Wednesday, January 21, 2009

David "Fathead" Newman, 1933-2009

Tenor sax master and flautist David "Fathead" Newman played with the Ray Charles Band for many years, and with jazz greats Lee Morgan, Billy Higgins, Cal Tjader, Buster Williams, and Stanley Turrentine.

I saw him perform just once, at the 2004 Twin Cities Jazz Festival, with Jon Weber on piano. Earlier this year he was booked to play the Iridium January 24-27 to celebrate his 75th birthday and new CD release.

Learn more at Vancouver Jazz (thanks to jazz.com for the link, and to Ted Gioa for letting us know this sad news).

Photo from the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, 2004.

1 comment:

  1. Didn't know about this. Just yesterday I was enjoying my "complete Ray Charles on Atlantic" set and noting Newman's constant presence. Sad to hear.

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