LLOYD BYASSEE, 81, on March 16 after a long illness in Castaic, Calif. Over the years he was the drummer for Turk Murphy (appearing on the Ed Sullivan TV Show), Titanic, South Frisco, Bay City, Canal Street and Great Pacific bands. He toured Israel with the Hot Frogs and George Segal where at one performance attended by Menachem Begin, Itzhak Perlman sat in with the band and played Lloyd's drums, which are currently in use at a United Artists studio where his son works.
RALPH DIANA, Leader of the Red Pepper Jazz Band from Los Angeles and banjoist with Cottonmouth D'Arcy's Jazz Vipers, Party Peppers, San Juan Jazz Rascals, Smog City and Southern Stompers.
DAVID BAKER, 84, on March 26 in Bloomington, Indiana. An acclaimed symphonic jazz composer and groundbreaking educator with more than 65 recordings, 70 books and 400 articles to his credit, he was on the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for 50 years and founded its Jazz Studies program, serving as its chair from 1968 to 2013. He co-founded the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra and was its conductor and musical/artistic director from 1990 to 2012. Nominated for a Pulizer Prize and Grammy Award, he was the third inductee into the Jazz Education Hall of Fame.
GATO BARBIERI, 83, of pneumonia on April 2 in New York
