[Harp-L] Subject: And yet another Big Loss: Jazz Clarinetist Alvin Batiste died Sunday

[EGS1217@xxxxxxx]

New Orleans Clarinetist  Batiste Dies

By MARY FOSTER
AP
 
NEW ORLEANS (May 7) -- Clarinetist Alvin Batiste,  who toured with Ray 
Charles, recorded with  Branford Marsalis and taught pianist Henry Butler, died 
Sunday of an  apparent heart attack. He was in his 70s. 

Batiste died only hours  before he was to perform with Harry Connick, Jr. and 
 Marsalis at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, festival  officials 
said. 





Marsalis' record label released Batiste's latest  CD, "Marsalis Music Honors 
Alvin Batiste," just a few weeks ago. Marsalis  also played on the album. 

Batiste, a jazz clarinetist, was  considered one of the founders of the 
modern jazz scene in New Orleans.  While his exact age was not immediately known, 
festival officials said he  was born in New Orleans in 1932. 

Batiste also wrote for and toured  with Billy Cobham and Cannonball Adderley. 

A longtime teacher at  Southern University in Baton Rouge, he created the 
Batiste Jazz Institute  - one of the first programs of its kind in the nation - 
and taught jazz at  the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts. 

His students included  Marsalis, Donald Harrison, Kent Jordan, Michael Ward, 
Herlin Riley,  Charlie Singleton, Woodie Douglas and others. 

"He was not only a  teacher, he was my father away from home," Butler said. 
"He taught us  about music, the history of music and the business of music. The 
ones who  had the benefit of learning from him are better musicians and 
better  people today." 

Batiste toured with Charles in 1958, but remained  largely unknown to the 
general population until he recorded with Clarinet  Summit in the 1980s. The 
quartet also included John Carter, David Murray,  and Jimmy Hamilton. 

Batiste recorded an album, "Bayou Magic" in  1988, and made the 1993 album 
"Late." "Songs, Words and Messages,  Connections" appeared in 1999. 

The show at the jazz tent of the  festival - "Marsalis Music honors Alvin 
Batiste & Bob French" - went  on as planned. "The show will go on," festival 
spokesman Matthew Goldman  said. 








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