This is a complete shock to me. I had not

listened to the jazz station very much in these latter years but,

whenever I did, it was always a treat to hear Sam Fields. I went on the

air after Sam Fields every night for four years at 88.1 FM KKJZ. Sam

was a gentle and quiet soul. Not because he was shy, quite the

contrary. Sam spent his time thinking and listening to what people were

saying above, below and between the lines. I got to know Sam quite well

and you have to get to know him well to truly enjoy and appreciate the

humor and knowledge that he possessed.

Sam pretty much kept to

himself and played some of the most classic jazz music on the air. He

had a great laugh and every night he had a story to tell me about some

musician or some incident that happened back in the day, followed by a

chuckle that was unforgettable.

Sam always knew what he wanted

to play. I used to know which artist I wanted to play but, Sam knew the

artist, the song and which album it was on. I would be talking with him

in the studio while a tune was playing. There might be 20 seconds left

before the song was over and Sam would comfortably get up, go into the

other room where the library was located, grab the disc that he wanted,

walk back in the studio, take the disc out and look at it for a second,

pop it in the player, hit the tune that he wanted and it would be as

smooth and seamless as ever. No sweat for a man that was in the

business way before I could even utter the word jazz.

Playing

jazz in the late hours and in the wee early morning is a special time.

Most of the world is asleep and it is so cerebral to spend the time

with just you and the music. It is a time to reflect on life and

express that reflection through jazz music. Sam had many years and an

arsenal of jazz knowledge. His absence and even-toned sound and style

of selecting the music will be missed and will once again historically

alter the sweet sound of jazz music on the radio.

We all owe

Sam Fields a great debt of gratitude for a lifetime service of

providing us with the sounds of music that we all know and love today.

I have been asked to be a Pall Bearer at Sam's

transition into the after lifeand I can't think of a more special honor

than that.  I was in New York City when the great Little Niles

took the A train to the Jazz Central Station. I know when Sam arrives,

Chuck and all of our wonderful beautiful musicians and lovers of this

music will be there at the station waiting with a warm welcome.

LeRoy Downs

Services for

 

Announcer/Braodcaster,Sam

 

Fields are open to the public

 

and will be held this Friday

 

September 30th at 1pm :

Spalding Mortuary

 

3045 S La Brea Ave (at Jefferson Blvd)

 

Los Angeles, CA 90016

 

(323) 934-1181

 

Sam Fields, 55; Noted DJ

By Valerie Nelson, Times Staff Writer  9/25/05

Sam Fields, a disc jockey at KKJZ-FM (88.1) who had been bringing his blues-influenced taste in jazz to the Los Angeles airwaves since 1972, has died. He was 55.

Fields,

who did not show up for his Thursday afternoon shift at the radio

station, was found dead by police Friday at his North Hollywood home.

No other details were immediately available.

“It's a terrible shock and loss,”

said Saul Levine, the president and general manager of KMZT-FM (105.1)

who gave Fields his first break in jazz radio at the pioneering KBCA-FM

in 1972. “He contributed so much to the field of jazz.”

His

taste in music was “never wavering and instantly recognizable,” said

Payal Kumar, broadcast director at KKJZ-FM, which is based at Cal State

Long Beach. “There was nobody better.”

“People always commented on Sam's choice in music, and how it elevated the station as a whole,” she said.

When

Levine finally had an opening for a disc jockey, he couldn't locate

Fields' contact information. Instead, he found Fields working behind

the counter at a deli on West 3rd Street and said, “I have a job for you.”

Fields

was also heard on other local radio stations, including KROQ, KLAC and

KMET. His personal jazz favorites included Wes Montgomery, Bud Powell,

Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter and Horace Silver.

Fields, who was a private man, never showed anger or dissatisfaction, Levine said.

“He was one of the nicest persons we ever had working with us,” he said.

When KKJZ-AM switched to classical music in 1990, the Long Beach station, which was then KLON-FM, hired Fields and another of its jazz institutions, Chuck Niles, who died last year.

Reached

during his first shift in 1990, Fields told The Times, “It's a little

bit different, but I'm enjoying it.” A Jimmy Smith number was playing

in the background.

Fields' survivors include two sisters, a brother, a niece and a nephew.

Al McKibbon, whose robust acoustic bass anchored some of the most

advanced and memorable jazz recordings of the 1940s and 1950s, died

July 29 at a hospital in Los Angeles. No cause of death was reported.

He was 86.

