Al Grey, jazz trombonist, 74

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Saturday March 25 5:39 AM ET

PHOENIX (AP) - Al Grey, a jazz trombonist whose unique plunger-mute style
was recorded on nearly 100 albums, died Friday. He was 74 and had suffered
from several ailments, including diabetes.

Bass player Milt Hinton, who gained fame as part of the Cab Calloway Band,
said Grey was certainly among the best of his generation.

Grey played with a litany of jazz's elite during his career, including Benny
Carter, Frank Sinatra, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie and Ella
Fitzgerald.

His sound was marked by his use of the plunger mute, a technique on which he
wrote a book.

Grey joined Count Basie in 1957 and played with him on three separate
occasions, the last from 1971 to 1977.

In all, he recorded nearly 30 albums of his own and appeared on another 70
records. Among them was the Grammy-nominated movie soundtrack for ``The
Color Purple.''

Grey was born on June 6, 1925, in Aldie, Va. He learned to play trombone
from his father, who taught a neighborhood youth band in Pottstown, Penn.,
said his son Albert Jr.

Later, the jazz trombonist followed in his father's footsteps, teaching
children in his Philadelphia neighborhood between gigs.

``With him, he just enjoyed playing,'' his son said. ``He wasn't always
about getting paid. He would just come in. If he knew some other players in
a club, he would just pull out his horn and play.''

NEW YORK (AP) - Helen Venturelli, whose family tragedy caused her to push
for better benefits for widows of police officers and firefighters killed on
the job, died March 15. She was 86.

Venturelli served as president of the Police and Fire Line of Duty Widows of
New York City for 20 years, until 1997.

Her police officer husband, Pasquale, died in 1943 while trying to catch two
teenagers who were stealing a car. His widow was left with two young sons
and a monthly pension of $125, with no increases for inflation.

The group, founded in the 1960s, held a series of demonstrations and in 1962
won an increase in pensions equal to half the average monthly salary of a
police officer. In 1968, they won hospitalization insurance, the same as
that given to city workers.

Venturelli visited Albany annually to lobby state lawmakers for inflation
adjustments. Beginning in 1978, she and her allies were successful each
year.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
This mailing list is brought to you by Slick.ORG at http://www.slick.org
to remove yourself from the list, send e-mail to majordomo@slick.org
and include the words "unsubscribe deathwatch" in the message (not in the
subject).  For web-based help, go to:

http://www.slick.org/cgi-bin/majordomo

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *