Gerry Niewood—saxophonist and flutist, band leader and long-time sideman to Chuck Magione, died in the February 12, 2009, crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 near Buffalo. Niewood was also Rochester native, Eastman alumnus, and the original lead alto sax of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble under its first director, Chuck Mangione. If you haven't heard of it yet, Niewood's family, friends and admirers from Eastman have put together a great concert to honor Gerry Niewood's musical legacy on Wednesday, October 14th at 8:00 pm. The Eastman Jazz Ensemble and the school's New Jazz Ensemble will perform, along with guest appearances by Chuck Mangione, Lew Soloff, Pat LaBarbera, and Gerry's son Adam Niewood as well as other faculty and musicians associated with Eastman. The concert will premiere a number of never-recorded Niewood original compositions arranged by an all-star cast of writers, including Bill Dobbins, John Labarbera, Rich DeRosa, Dave Rivello, Mike Titlebaum, Don Menza and Russ Kassoff.
Tickets are $12 to $45 (discounts with UR or student ID) and available at the Rochester Philharmonic Box Office, 108 East Ave.; by phone (585) 454-2100; or online. Proceeds will go to the Gerry Niewood Memorial Scholarship Fund at ESM. Those interested in making a contribution to the Fund otherwise may contact the Eastman School of Music, (585) 274-1040, visit the school's fund page here, or send a check payable to the "Eastman School of Music" to: Eastman School of Music, Office of Development-Gerry Niewood Scholarship, 26 Gibbs St., Rochester, NY 14604.
As at the time of our post following Niewood's death, others have recently written about the concert and so I'm reprising the new with the older material I gathered below:
- Eastman concert honors the late jazzman Gerry Niewood (Anna Reguero,October 11th, D&C)
- Concert celebrates Niewood, his music (Jack Garner, August 7th, D&C)
- Listen to Niewood on his MySpace page.
- Gerry Niewood's page on ArtistDirect.
- Ron Netsky's obituary for Niewood and Mellett on Rochester City Newspaper in February.
- Jason Crane's thoughts at the time, plus links to interviews he has done with Gerry Niewood and his son Adam.
- Adam Niewood left a message on Facebook about his father's death reprinted here.
- Although he grew up in Rochester, Niewood was a long-time resident of Glen Ridge, NJ. A local site has their perspective (especially in the comments).
- Over at JazzCorner.com's "Speakeasy" forum, there was a thread on Niewood's death.
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