For nearly a decade, he was at the center of the heady bebop musical

revolution in New York. Among the first U.S. musicians to master the

complexities of Afro-Cuban music, he provided much of the rhythmic

support for trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie's experiments combining Latin

American music and jazz.

“I began to feel that the Cubans were as close as you could come to

African culture because they still practiced the roots of our music,”

McKibbon wrote three years ago in an afterword to Raul Fernandez's book

“Latin Jazz: The Perfect Combination.”

He collaborated on some of the most important recordings of

composer-pianist Thelonious Monk. In 1949 and 1950, he appeared on

several Miles Davis and Gil Evans recordings that resulted in the

celebrated “Birth of the Cool” album. In the 1950s, McKibbon was a

member of pianist George Shearing's popular quintet, and after settling

in Los Angeles, he performed anonymously on many television shows and

theme-song recordings, as well as with an all-star musical roster that

included Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Cannonball Adderley

and Nat “King” Cole.

Alfred Benjamin McKibbon was born Jan. 1, 1919, in Chicago and

grew up in Detroit. He began his career as a vaudeville tap dancer,

switching to bass at his brother's suggestion when the string bass

began to replace the tuba in jazz groups.

After working with Lucky Millinder's traveling big band at a Detroit

nightclub, he joined Millinder full time during a 1944 engagement at

Washington's Howard Theater. Later that year, McKibbon was in New York,

sitting in at Minton's Playhouse, the Harlem club where the bebop

revolution was launched by Monk, Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie

Parker.

In 1945, he landed one of his most important early jobs while in the

audience of a New York nightclub. When the bass player for tenor

saxophonist Coleman Hawkins did not show up, McKibbon went onstage with

a borrowed instrument; from then on, he never lacked work.

He was part of Norman Granz's Jazz at the Philharmonic tours in 1945

and 1946, then joined Gillespie's big band in 1947. A fellow member of

the rhythm section was Cuban conga master Chano Pozo, who taught

McKibbon the intricacies of Cuban rhythms.

“We basically spoke pidgin English to communicate,” McKibbon told Latin

Beat magazine this year, “but we understood each other primarily

through our music.”

Inspired by the infectious, syncopated beat, Gillespie wrote several

Latin-style tunes, including “Manteca” (Cuban slang for “marijuana” at

the time), which featured a solo bass introduction by McKibbon.

“We had no idea we were creating anything new other than just a union

of jazz with Pozo's conga drum,” McKibbon said. “We were not thinking

of the moment as some new genre being invented.”

While working intermittently with Gillespie from 1947 to 1950, McKibbon

also appeared with jazz greats Johnny Hodges, Earl Hines and Count

Basie. In 1947, he performed on “Genius of Modern Music,” the landmark

two-volume work that featured the compositions of the enigmatic Monk.

“Thelonious would come to my house unannounced,” McKibbon told Latin

Beat, “and sit at my table with a matchbox full of pot and a pint of

whiskey and sit there all evening and still be there when I woke up the

next morning. Sometimes he'd stay there for two or three days. I never

knew why, and I never asked.”

From 1951 to 1958, McKibbon was the backbone of Shearing's quintet, but

he left the road to settle in Los Angeles. He joined the NBC studio

orchestra and worked in other ensembles. He performed on the Dean

Martin, Bob Hope and Carol Burnett shows, and played on many TV theme

songs, including “Gunsmoke,” “Green Acres,” “Batman” and “The Odd

Couple.”

He continued to lead his own groups, mostly in California, until the

past few months. He made his first and only recording as a bandleader

when he was 80, performing the quirky tunes of Monk and the lively

Latin jazz he had learned from Pozo and Gillespie more than a

half-century before.

By Matt Schudel

Lucky Thompson, a legendary tenor and soprano saxophonist who took his

place among the elite improvisers of jazz from the 1940's to the 1960's

and then quit music, roamed the country and ended up homeless or

hospitalized for more than a decade, died on Saturday in Seattle. He

was 81.

His death was confirmed by his son, Daryl Thompson; the cause was not

announced. Mr. Thompson was living in an assisted-care facility at the

Washington Center for Comprehensive Rehabilitation in Seattle.

Mr. Thompson connected the swing era to the more cerebral and complex

bebop style. His sophisticated, harmonically abstract approach to the

tenor saxophone built off that of Don Byas and Coleman Hawkins; he

played with beboppers, but resisted Charlie Parker's pervasive

influence. He also played the soprano saxophone authoritatively.

