Merton Simpson Possessed Valuable Art but No Burial Money - NYTimes.com: "Family and friends gathered in Charleston, S.C., on Friday for the funeral of the New York-based artist Merton D. Simpson, a painter and pioneering champion of African art who accumulated a collection said to be worth millions of dollars. Gathering in the city of his birth, eulogists celebrated Mr. Simpson’s expertise on the saxophone, his generosity and his visionary artistic taste."
(Via.)
BBC News - Cuban jazz musician Bebo Valdes dies aged 94: "Bebo Valdes, who started his career in the nightclubs of the Cuban capital, Havana, in the 1940s, was a central figure in the golden era of Cuban big band music.
A pianist, he also composed and arranged songs, and led two big bands, as well as creating his own rhythm, the batanga.
He died in Sweden, where he had lived since the 1960s.
Valdes came to fame as the musical director of the Tropicana club in Havana. From 1948 to 1957, he worked as singer Rita Montaner's pianist, also arranging many of her songs.
During his time at the Tropicana, he also performed with US artists Nat 'King' Cole and Sarah Vaughan"
(Via.)
