Saxophone player Gerry Niewood, 64, and another member of Chuck Mangione’s band, guitarist Coleman Mellett, were passengers on that tragic Continental Flight 3407 which crashed outside Buffalo Thursday night, Feb. 12.
The Mangione group had been scheduled to perform Friday Feb.13, with the Buffalo Philharmonic at the Kleinhaus Music Hall. After the crash the concert was canceled.
Both Niewood and Mellet lived in New Jersey, from which the doomed flight had departed.
Niewood played soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones; flute, alto flute, bass flute, piccolo and clarinet. He had lent his talent to artists as diverse as Peggy Lee, Simon and Garfunkel, Sinead O’Connor, Mark Murphy, Gil Evans, Judy Collins, Frank Sinatra and Gerry Mulligan. Following graduation from Eastman School of Music, he played with the Chuck Mangione Quartet for nearly 14 years.
Gerry was a good friend of Syracuse bassist Tom Brigandi, who played alongside him in Mangione’s bands for several years.
Syracuse Jazz Fest founder Frank Malfitano also knew Niewood, whom he presented several times as a member of Mangione’s outfits.
“Gerry’s passing is yet another great loss for jazz at a time when losses like this are becoming all too frequent in the international jazz community,” Malfitano said. “We’re losing great friends and great players. Gerry Niewood was a monster player and an incredible reedman. Gerry was to Chuck what John Coltrane was to Miles.”
Malf also knew Mellet, 33, who was the husband of jazz singer Jeanie Bryson. “Cole was another great player and great cat,” Malfitano said.