“Lucky had that same thing that Paul Gonsalves had, that melodic

smoothness,” one of his contemporaries, the saxophonist Johnny Griffin,

said in an interview. “He wasn't rough like Ben Webster, and he didn't

play in the Lester Young style. He was a beautiful balladeer. But he

played with all the modernists.”

Mr.

Thompson was born Eli Thompson in Columbia, S.C., on June 16, 1924, and

moved to Detroit with his family as a child. After graduating from high

school in 1942, he played with Erskine Hawkins's band, then called the

'Bama State Collegians; the next year he moved to New York as a member

of Lionel Hampton's big band.

After six months with Hampton, while still very young, he swiftly

ascended the ranks of hip. He played in Billy Eckstine's short-lived

big band, one of the first to play bebop, which also included Charlie

Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. He joined the Count Basie Orchestra in

1944.

In 1945 he left Basie in Los Angeles, and in 1945 and 1946 he played

on, and probably created arrangements for, record dates for the

Exclusive label, including those by the black cowboy star and former

Ellington singer Herb Jeffries. When the Charlie Parker-Dizzy Gillespie

sextet came through Los Angeles, Mr. Thompson was hired by Gillespie as

a temporary replacement for Parker. Mr. Thompson was also on one of

Parker's most celebrated recording sessions, for Dial Records on March

28, 1946.

Fiercely intelligent, Mr. Thompson was outspoken in his feelings about

what he considered the unfair control of the jazz business by record

companies, music publishers and booking agents. Partly for these

reasons, he left the United States to live in Paris from 1957 to 1962,

making a number of recordings with groups including the pianist Martial

Solal. After returning to New York for a few years, he lived in

Lausanne, Switzerland, from late 1968 to 1970. He came back to New York

again, taught at Dartmouth in 1973 and 1974, then disappeared from the

Northeast, and soon from music entirely.

Friends say he lived for a time on Manitoulin Island in Ontario and in

Georgia before eventually moving west. By the early 90's he was in

Seattle, mostly living in the woods or in shelter offered by friends.

He did not own a saxophone. He walked long distances, and was reported

to have been in excellent, muscular shape.

He was hospitalized a number of times in 1994, and finally entered the Washington Center for Comprehensive Rehabilitation.

His skepticism about the jazz business may have kept him from a career

recording as a bandleader – “Tricotism,” from 1956, and “Lucky

Strikes,” from 1964, are among the few albums he made under his own

name – but he left behind a pile of imposing performances as a sideman.

Among them are recordings with Dinah Washington in 1945, Thelonious

Monk in 1952, Miles Davis in 1954 (the “Walkin' “ session, a watershed

in Davis's career), and Oscar Pettiford and Stan Kenton in 1956. His

final recordings were made in 1973.

In addition to his son, Daryl, of Stone Mountain, Ga., Mr. Thompson is

survived by a daughter, Jade Thompson-Fredericks of New Jersey; and two

grandchildren.

Part of Mr. Thompson's legend came from the fact that he was rarely

seen in public; at times it was hard for his old friends to find him.

But the drummer Kenny Washington remembered Mr. Thompson's showing up

when Mr. Washington was performing with Johnny Griffin's group at Jazz

Alley in Seattle in 1993. Mr. Thompson listened, conversed with the

musicians, and then departed on foot for the place where he was staying

– in a wooded spot in the Beacon Hill neighborhood, more than three

miles away.

Bluesman Little Milton, born James Milton Campbell,

passed away this morning, August 4. The 71-year old Blues Hall of Fame,

W.C. Handy Award winning and Grammy nominated guitarist never awoke

from a coma following a stroke he suffered on July 27.

Born in the Mississippi Delta near Inverness, Mississippi on September

7, 1934, Little Milton spent more than five decades in the industry.

Often compared to B.B. King, he developed his own unique sound by

fusing early country & western music and the Mississippi Delta

gospel and blues. Though acclaimed in blues circles, Campbell never

achieved the fame of King; nevertheless, his nearly constant touring

took him all over the world.

Little Milton became an accomplished musician by the time he was a

teenager, playing by ear and learning from his father “Big” Milton.

Campbell was discovered by Ike Turner and recorded his first hit for

Sun Records at age 18. He signed with Bobbin Records in East St. Louis

and recorded “I'm A Lonely Man” and “That Will Never Do” and went on to

record the 1965 hit “We're Gonna Make It” for Chess Records. Campbell

recorded “Little Bluebird” for Stax Records in 1971 and scored other

hits including “Grits Ain't Groceries” and “If Walls Could Talk.”

