. He released one album as a bandleader on Riverside Records in 1956, entitled Trigger Happy!. Tony Scott, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Joe Wilder, Urbie Green, and Ed Shaughnessy all appear on the album. In 1970 he left music and took up photography. - Wikipedia

Chico Hamilton (born Foreststorn Hamilton, September 20, 1921 – November 25, 2013)

Great musician was an American jazz drummer and bandleader.

Chico Hamilton recorded his first album as leader in 1955 with George Duvivier (double-bass) and Howard Roberts (jazz guitar) for Pacific Jazz. In same year Hamilton formed an unusual quintet in L.A. featuring cello, flute, guitar, bass and drums. The quintet has been described as one of the last important West Coast Jazz bands. The original personnel included flutist Buddy Collette, guitarist Jim Hall [who died December 10, 2013], cellist Fred Katz [whi died September 7, 2013] and bassist Jim Aton, who was later replaced by Carson Smith. Hamilton continued to tour, using different personnel, from 1957 to 1960. The group including flutist Paul Horn and John Pisano was featured in the filmSweet Smell of Success in 1957. The same group, this time including Eric Dolphy appeared in the film Jazz on a Summer's Day in 1960.  Wikipedia Bio

Jim Hall, Master Jazz Guitarist Who Played With the Greats, Dies at 83

James Stanley Hall (December 4, 1930 – December 10, 2013) was an American jazz guitarist, composer and arranger.

Hall's musical style develops with every new album and collaboration he engages in. His approach to music is unique - he views music as a way to break all barriers, not limited to music, as well as to share his discoveries with others. Music is a vehicle of peace for Hall and he therefore makes it a goal to reach out to others and communicate his music, teaching seminars all over the world. He is innovative and always interested in new modes of musical expression to further his ability...from Wikipedia Bio

Conrad Susa, 78, Composer and Teacher, Dies

Conrad Susa, a composer for the voice, for the theater and for the operatic stage, where voice and theater converge, died on Nov. 21 2013, at his home in San Francisco. He was 78. NYTimes 

Conrad Stephen Susa (April 26, 1935 – November 21, 2013) was an American composer, particularly known for his operas. His 1973 chamber opera, Transformations, set to texts from the poems of Anne Sexton, is one of the most frequently performed operas by an American composer and was one of the featured operas of the 2006 Wexford Opera Festival. His other compositions include choral works and incidental music for various plays. His music is published by the E.C. Schirmer Music Company.
Susa was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania and educated at Carnegie Institute of Technology and the Juilliard School, where his teachers included William Bergsma, Vincent Persichetti and, by his own claim, P. D. Q. Bach, a character created by American composer Peter Schickele. In 1988 he joined the faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music where he served as Chair of the Composition Department....from Wikipedia Bio