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Over at McNamara's Blog, Patrick McNamara has found another surprising bit of Catholic trivia, about one of the great popular jazz artists of the 20th century: According to his own, cherished tradition, Louis Armstrong was an all-American jazz baby, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, on the Fourth of July 1900. He believed this to the end of his days, and so did everyone else, until a baptismal certificate confirming his actual birth date as August 4, 1901, surfaced and in the name of scholarship silenced one of the happiest legends in American popular music. Exactly three weeks after his birth,...

Since then, I have had numerous people ask me about what they should buy if they wanted to sample some jazz but do not know where to begin. As I am not a critic but just an aficionado of that American treasure. I recommend the following albums. Feel free to offer your own recommendations as I am no expert by any means. As there is still much jazz I have not listened to, I apologize for any omissions of albums that belong on such a list....

LOS ANGELES - Teo Macero, a producer of jazz albums in the 1960s and 1970s who helped to define the recorded sound of artists such as Miles Davis, died Feb. 19 at a hospital in Riverhead, N.Y. He was 82. more stories like thisMr. Macero - who lived in Quogue, N.Y. - had been ill for some time, said his stepdaughter, Suzie Lightbourn of Morristown, N.J. The cause of death was not given. The thousands of recordings produced by Mr. Macero include the original cast album of "Chorus Line," Simon and Garfunkel's album "The Graduate," and numerous gold records. Beginning...

Jeff Healey is dead. There is no more stark way to say it. Sadly, discussing the end of this man's life in less bleak terminology will not change the outcome. Jeff Healey is dead at the age of 41. I first learned about Jeff Healey in the 1990s, thanks to my teenage daughters. Then he was an up-and-coming Canadian rocker who received great notoriety for his incredible guitar skills. Though blind by age one due to a rare form of cancer known as retinoblastoma, Healey learned the intricacies of the guitar, starting to play in his own unorthodox manner before...

His death was confirmed by Hazel McCallion, mayor of Mississauga, Ontario, the Toronto suburb where Peterson lived. McCallion told The Associated Press that he died of kidney failure. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. said he died Sunday. "He's been going downhill in the last few months, slowing up," McCallion said, calling Peterson a "very close friend." During an illustrious career spanning seven decades, Peterson played with some of the biggest names in jazz, including Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Dizzy Gillespie. He is also remembered for touring in a trio with Ray Brown on bass and Herb Ellis on guitar in...

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Former President Clinton has donated the saxophone he played at his inauguration to the American Jazz Museum. The attraction is part of the historic 18th and Vine district, where musicians often play into the early morning at an old union hall called the Mutual Musicians Foundation. "Though he may have been unable to hang in a jam session at the Mutual Musicians Foundation, he is the only leader of the free world to be a jazz musician, and I know he would have loved the chance to sit in on a set," Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.,...

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Jazz legend Joe Zawinul, who soared to fame as one of the creators of jazz fusion and performed and recorded with Miles Davis, died early Tuesday, a hospital official said. He was 75.

The very great Joe Zawinul has passed at 75 Accordionist, proud Austrian, composer of Mercy, Mercy, In a Silent Way, and Birdland, associate of Miles, McLaughlin, Cannonball, Hancock, and Shorter, arguably the father of world music, Zawinul has left the building.

NEW YORK - Max Roach, a master percussionist whose rhythmic innovations and improvisations provided the dislocated beats that defined bebop jazz, has died after a long illness. He was 83. The self-taught musical prodigy died Wednesday night at an undisclosed hospital in Manhattan, said Cem Kurosman, spokesman for Blue Note Records, one of Roach's labels. No additional details were available, he said. Roach received his first musical break at age 16, filling in for three nights in 1940 when Duke Ellington's drummer fell ill. Roach's performance led him to the legendary Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, where he joined luminaries Charlie...

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- The Utah Jazz agreed to release guard Derek Fisher from his contract Monday so he can concentrate on finding the best care for his 11-month-old daughter, who has cancer in her left eye. Fisher said he wants to live in one of the six or seven cities being considered for Tatum's care. He didn't rule out playing for another NBA team but emphasized that his daughter's health is his No. 1 priority. "Life for me outweighs the game of basketball," Fisher told reporters after flying from New York to meet with Jazz owner Larry H....