In 1984, Little Milton signed with Malaco Records.

This marked the

beginning of his longest professional association, as well as the

beginning of the last chapter in his illustrious career. He became one

of the label's biggest selling artists and earned the distinction of

being inducted to the Blues Hall of Fame, winning the W.C. Handy Blues

Entertainer of the Year award in 1988 and being nominated for a Grammy

Award in 2000. During his tenure with Malaco he released fourteen

albums that included the hits “Annie Mae's Cafe”, “Cheatin' Habit” and

his anthem to the music he loved “Blues Is Alright.” Most importantly,

Little Milton will be remembered for his contributions to this genre of

music and the education thereof.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that contributions be made

to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, in memory of Little Milton.

Send the

donations to: Memorial and Honor Program, St. Jude Children’s Research

Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, or call:

1-800-873-6983.

I just received additional information on Michael from his wife Susan below. If you can help at all, please do!

Michael Brecker has Myelodysplastic

Syndrome. If you wish to send cards or letters to Michael, you can do so at the

following address or email him at info@michaelbrecker.com

 

info@michaelbrecker.com

MICHAEL BRECKER

ROOM 1137

SLOAN-KETTERING MEMORIAL CANCER

CENTER

1275

YORK AVENUE

NEW

YORK, NY 10021

FROM: Susan Brecker
Michael Brecker needs your help!

Dear Family and Friends,

My husband, Michael Brecker,

has been diagnosed with MDS (myelodysplastic syndrome), and it's critical that

he has a marrow or blood stem cell transplant—which has nothing to do with the

polarizing issue of embryonic stem cells. The initial search for a donor,

including Michael's siblings and children, has not resulted in a suitable match.

We now hope to have as many people tested as possible that share a similar

genetic background as my husband.  There are some important points to understand

concerning this process:

1. The screening involves only a blood test. It can be

done very easily at a donor center of the National Marrow Donor Program. The

blood test identifies your HLA tissue type. The cost for the test is generally

$40 to $95 depending on the donor center and the laboratory that completes the

test. After this initial testing, all medical expenses are paid for by the

patient or the patient’s insurance.  Go to www.marrow.org or call

1-800-MARROW-2 to find the donor center nearest you. In NYC, call Frazier at the

NY Blood Bank [212-570-3441 / 310 East 67th Street] to make an appointment.  The

test is $40. If it’s difficult to make it to a blood center, private kits are

available from Tepnel Life Codes [800-915-3695]. Order the “HLA [A][B][DR]” kit

for $140. You will need to have a small vial of blood drawn. Indicate to Tepnel

that your test is for “Michael Brecker” and they will know to whom to forward

your results.
 
2.  As a volunteer donor, you are never legally obligated

to donate. Individual decisions are always respected. However, a late decision

not to donate can be life-threatening to a patient and among the most

disheartening news a family can ever receive. Therefore, please carefully

consider your decision to be a donor.

3. Should you be selected as a

potential donor for Michael or any other patient, please understand that there

have been tremendous advances in “bone marrow transplants” and the term itself

can be misleading. At major cancer centers, blood stem cells can in nearly all

instances be harvested directly from your blood.  A donor is simply connected to

a machine that separates the blood stem cells before the donor’s blood reenters

his/her system. On occasion, stem cells may have to be harvested directly from

your bone marrow. All the necessary precautions are taken to ensure the safety

and well-being of the donor. A number of personal health questions are asked

when individuals join the National Marrow Donor Program Registry to be sure they

are in general good health.  In the event you’re asked to donate marrow or blood

cells, a volunteer will first receive a thorough physical examination—at no cost

to him or herself.

4. A match for Michael would be most likely come from

those of Eastern European Jewish descent. If you or anyone you know are in this

category please make a special effort to immediately get tested. Ultimately, you

would be doing something not just for Michael, but for so many more who are in a

similar situation as my husband.

5. You are now part of our internet-based drive for donor

testing.  If everyone who receives email can motivate a bunch of their friends

to get tested, and those friends then forward this email to get their friends to

get tested, we will have rapidly expanded the pool of potential donors. I urge

all of you to get tested AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.

Finally, any local National

Marrow Donor Program donor center can assist in organizing a drive for Michael,

although it would be desirable if you can get a large group, e.g. a synagogue,

to sponsor it. The “Gift of Life,” an organization whose mission is to increase

the representation of the Jewish people in the bone marrow donor pool, will test

you for free when part of a donor drive organized through “Gift of Life.”  Call

561.988.0100 [ http://www.giftoflife.org] for

further information. There exist other organizations that have a similar mission

for African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, etc.  Whatever your roots, please get

tested to assist others!
 
