Ray Bryant pianist and composer dies

Raphael Homer "Ray" Bryant (December 24, 1931 – June 2, 2011) was an American Jazz pianist and composer. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Ray Bryant began playing the piano at the age of six, also performing on bass in junior High School. Turning professional before his age of majority, Bryant accompanied many other leading players such as Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Melba Liston, and Coleman Hawkins, as well as singers Carmen McRae and Aretha Franklin. From the late 1950s, he led a trio, performing throughout the world, and also worked solo. In addition, he was a noted Jazz composer, with well-known themes such as "Cubano Chant," "The Madison Time," "Monkey Business," and "Little Susie" to his credit.
The musicians Kevin Eubanks, Duane Eubanks, and Robin Eubanks are his nephews. His brothers are the bass player Tommy Bryant (May 21, 1930 – March 1, 1982) and Len Bryant, who plays drums and is also a singer. His niece Jennifer Bryant who is also Len Bryant's daughter is a singer songwriter and producer.
Both Tommy and Ray Bryant formed a trio with Oz Perkins as the back-up band for the off-Broadway run of the comedy show Cambridge Circus, at Square East in 1964. The show starred John Cleese, Bill Oddie, Tim Brooke-Taylor, David Hatch, Jo Kendall, Graham Chapman, Jonathan Lynn, and Jean Hart.

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BOB FLANIGAN founded Four Freshmen group

Bob Flanigan (August 22, 1926 – May 15, 2011), was an American tenor vocalist and founding member of The Four Freshmen, a jazz vocal group.
Flanigan, who was born in Greencastle, Indiana, was a respected trombonist, and also played bass guitar with the outfit for several decades, beginning on September 20, 1948, and sang the top part.
After retiring from performing in 1992, Flanigan maintained the band's name and was responsible for the group's changing cast of performers.
Flanigan died of congestive heart failure at his home in Las Vegas, Nevada, on May 15, 2011.[1][2] He was 84.

Bernard Greenhouse

The acclaimed cellist was a founding member of the renowned Beaux Arts Trio. Bernard Greenhouse died Friday, 13 May 2011 at his home on Cape Cod. He was 95. Greenhouse was born in Newark, N.J., and began playing cello at age 8. As a teenager, he was admitted to what was then known as the Juilliard Graduate School in New York City. He began his career as a soloist in the mid-20th century, but it was a time when concert presenters rarely booked solo cellists, according to The New York Times. In 1955, he founded the Beaux Arts with violinist Daniel Guilet and pianist Menahem Pressler.

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Wikipedia Bio

Norma Zimmer

Known as one of the "Champagne Ladies" of "The Lawrence Welk Orchestra" and a studio singer who worked with Frank Sinatra and other pop stars, has died. She was 87.
Zimmer died peacefully Tuesday at her Brea, Calif., home, Welk's son, Larry, said Wednesday. Larry Welk didn't know the cause of death but said Zimmer had been living an active life in recent years. Born as Norma Larsen on a dairy farm in Larson, Idaho, she grew up in Seattle after her father moved the family west. She was singing in a church choir when a guest artist suggested she travel to Los Angeles and audition for a musical group. When she turned 18, she did just that. In 1944 she married Randy Zimmer.
She sang with a succession of top vocal groups — the Norman Luboff Choir, the Pete King Chorale, and the Ken Darby Singers among them — and she appeared on most of the popular television variety shows during the 1950s.

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Peter Lieberson

American composer Peter Lieberson, who wrote his most inspired songs for his great love, the late mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, has died at age 64. Lieberson died Saturday 2 May 20011 at a hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel, of complications from lymphoma. The New York-born composer, who lived in Santa Fe, N.M., was in Israel for medical treatment. He had been diagnosed with the cancer while still mourning his wife's 2006 death of breast cancer.
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Mexican composer Daniel Catán has died age 62

Catán was working on a new opera in Austin, Texas, a University of Texas spokeswoman said Monday. Catan was best known in the United States for his operatic adaptation of the Italian film "Il Postino," which is sung in Spanish. The Los Angeles Opera premiered "Il Postino" last year with Placido Domingo playing the poet Pablo Neruda and tenor Charles Castronovo as the wide-eyed postman Mario Ruoppolo. Born in Mexico City, he studied philosophy at the University of Sussex and music at the University of Southampton. He received a Ph.D. from Princeton University, where he studied with Milton Babbitt, James K.Randall, and Benjamin Boretz. Catán was the first Mexican composer to have an opera produced in the United States, when San Diego Opera produced his Rappaccini's Daughter in March, 1994. He has also composed orchestral and chamber works and film music. His style can be described as neo-impressionist. His music is richly lyrical, often painting evocative colours with the orchestral palette with soaring melodies atop.

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Classical guitarist Rolando Valdes-Blain has passed away.

New York City: ROLANDO VALDES-BLAIN spent his life performing for audiences from Broadway to the White House. He died at home saturady April 2, 2011, at the age of 89. Valdes-Blain was born in Cuba and came to New York City in his youth. In the 1930s he and his brother Alberto had a weekly music show on New York City radio station WNYC. After military service in World War II he performed with the Spanish Ballet and appeared in Tennessee Williams' Broadway play "Camino Real." He also composed the music for the play "Bullfight." In 1955 Valdes-Blain was a soloist with the Radio City Music Hall orchestra. He founded the Guitar Department at the Manhattan School of Music. In 1968 he performed at the White House.

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Welsh tenor Robert Tear has died in London. He was 72.

Versatile Welsh tenor Robert Tear, who appeared on more than 250 recordings, has died in a London hospice. He was 72.

Robert Tear, CBE (8 March 1939 – 29 March 2011) was a Welsh tenor and conductor.
Tear was born in Barry, Glamorgan, Wales, UK. He attended Barry Boys' Grammar School and was a choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge, where he studied under Kimbell. He was later elected an Honorary Fellow of the College. His operatic début was in 1966 as Peter Quint in Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw on the English Opera Group's tour of England and Russia. In 1970 he made his début at Covent Garden as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. He made his début as a conductor in 1985 in Minneapolis.
Tear was closely associated with the music of British composers Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett. He created the role of Dov in Tippett's opera The Knot Garden. During the 1989-90 season, he made a highly successful debut with the Glyndebourne Touring Company as the tormented Aschenbach in Britten's Death in Venice. He was well-known for his duets with Benjamin Luxon, reviving many Victorian parlour songs.
Tear was an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (Coleg Brenhinol Cerdd a Drama Cymru). In 1984, he was awarded the CBE. He was married with two daughters and lived in West London. Tear's death was announced on 29 March 2011.

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JOHNNY PEARSON

Death of Johnny Pearson "Sleepy Shores hit": 

Composer, pianist and arranger was one of the foremost names in music for British television programmes. Among his numerous credits are the themes for 3-2-1, Owen MD, All Creatures Great And Small and News At Ten and he also served for 16 years as the arranger and conductor for Top Of The Pops. Johnny Pearson was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire in 1925 and he studied the piano as a child and won a scholarship to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. He wanted to continue his studies but the family had little money and he became an engineering apprentice. He did his national service in the Royal Artillery and he played drums in an army band. His "Cast Your Fate To The Wind" [1965] was a Christmas hit and although it only climbed to No 5, it was on the charts for four months. It made the USTop 10 and was more successful than the American original. Pearsonhad only been paid an £8 session fee for the record, and after being promised better terms, Sounds Orchestral had further chart singles with "Moonglow" in the UK and "Canadian Sunset" in the US. John Valmore Pearson, pianist, composer and arranger: born Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 18 June 1925; married; died 20 March 2011.

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