Issue Articles — Obituaries
Dolores Ferdinand Marsalis, 1937-2017
Dolores Marsalis was a remarkable woman—beautiful, intelligent, determined and funny. She and her husband, pianist/educator Ellis Marsalis Jr., raised six boys—Branford, Wynton, Ellis III, Delfeayo, Mboya and Jason—on the salary […]
Obituary: Isaac “Mr. Ike” Edward
When Isaac “Mr. Ike” Edward sat in a chair on Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard watching the 2015 and 2016 Uptown Indian Super Sunday parades, his continued love of the […]
Charlie Lee Sims, 1935-2017
When the jazz classic “On Green Dolphin Street” emanated from Donna’s Bar & Grill, you could bet that trumpeter Leroy Jones was blowing on stage. Charlie Sims, the beloved chef […]
Thomas W. Jacobsen (1935-2017)
Thomas W. Jacobsen, OffBeat contributor and author, died at home in St. Louis of lung cancer on January 15. Jacobsen was devoted to jazz music since he was a teenager, […]
John Boudreaux Jr. (1936-2017)
John Boudreaux Jr., the drummer who perhaps embodied the sound of New Orleans most perfectly, and who played on many of the most successful early ’60s New Orleans records, died […]
Herb Hardesty, 1925-2016
Herb Hardesty, one of the architects of the Fats Domino sound and a cornerstone of Domino’s fabulous band for nearly six decades, died December 3 at his Las Vegas home. […]
Joan Marie Johnson, 1944-2016
Dixie Cups founding member Joan Marie Johnson passed away in New Orleans on October 5, 2016 of congestive heart failure. She was 72. The Dixie Cups were formed at a […]
Joe Clay, 1938-2016
One of the pioneers of rockabilly, Gretna’s Joe Clay, died September 26 after losing a battle with cancer. He was 78. Clay, whose given name was Claiborne Joseph Cheramie, recorded […]
Stanley Dural Jr. (Buckwheat Zydeco), 1947-2016
Friends, family and fans gather at Buckwheat Zydeco’s funeral in Lafayette to honor their hero. “There lies a national treasure,” Nathan Williams says softly. Williams gestures to the front of […]
Obituary: Pete Fountain (1930–2016)
New Orleans clarinetist Pete Fountain passed away from heart failure on August 6, 2016. He was 86. Peter Dewey LaFontaine, Jr., was born in New Orleans on July 3, 1930. […]
