Allegro
Requiem
Volume CII, No. 10October, 2002
Vincent Benevento – Guitar
Vincent Bogart – Trumpet
William Catizone – Violin
Xavier Chavez – Piano/Teacher
James De Meo – Saxophone
Charles (Chuck) Frazier – Saxophone
Earl Frazier – Piano
Cal Gilford – Violin
Anton Guadagno – Conductor/Artistic Director
Lionel Hampton – Vibraphone
Daphne Hellman – Harp
Fred Klein – French Horn
Stanley Krell – Drums
Jack Langford – Trumpet
Peter Matz – Piano/Arranger/Composer
Gladys Anderson Seals – Saxophone
Jerry Woods – Saxophone
Xavier Chavez
Xavier Chavez, 62, a pianist and teacher and an 802 member since 1997, died on Aug. 9. He was previously a member of Local 72-147 in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Mr. Chavez started his career playing with the Teddy Phillips Orchestra at Roseland Ballroom and with Tito Puente’s ensemble in New York. In Dallas, he played club dates and wrote jingles. He also toured with the jazz vocalist Marilyn Maye.
As a young man, he participated in national piano-playing contests every year from 1947 through 1957 and received outstanding awards each year from the National Guild of Piano Teachers USA. He received scholarships from the Stephen David Epstein Memorial Foundation and North Texas State University.
Since 1997, Mr. Chavez had lived in New York City, where he arranged, copied and composed. He worked with Dionne Warwick, Burt Bacharach and Doc Severinsen. He copied scores for the San Francisco Symphony, John Pizzarelli and Pat Metheny.
Mr. Chavez is survived by his sisters Eleanor and Jeannie, children Vittoria, Catrina and Antony, nieces and nephew Cristina, Alyson and Robert, and grandchildren.
Charles (Chuck) Frazier
Charles (Chuck) Frazier, 95, a saxophonist and an 802 member since 1931, died on Sept. 3 in Port Charlotte, Florida.
Mr. Frazier was the lead tenor saxophonist for Cab Calloway’s band in the 1930s. He played saxophone and flute for Calloway, Duke Ellington, Jimmie Lunceford and many others.
Mr. Frazier had lived in nursing homes since 1999 following two strokes.
He is survived by his daughter Trina, who is a jazz vocalist, actor and dancer.
There will be a memorial service for Mr. Frazier at Riverside Church early in October. As Allegro went to press, the details were unavailable; for more information, call Riverside Church at (212) 870-6700.
Cal Gilford
Cal Gilford, 93, a violinist and an 802 member since 1930, died on July 31 in Hendersonville Medical Center in Tennessee.
Mr. Gilford was a popular club date and big band leader in New York City from the 1930s-1950s. Since 1997, he and his wife Sue resided in assisted living homes in Tennessee.
Mr. Gilford is survived by his wife, daughter Gayle, son Marion, and two grandchildren.
Anton Guadagno
Anton Guadagno, 79, artistic director and principal conductor of the Palm Beach Opera for the past 18 years, and an 802 member since 1954, died on Aug. 16 in Austria.
Mr. Guadagno conducted a performance of Verdi’s Otello the night before his death, in St. Margarethen, Austria.
In addition to Palm Beach, he was the resident conductor at the Vienna Staatsoper for the past 30 years, and was also the musical director of the Monterrey Opera in Mexico. Mr. Guadagno conducted performances at the Metropolitan Opera, the Paris Opera and London’s Royal Opera House at Covent Garden.
He studied conducting, composition and instrumentation at the Conservatorio Vincenzo Bellini in Palermo and the Conservatorio di Santa Cecila in Rome. He also attended the Salzburg Mozarteum, where he won a first prize for conducting in 1948.
He is survived by his wife Dolores and son Steven, who is also a conductor.
Daphne Hellman
Daphne Hellman, 86, a harpist and 802 member since 1944, died on Aug. 4.
Ms. Hellman began playing the harp at 12 and crossed musical genres, learning classical, jazz, pop and bluegrass. She performed in folk clubs, concert halls and even on subway platforms where, even though she was the granddaughter of the founder of the Seaboard National Bank and was reported to have substantial means, she liked to count her earnings as a busker.
Ms. Hellman performed with Ving Merlin and his All-Girl Band, Blossom Dearie and Imogene Coca. She played at Billy Rose’s Diamond Horseshoe, the Versailles, and Le Perroquet. Extremely eclectic in her musical tastes, she was called an “antisnob” by Art D’Lugoff, the owner of the Village Gate, who featured Ms. Hellman’s trio every Tuesday for 30 years before the club closed in 1994.
Ms. Hellman performed at an outdoor street fair in Paris in June. She was recuperating from injuries sustained from a fall in July, when she died. She is survived by her daughter Daisy and son Digger.
Fred Klein
Fred Klein, 88, a French hornist and an 802 member since 1936, died on July 20. Mr. Klein had a 57-year career as a French horn player, performing with the CBS Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, Mexico Symphony, Goldman Band, New York Philharmonic, and various Broadway shows. With the CBS Symphony, he soloed in the first U.S. performance of Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Horn, Tenor and Strings.
Born in Hungary, Mr. Klein had a passion for ship travel and was a member of the World Ship Society, Port of New York Branch, an organization of passenger ship enthusiasts. He and his wife made 34 crossings of the Atlantic on cruise ships.
He is survived by his wife Marilynn, nephew Michael and nieces Patti and Sally.
Stanley Krell
Stanley Krell, 88, a drummer and member of 802 since 1934, died on July 26.
Mr. Krell played in the Catskills with songwriter Sammy Cahn and then went on to study at the Juilliard School. He played with Little Jack Little, Jan Savitt, Sy Sugar, Vincent Lopez and Paul Whiteman and numerous jazz musicians. He also played a season with the Metropolitan Opera.
Mr. Krell’s Broadway stint reads like a virtual history of musicals, performing Music Man when Robert Preston starred and Cabaret alongside Joel Grey.
He formed his own jingle company, writing jingles for TWA, Kool Aid and Jello, among others. Later, he served as Corporate Vice President of Faberge for 15 years.
Mr. Krell served on the Board of Directors of the Musicians Assistance Program when it was run by Local 802, before administration of the program was assumed by the Actors’ Fund of America. He also volunteered with Project Straight Life, an anti-drug program to help musicians.
Mr. Krell was the general manager and percussionist of the North Shore Pops Symphonic Band and played drums with the Queensborough Symphonic Band.
Peter Matz
Peter Matz, 73, a pianist, arranger, and composer and 802 member since 1954, died on Aug. 9 in Los Angeles.
Mr. Matz worked with Barbra Streisand, Burt Bacharach and Carol Burnett. His arrangements for Streisand won him a Grammy in 1964, an Academy Award nomination in 1975, and a Grammy nomination in 1986. He also won an Emmy in 1973 for music on The Carol Burnett Show, where he was music director for eight years. Mr. Matz composed music for more than 140 television movies and specials, which led to at least 10 Emmy nominations.
He earned a degree in chemical engineering at UCLA before moving to Paris and later New York. He was the rehearsal pianist for composer Harold Arlen’s Broadway musical House of Flowers, and through his association with Arlen met Lena Horne, Marlene Dietrich and Noel Coward. He also worked with such artists as Peggy Lee, Bing Crosby, Liza Minnelli and Tony Bennett.
Mr. Matz is survived by his wife, the singer Marilynn Lovell, sons Zachary and Jonas, and a grandson.