Should you have any questions about any of

this, please do not hesitate to get in touch with Michael's management office at

212.302.9200 or info@michaelbrecker.com

  

Thank you

so much for your love and support. We are so grateful.  
 
 
Susan

 ox

FAQs ABOUT STEM CELL

TRANSPLANTS

Susan Brecker’s heartfelt plea elicited an outpouring of

support for Michael—and an outpouring of questions. As there is outdated and

conflicting information on the web concerning the stem cell transplant process

that can assist Michael and so many others, we assembled a list of frequently

asked questions—a hybrid of material found throughout the web in addition to new

information. Before contacting Michael’s management office with your questions,

please review the following. Thank you for your support.


Q01: What is a bone marrow or blood stem cell

transplant?

A: It’s a potentially life-saving treatment for patients

with MDS, leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood diseases. The transplanted healthy

stem cells from a donor replace a patient's unhealthy blood cells that have been

destroyed by chemotherapy.
 
 
Q02:  Are these the same stem cells

about which there exists so much controversy?

A:  No. Those are

embryonic stem cells—which are completely undifferentiated. Donors

would be providing blood stem cells where the extent of differentiation

is only the specific type of blood cell that will form.
 

Q03:  Does my blood type

matter?

A:  Not at all. The testing is for genotype (tissue type) and

not blood type.
 
 
Q04:  Who can be tested?   

A:

 Donors must be between the ages of 18 and 60, in good general health and be

free of chronic diseases. For example, volunteers with serious asthma, Hepatitis

 B or C or most forms of cancer (regardless of whether in remission) cannot be

accepted.

 
Q05:  What is the procedure?
 
A: Testing

only takes a couple of minutes and, at worse, is as painless as giving blood.

Blood is drawn for testing and a consent form is filled out. In some instances,

a buccal swab (a sterile Q-tip which is rubbed along the wall of your inner

cheek to collect cells) is used.
 

Q06:  Does a person's race

or ethnicity affect matching?

A:  Because tissue type is inherited,

patients are most likely to match someone of their same race and ethnicity.

There is a special need to recruit more donors who are, for example, African

Americans, Native Americans, European Jews, Armenians, Hawaiians, Pacific

Islanders, Asians, Hispanics and Latinos. The reason why there are greater

number or donors needed for these groups is as a result of either purges of the

population (genocide, etc.) and/or relatively few people in the group in the

international registry. A match for Michael would be most likely come from those

of Eastern European Jewish descent.
 
 
Q07:  Where do I go to get

tested?
 
A:  Contact the NY Blood Bank [212-570-3441 / 310 East 67th Street] and

make an appointment for HLA typing. If you’re not in NY, go to

www.marrow.org or call 1-800-MARROW-2 to find the donor center nearest

you. Marrow.org will assist donors who wish to join the national registry. We

hope that you will join the national registry, however, if you do not wish to

join the registry [see Q13] or it’s difficult to make it to a blood center,

private kits are available from Tepnel Life Codes [800-915-3695]. Order the “HLA

[A][B][DR]” kit for $140. You will need to have a small vial of blood drawn.

Indicate to Tepnel that your test is for “Michael Brecker” and they will know to

whom to forward your results.
 

Q08: How much is the

testing and who pays for it?

A:  The test generally cost $40 to $95

depending on the donor center and the laboratory that completes the test.

Testing at the New York Blood Center is just $40.  However, if you’re African

American, Hispanic, Native American or Asian testing is free at

any donor center that’s part of the National Marrow Donor Program network

[800-MARROW-2]. More than 100 centers throughout the country—including the New

York Blood Center are part of the network. Following the initial testing, all

medical expenses are paid for by the patient or the patient’s

insurance.
 
 
Q09:  What is the test for?
 
A:  The test is to determine

whether a tissue-type match exists between the donor and the patient. More

specifically, potential donors [and the patient] are given an HLA or Human

Leukocyte Antigen test. Antigens are found on the surface of infection-fighting

white blood cells (leukocytes). A match between specific donor and recipient

antigens is critical to having a successful transplant (i.e., where the two

immune systems will not go to war with one another). Should you see your HLA

results, the numbers indicated are the identifying gene-pair markers (alleles)

that are responsible for your “A” antigen, for example, to be different than

someone else’s “A” antigen. In the fortuitous event you’re deemed a good match

after three specific antigens are compared, you will be asked for a second blood

test.
 

