Dick Fazio, founder of Flathead Valley Jazz Society, has died.

RICHARD FAZIORICHARD FAZIO, 77, on June 12 in Boulder City, NV. A master pianist and vocalist, he performed with several U.S. Navy bands and the Sea Chanters chorus while stationed in Washington, D.C. His career took him to Miami, Tucson, Glacier National Park, Sacramento and Las Vegas.

He was involved in the founding of the Flathead Valley Jazz Society in Montana and played with the Flathead Stompers. He was on the faculty of STJS traditional jazz camp, maintained the pianos for the annual Jubilee, and played on the Delta King. He was also a member of Stan Mark’s Sin City SuitZ in Las Vegas.

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Lew Shaw started writing about music as the publicist for the famous Berkshire Music Barn in the 1960s. He joined the West Coast Rag in 1989 and has been a guiding light to this paper through the two name changes since then as we grew to become The Syncopated Times.  47 of his profiles of today's top musicians are collected in Jazz Beat: Notes on Classic Jazz. Volume two, Jazz Beat Encore: More Notes on Classic Jazz contains 43 more! Lew taps his extensive network of connections and friends throughout the traditional jazz world to bring us his Jazz Jottings column every month.

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