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Dropping Like Flies

ggw
Joined: December 16, 2001 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 14237
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 23, 2017 at 03:46 PM UTC #
George Avakian

Over the course of a career that began when he was in college, Mr. Avakian (pronounced a-VOCK-ee-an) was involved in virtually every facet of the music industry. He helped popularize the long-playing record; organized the first jazz reissue series, preserving the recorded legacies of Louis Armstrong and other pioneers; and introduced Édith Piaf to American audiences.

He made his most lasting mark as a jazz producer with Columbia Records in the 1950s. He brought Dave Brubeck and Miles Davis to the label, helping to transform them from artists with a loyal but limited audience to international celebrities. He signed Johnny Mathis, then an unknown jazz singer, and oversaw his emergence as a chart-topping pop star. He persuaded Louis Armstrong to record the German theater song “Mack the Knife,” an unlikely vehicle that became one of his biggest hits. And he supervised the recording of Duke Ellington’s performance at the 1956 Newport Jazz Festival, which revitalized Ellington’s career.
hutch
Joined: Unknown
Posts: 0
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 23, 2017 at 04:07 PM UTC #
A heavyweight for sure
Isaac
Joined: June 04, 2003 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 373
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 12:19 AM UTC #
Umm… Tommy Keene. Saw it on a Paul Westerberg Facebook group.
kosmo
Joined: September 23, 1999 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 16329
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 12:50 AM UTC #
yup said news on Tommy Keene…
hutch
Joined: Unknown
Posts: 0
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 12:53 AM UTC #
Ugh..what???
StoneTheCrow
Joined: January 05, 2006 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 2297
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 12:54 AM UTC #
Does anyone know what happened?

hutch
Joined: Unknown
Posts: 0
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 12:57 AM UTC #
His website says he "died peacefully in his sleep"


He was 59 years old.
StoneTheCrow
Joined: January 05, 2006 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 2297
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 01:22 AM UTC #
Was he sick?

This saddens me. He was always playing around town. And great every time I saw him.

Gonna miss him.
kmdobrz
Joined: February 10, 2000 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 3373
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 03:21 AM UTC #
Fuck



Opening for Matthew Sweet in Annapolis in September.

Fuck.
ggw
Joined: December 16, 2001 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 14237
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 04:10 AM UTC #
Sad.
Space Freely
Joined: December 13, 2014 at 07:28 PM UTC
Posts: 11019
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 04:22 AM UTC #
Pretty sure that's Jay Bennett on lead guitar in this video…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCj0nw24UaQ
Unsanity
Joined: December 03, 2008 at 05:09 AM UTC
Posts: 1077
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 07:09 AM UTC #
oh wow that's awful. R.I.P. Tommy Keene.
jrpa
Joined: September 03, 2013 at 03:15 PM UTC
Posts: 29999
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 07:41 PM UTC #
I’m just glad Bags didn’t live long enough to see this news. Would’ve broken her heart.
kmdobrz
Joined: February 10, 2000 at 06:01 AM UTC
Posts: 3373
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 24, 2017 at 08:57 PM UTC #
Space wrote:
Pretty sure that's Jay Bennett on lead guitar in this video…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCj0nw24UaQ



Additional musicians:
Jay Bennett - guitar on "Turning on Blue" and "We Started Over Again"
Seth Hurwitz
Joined: October 02, 1999 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 1014
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 25, 2017 at 01:39 AM UTC #
Julian, wrote:
I’m just glad Bags didn’t live long enough to see this news. Would’ve broken her heart.
h

Bags?

What happened to her?
grateful
Joined: October 15, 2008 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 11564
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 25, 2017 at 02:25 AM UTC #
Pay him no mind. Its a bad joke.
kosmo
Joined: September 23, 1999 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 16329
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 25, 2017 at 11:23 AM UTC #
the honorable gentleman from MD seconds this
challenged
Joined: September 25, 2003 at 05:01 AM UTC
Posts: 3116
Re: Dropping Like Flies November 25, 2017 at 12:26 PM UTC #
RIP Tommy, such awful news. Saw him at Birchmere in September, and at the Blackcat show as well, and maybe 15 other times. Booked him at college a million years ago. The Keene family has had it rough.
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