Q10:  What are the chances of my being

selected?

A:  As you might imagine, given the number of genes that need to match,

the overall chances are quite low…but the more people tested, the more likely

there will be a perfect match awaiting everyone.
 

Q11:  Has Michael’s

family been tested?
 
A:  Yes, both his siblings and children—none

match. There is also a rumor afloat [04AUG] that a match has been found for

Michael….regrettably, this is inaccurate.
 

Q12:  How are patients

actually matched with donors?

A:  The results of blood samples from

donors or umbilical cord blood units [see Q17] are added to different

registries. The registries are then searched for a donor whose tissue type

matches that of their patient.
 

Q13:  Can I be tested to be

a donor only for Michael?

A:  Yes, but on behalf of Michael, we hope

that you would not embrace this alternative. Explains Michael, “I hope to

encourage as many people as possible to get tested not just to assist me, but to

help thousands of others who are either facing or who will be facing the same

challenge with which I’m now confronted.”  Should you nonetheless wish to make a

donation only for Michael, private kits are available from Tepnel Life Codes

[see Q07].  

Q14:  If I’m not eligible or prefer not to be

a donor, is there anything else I can do to help?

A;  [1]  Please

encourage everyone you know to be a donor irrespective of whether they may be a

possible match for Michael. There are many people in the same situation as

Michael that are in need of a donor. [2] You can organize a local donor drive in

your community. For more information on doing so, please contact Michael’s

management at 212.302.9200 or info@michaelbrecker.com. [3] Send a tax deductible

donation to The Marrow Foundation [payable to: The Marrow Foundation;

memo line: Time Is of the Essence Fund].  All monies will be exclusively

used for the testing of potential donors—not those who just wish to assist

Michael, but donors willing to join the international

registry.

The Marrow

Foundation
Time is of the Essence Fund
400 Seventh Street, NW, Suite

206
Washington, DC  20004

 

Q15:  Is there a difference between a bone marrow

transplant and blood stem cell transplant?

A:  Yes…and no. As a

result of new technologies, the term “bone marrow transplant” is in part a

misnomer. In earlier years marrow had be extracted from a donor’s marrow.

Today at leading cancer centers like Memorial Sloan Kettering, the collecting

process rarely occurs this way. A donor is simply connected to a machine through

an IV that separates and harvests the blood stem cells from the donor’s blood

before the blood returns to the donor through a second IV. Instead of being

tethered to a machine for a few hours, some folks still prefer direct marrow

collection—where medical technology has also improved. Following anesthesia,

marrow—-which continually replenishes every 4-6 weeks—is withdrawn using fine

hollow needles in the hip. A sore bottom may result for a few days. In short,

whatever the brief discomfort of whichever method that’s used—it’s nothing

compared to the virtue and humanity of potentially saving a life.


Q16: Can I take my name off the donor registry at any

time?
 
A:  Yes, being on the registry just means that

you may be asked to be a donor. It is strongly preferred, however, that

you remove your name from the registry if you feel you may be disinclined to be

a donor. Nothing may be as heartbreaking as someone having to learn that there

exists a perfect match to save the life of a loved one…and the donor changed

their mind about being a donor. Being a donor is not deleterious to your health.

While we hope that you become a donor, please do not add your name to any donor

registry if you’re not prepared to step-up when the opportunity presents itself.

 
 
 
Q17: If I am a match, who pays for the necessary

procedures?

A:  If you are a match, the patient's insurance pays for

the entire procedure—there is no cost to you. This includes the cost of the

physical you will receive to ensure that you’re in good health.

 
 
Q18:  I’ve heard about “cord donations” and stem cells from

umbilical cords—what’s that?

If you or anyone you know is having a

child, inform the obstetrician that you would like the umbilical cord to be

delivered to a cord blood bank where it is tested and where the blood stem cells

are frozen for future use in the event of a match. The collection does not pose

any health risk to the mother or baby and does not affect the birth process in

any way. The cord would otherwise simply be disposed of.

