“Toots” Thielemans dies at 94
Belgian musician Jean-Baptiste “Toots” Thielemans, who turned the lowly harmonica into a virtuoso jazz instrument, died Aug. 22 in Brussels. He was 94. Thielemans, a
Pianist Derek Smith dies at 85
DEREK SMITH, 85, on Aug. 21 in New York City. Born in London, his first professional gig was at age 14 when someone rolled a
Legendary cocktail pianist Irving Fields dies at 102
IRVING FIELDS, 101, on Aug. 20 in New York City. Considered the last of the legendary cocktail pianists who tickled the ivories in swank nightspots
Fred Hellerman of The Weavers dies at 89
FRED HELLERMAN, 89, on Sept. 1 at his home in Weston, Conn., following a lengthy illness. The last surviving member of the original Weavers formed
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.
