Anytime there is a plane crash, the list of the dead is hard to review. Alot of the times we will be aware of one of the dead, and that is the case with the deaths of two musicians who were part of Chuck Magione's band, scheduled to play in Buffalo, 2/13. Such was the case with passengers Gerry Niewood and Coleman Mellet.
Chuck Magione said in a press release: "I'm in shock over the horrible, heartbreaking tragedy of the crash of Flight 3407,
which took the lives of my dear friends and band members Gerry Niewood
and Coleman Mellett. I am grieving and praying with their families and
friends.
That's all I can say for now," Mangione said in the release.
AP Obits
Coleman Mellett
An accomplished jazz guitarist, Mellett was a
touring member of trumpeter Chuck Mangione's band for the last several
years. The group was scheduled to perform Friday night at the Kleinhans
Music Hall with the Buffalo Philharmonic.
Mellett grew up near
Washington, D.C., and moved to New Jersey to study at William Paterson
University, according to his MySpace profile. After graduating he moved
to New York and earned a master's degree at the Manhattan School of
Music in 1998.
Mellett, 33, lived in East Brunswick, N.J., with his wife, singer Jeanie Bryson, according to the Star-Ledger of Newark.
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Gerry Niewood
Gerry
Niewood was a childhood friend of trumpeter Chuck Mangione and had been
making music with him since the two were children. He lived in Glen
Ridge, N.J., and played saxophone, clarinet and flute for some of the
biggest names in pop music, according to his MySpace profile.
He was flying to Buffalo for a performance with Mangione's band.
Niewood once said he learned jazz improvisation on his own.
"I
listened to jazz records and mentally transcribed them. Cannonball
Adderley, Sonny Stitt, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane," he told City
Newspaper, a Rochester, N.Y., weekly in 2006.
In addition to
Mangione, Niewood backed artists as diverse as Peggy Lee, Simon and
Garfunkel, Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra and Sinead O'Connor, among
others. He also played on the soundtracks of movies including "A Bronx
Tale," "When Harry Met Sally" and "King of Comedy."
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Our thoughts and prayers go out of family, friends and fans.
Democrat and Chronicle
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