For further information on donating umbilical cord

donations:
http://www.nationalcordbloodprogram.org

For ordering a private HLA

kit:
http://www.bonemarrowtest.com/getting_tested/pricing_kit_ordering/index.asp

For further information on whether you qualify as

a donor:
http://www.marrow.org/HELP/marrow_eligibility_guidelines.html

For  learning where to get tested at a National

Marrow Donor Program blood center:
http://www.marrow.org/cgi-bin/NETWORK/map.pl?ctr_typ=DC

At five minutes before seven on the

evening of the forth July 2005, after enduring great

suffering with remarkable strength and courage, our

beloved John Stubblefield left us on a soft note held

gently at the end of a bitter sweet ballad. Surrounded

with love by wife Katherine Gogel, sister Joyce

Pattillo, cousins Harry Stubblefield and Stephanie

Barber, and by friends Rolando Briceño and Yvonne,

John quietly passed away into paradise, where he will

compose brilliant works and perform music to fill the

universe with love, hope and joy. We will continue to

be inspired by John’s generosity of spirit, his for

ever glowing soul, and the vision of John’s smiling

face, which always lights up the lives of everyone he

encountered. Thank you for sharing with us your

thoughts about how John touched your lives. May peace

be with us all. Sincerely, Katherine, Joyce, Harry and

Stephanie p.s. : Please pass this message on.

Katherine Gogel 5 Granison Road Weston, MA 02493

email: katherinejane261@yahoo.com 27th June 2005 Since the

3rd April 2004, John Stubblefield had been

hospitalized with prostate cancer. I have been with

him most of the time. Now I am with John day and

night. John is now here at Calvary Hospital in the

Bronx. John is very quiet these days. He also eats

very little food and drinks a little water. On the

19th May 2005, John’s blood pressure dropped

drastically to 60 over 40. He was listed as critical.

We expected that we had very little time left with

John. Recently, John has been taken off the critical

list. Just the same, I stay with John day and night.

We still take each moment as it comes. Some great

things have happened since John was first

hospitalized. In September 2004, we went to Symphony

Space in Manhattan, where the Mingus Big Band was

performing at a John Kerry fund raiser. John was on

stage with the band, sitting in his wheel chair,

microphone in front of him. He recited “Don’t Let It

Happen” (the title?). John felt really good about

being back on stage with the band again and feeling

the music so close. In October 2004, we went to the

recording studio where Sue Mingus has assembled the

Mingus Big Band to record “Song With Orange”, “Orange

Was The Color Of Her Dress, Then Blue Silk”, and

“Pedal Point Blues”, all arranged by John. During this

six-hour session, John conducted the band. The

recording was released on 7th June 2005. We have been

hearing good reviews about John’s arrangements. On 4th

February 2005, John’s sister Joyce had organized a

surprise birthday party for John at the apartment of

Sue Mingus. Many of John’s friends and family members

were there. The apartment was bursting. He was indeed

surprised. While John was at the nursing home, he

completed writing a 4th arrangement to a Mingus

composition: “Prayer For A Passive Resistance”. The

band has performed it and John made sure they did it

right after hearing the tapes. One day Boris Kozlov

came the orchestral score and they made final

corrections. On the 23rd May 2005, Pastor Lind from

Saint Peter’s church in Manhattan came to bless John.

After the blessing, John wanted to phone my mother.

When we put her on, he asked her: “May I have

permission to take your daughter’s hand in marriage?”

We were all surprised and touched. Joyce and Rolando

Briceño were there. Pastor Lind ministered the

marriage ceremony. It was really sweet and brought

much joy. Here at Calvary Hospital, John has received

two very prominent visitors, bringing joy and

excitement to all those around. In March, Bill Cosby

arrived one morning, taking John completely by

surprise. He was most delightful and even took time to

look in on other patients. On Thursday, the 16th June

2005, President Clinton arrived to visit John. It was

a gorgeous visit, making so many people happy. Clinton

spoke of his saxophones. He has not been able to play

since three years, having written his book and then

undergoing the heart surgery. Clinton also visited

patients on his way out Many have come from near and

far to visit John since April 2004. We are grateful

for all your support and healing thoughts. John is

very quiet now. We like to hold hands and smile at

each other. All we want is peace. Thank you and be

well. Katherine

 

Bubbles, beach balls,

sunshine, big booties good food and jazz music always add up to big fun

at the Playboy Jazz Festival. It is the 27^th anniversary of

an event that has brought jazz music and so much joy to the Hollywood

Bowl here in Los Angeles for a great many years. Would you believe that

out of two entire days of music, I was only able to see two

performances.

 

 

I went on Sunday and

caught Ledisi, the soul sistah from the Bay Area who funkified the

stage with a voice and band that rocked the house. What a great way to

kick off a final day of music. This will get the audience geared up for

the mood that they are to encounter for the rest of the afternoon.

