That Airplane Crash in NY took out a surprising number of notable people. :tears:

Among them was Coleman Mellett, Jazz guitarist and an "unamed" musician both in Chuck Mangiones band.

RIP



..

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, New Jersey, with his wife, singer Jeanie Bryson, according to the Star-Ledger of Newark.


Gerry Niewood

Gerry Niewood was a childhood friend of 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."

Alison Des Forges

*I note this one in particular, I'm familiar with her work through students that worked for me, one who was dating a refugee who was ordered to be deported back to the hell she escaped from.

Alison Des Forges, of Buffalo, was senior adviser for Human Rights Watch's Africa division. Considered one of the world's leading experts on the genocide in Rwanda, Des Forges testified at 11 trials at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda as an expert witness. She was named a MacArthur Fellow in 1999.

Des Forges had a "tremendous commitment to human rights and her tremendous principles," Daly said.

"She made herself very unpopular with the Rwandan government by insisting that they be held responsible for the crimes they committed before the genocide," Daly said.

Daly called Des Forges "a thorn in everyone's side, which is a testament to her integrity."

Des Forges was born in Schenectady, New York, in 1942. In 1964, she married Roger Des Forges, a University of Buffalo historian specializing in China. She is survived by a daughter, a son, and three grandchildren.

* source - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29196184/

Hey Kretinus, you know any Harbisons out your way in Boone?

Im originally from Iowa and have scores of relatives there. My grandmothers family was from Boone, maiden name Harbison.

Ive got relatives in DesMoines, Altoona (same thing), Columbus Junction, Pella, Waterloo and Soiux City.

Moved from there when I was 9 (1973) but still go back once a year to visit.

Feels Like Home.

I think I'll drive next time.

Gerry Niewood


A mainstay in the '70s era Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Big Band.

Tragic.

God be with all those who were on that flight. And the family whose house that plane hit. Very sad.