OAKLAND Managers of Yoshi's, one of the Bay Area's best-known jazz venues, said they will pull the club's first-ever CD off the market after community leaders complained the recording featured no black musicians. Club managers apologized Friday for what they called "a huge mistake" and "a major oversight." They said they plan to create a new recording that better reflects the musicians who play the 340-seat venue at Oakland's Jack London Square. "We really messed up on the CD," said Yoshi's owner Kaz Kajimura. "We apologize to anyone who feels slighted by this omission, as that was never our intention."...

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Alice Coltrane, a jazz performer and composer and wife of the late saxophone legend John Coltrane, has died. She was 69. Coltrane died Friday of respiratory failure at West Hills Hospital and Medical Center, said her sister, Marilyn McLeod. For nearly 40 years, Coltrane managed the archive and estate of her husband, a pivotal figure in the history of jazz. He died of liver disease in 1967 at age 40. A pianist and organist, Alice Coltrane was noted for her astral compositions and for bringing the harp onto the jazz bandstand. Born Alice McLeod in Detroit...

Rome, Jan 2: The Catholic church is placing heavy metal, punk and jazz in hell and classical music in heaven in a musical on Dante's "Divine Comedy" composed by a Vatican conductor. Father Marco Frisina, who directs the Rome diocesan choir and has composed a number of pieces for Italian television and popes, plans to premier the show in autumn here before taking it on a tour of European capitals. According to a report in Tuesday's La Repubblica, Frisina will be using "rebellious" rock, punk and jazz tunes to represent hell while heaven will be described using classical and symphonic...

Anita O'Day, whose sassy renditions of "Honeysuckle Rose," "Sweet Georgia Brown" and other song standards that made her one of the most respected jazz vocalists of the 1940s and '50s, has died. She was 87. O'Day died in her sleep early Thursday morning at a convalescent hospital in Los Angeles where she was recovering from a bout with pneumonia, said her manager Robbie Cavolina. "On Tuesday night, she said to me, get me out of here," Cavolina said. "But it didn't happen." Once known as the "Jezebel of Jazz" for her reckless, drug-induced lifestyle, O'Day lived to sing and...

Exclusive: To celebrate the return of football to the Superdome and aid in the city's rebuilding, U2 and Green Day will debut their special new benefit single on Monday Night Football

OTTAWA (Reuters) - The pilot of a Canadian airliner who went to the washroom during a flight found himself locked out of the cockpit, forcing the crew to remove the door from its hinges to let him back in, the airline said Wednesday.

Jazz trumpeter and big-band leader Walter "Maynard" Ferguson, famed for his screaming solos and ability to hit blisteringly high notes, has died at age 78, associates said on Thursday. The Montreal-born Ferguson died on Wednesday at Community Memorial Hospital in Ventura, California, of kidney and liver failure brought on by an abdominal infection. His four daughters and other family members were at his side when he died. Ferguson started his career at 13 when he performed as a featured soloist with the Canadian Broadcasting Co. Orchestra. He played with several of the great big-band leaders of the 1940s and '50s,...

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (July 12, 2006) -- Life on base is often monotonous when it isn't dangerous for the service members stationed here. The occasional mortar and rocket landing in the base's perimeter can break up daily routines. Daily convoys leave the relative safety of the base braving improvised explosive devices to deliver supplies and transport troops to hotspots like Ramadi and Fallujah. Dust storms and 110 degree-plus temperatures are the norm for the nearly 6,000 service members serving in a variety of capacities at Taqaddum. Professionals such as administrative clerks keeping personnel records in order to explosive ordnance technicians...

I was born on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans so you can't get more New Orleanian than me. The failures of government during and after Hurricane Katrina were at every single level. Last year, Gov. Kathleen Blanco and the mayors of New Orleans and surrounding parishes had a trial run with Hurricane Ivan. It was a disaster even though the storm did turn eastward. Gov. Blanco especially blew it then and she blew it this time when the city of my birth was demolished. Mayor Nagin sent thousands of people to the Superdome and the Convention Center knowing that...