 

 

Quite frankly, the

audience at the Playboy Jazz Festival is primarily a soul, smooth,

blues and funk audience anyway. The promoters at the Playboy Jazz

Festival do still book quality jazz acts to perform, but in my

experience, those artists always seem to be overshadowed by the music

of the more “popular” artist. Popular meaning radio friendly, in

rotation, easy listening and music that is propelled by the business of

music.

 

 

Oh, but don’t get me

wrong, the cats who represent creative instrumental music are still

holding down their space and the festival could not be called a jazz

festival without them. This year Joshua Redman was there with is

Elastic band and so was Chico Hamilton, Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman, Dee

Dee Bridgewater, Kenny Burrell, Joey DeFrancesco,The Thad Jones

Orchestra and the Heath Brothers (RIP to Brother Percy) and a few

others.

 

 

The other act I saw

was Chico Hamilton and Euphoria. My main man Eric Person was in town

and performed with these cats and which was definitely a treat for me.

 

 

 I heard that

The Saxophone Summit with Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman and Michael Brecker

kicked some serious ass! I wish I could have been there. And of course,

rounding out a weekend of fun was Mr. George Benson who continues to

elate audiences all over the world with his classic hits.

 

 

Perhaps next year I will not be so over booked and will be able to report more.

I will see you then!

 

LeRoy Downs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen
(Filed: 22/04/2005) – Telegraph on Line [UK]

Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, who died in Copenhagen on Tuesday aged 58, was described by Oscar Peterson as “arguably the most inventive bassist in jazz”; a supreme virtuoso of the double bass, he was nevertheless one of the most judicious and least selfish of accompanists.

Pedersen, whose name proved such a mouthful that he was customarily referred to as “NHOP”, was among the most frequently recorded jazz musicians in history, having taken part in more than 400 albums. There was scarcely a major name with whom he had not played in the course of the last 40 years.

Niels-Henning Orsted Pedersen, the son of a church organist, was born at Osted, Denmark, on May 27 1946. He began piano lessons at the age of seven, and at 13, when he was tall enough, took up the double bass in order to play in his family band. He made such rapid progress that, within two years, he was playing at the Montmartre Jazzhus, Copenhagen's leading jazz club.

He became a member of the resident band, a trio which accompanied the parade of star soloists who passed through the club. These included the saxophonists Ben Webster, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Dexter Gordon, trumpeters Chet Baker and Art Farmer, multi-instrumentalist Roland Kirk and the pianist Bill Evans. At the age of 17 he was invited to join the Count Basie orchestra, but was forced to decline, mainly on account of his youth but also because he wanted to complete his studies.

Pederson's instinctive grasp of the jazz idiom allowed him to fit in with a remarkable variety of styles, including such avant garde artists as Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler. However, it was in the broad mainstream of jazz that he felt most at home. Between 1964 and 1982, and occasionally thereafter, he was a member of the Danish Radio Big Band, one of the finest jazz orchestras in Europe.

He subsequently recorded an album, Ambiance (1993), which featured him accompanied by this band, in which his extraordinary technique is heard to full advantage. He had developed a method of playing pizzicato using all four fingers of the right hand, enabling him to execute very high-speed passages without sacrificing either tone or definition. Although he used an amplifier, there was always a deep, woody core to his sound.

During the early 1970s, Pedersen joined the American pianist Kenny Drew, then resident in Scandinavia, to perform duets at European festivals. Together they recorded a superb album, Duo, in 1973. He also recorded acclaimed duet albums with the guitarists Joe Pass and Philip Catherine, but it was his association with Oscar Peterson which brought him universal recognition.

From 1974 until 1987, Pedersen toured regularly as a member of Peterson's trio. He was originally hired as an emergency replacement, on the recommendation of Peterson's original bassist, Ray Brown. “He's the only one I know that might keep up with you,” were Brown's words, and they proved to be prophetic. Peterson wrote in his memoirs: “His virtuosity on the bass surpasses anyone else that I have known.” Perhaps the best of Pedersen's many recordings with the trio is The Paris Concert (1978).

Pedersen remained firmly attached to his Danish roots. In recent years he led his own bands, made up mostly of Scandinavian players. Notable among these were the guitarist Ulf Wakenius, trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and pianist Kenneth Knudsen. He also taught at the Rytmiske Musikkonservatorium in Copenhagen. He was married with children.