Allegro
Requiem
Volume CIV, No. 2February, 2004
Julius Baker – Flute
Mel Broiles – Trumpet
Dolores Brown – Maracas
Peter N. Brush – Piano
Luca A. Del Negro – French Horn
Judith M. Gaffney – Flute
John Gordon – Trombone
Fred K. Grossman – Saxophone
Eugene Istomin – Piano
Don Lamond – Drums
Don Leight – Trumpet
Peter Calvin Logue – Pipe Organ
Andy Martin – Piano
Gerson Oberstein – Violin
Jack Schipani – Saxophone
Jon M. Sigillito – Guitar
Louis F. Simon – Violin/Conductor
Michael Small – Piano/Arranger/Copyist
Judith M. Gaffney
Judith Gaffney, 66, a flutist who also played piccolo and recorder, died on Nov. 22. She was an 802 member since 1959.
Ms. Gaffney attended the Juilliard prep school and later earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Juilliard. She studied there with Julius Baker and was also coached by Harold Bennett, solo flutist of the Metropolitan Opera Company. She participated in the Tanglewood and Marlboro festivals and was twice a scholarship winner to the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico.
Ms. Gaffney gave many solo recitals in the New York area and taught extensively at private music schools, including the Eastern Suffolk School of Music and the Southampton School. She also taught extensive private lessons.
Her career spanned several decades; she performed with the Met Opera, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Little Orchestra Society, Stuttgart Ballet, Harkness Ballet, Moiseyev Dance Company, Royal Swedish Ballet, Lake George Opera Festival and the Long Island Philharmonic.
With her husband Bill Gaffney on oboe, and pianist Joan Brill, she co-founded the Brill-Gaffney Trio in 1969. The trio performed in concerts and at private weddings from Montauk to New Rochelle. They were especially popular in the Hamptons, where they performed in numerous venues – resorts, restaurants, public schools, colleges and even vineyards.
She is survived by her husband Bill and three cousins.
Don Lamond
Don Lamond, 82, a drummer and an 802 member since 1950, died on Dec. 23.
Mr. Lamond was born in Oklahoma City, grew up in Washington and studied at the Peabody Conservatory in Philadelphia. He made his professional debut with Sonny Dunham in 1943 and later played with the Boyd Raeburn Orchestra.
He was best known as Woody Herman’s drummer in the late 1940’s. He joined Herman’s Herd in 1945 and stayed for a year until the band broke up. Afterwards, he freelanced with Charlie Parker’s band, but later rejoined Herman’s Second Herd until that band, too, broke up in 1949.
Mr. Lamond also recorded quite a bit, switching from style to style as he recorded with Ruby Braff, Bob Crosby, Quincy Jones, Benny Goodman, Johnny Smith, Marian McPartland, Zoot Sims and Stan Getz.
He also played with Sonny Stitt, the Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Dick Hyman, Johnny Guarnieri, Jack Teagarden and George Russell.
In the late 1960’s he was a member of George Wein’s Newport Festival All-Stars. With Mr. Wein in Paris in 1969, he recorded with Braff, Red Norvo, and Stephane Grappelli and Joe Venuti.
In the 1970’s, Mr. Lamond made recordings with Maxine Sullivan and Bucky Pizzarelli.
He led his own Big Swing Band, featuring Terry Lamond on vocals, from 1978 to 1981.
In recent years he accompanied various groups at festivals, most recently in Australia five years ago.
Mr. Lamond is survived by his wife, Terry Lamond, who sang and recorded with his band in the 1980’s. He is also survived by his son Donald III, daughters Cathy Ramstad and Marta Lamond, five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Don Leight
Don Leight, 80, a trumpeter and an 802 member since 1946, died on Jan. 3.
Mr. Leight played with Buddy Rich and Woody Herman at the Apollo, Frank Sinatra at the Copa, and Celia Cruz at Madison Square Garden. He played the entire run of the Broadway musical “Hair,” and recorded with Woody Herman, Frances Faye, and Bobby Darin among many others.
In 1946, Mr. Leight joined Local 802 for his first professional job, with Henry Jerome. Over the next eight years, he toured with Jerome, Shep Fields, and played in the bands of Boyd Raeburn, Elliot Lawrence and Claude Thornhill. He joined Buddy Rich’s band in 1948 as a featured soloist alongside Zoot Sims and Harry Edison. In 1953 he, Eddie Shu, and Kai Winding comprised the all-star frontline that opened the original Basin St. nightclub in New York City. He played in dozens of Latin bands, including Machito and Rene Touzet. In 1956 he recorded “Two Trumpets in Hi-Fi,” alongside leader Leon Merian.
He was also a favorite trumpeter and fluglehornist among singers, including Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr. and Lena Horne.
During his career, he played as a sideman to George Kelly, Al Cobb, the Sonny Igoe-Dick Meldonian Big Band and Tony Martell. In the 1980’s he formed his own quintet, Don Leight and his Masters of Swing.
In the early 1990’s, he was hired by Local 802 as a staff member in the Recording Department. In 1998 his life as a sideman was dramatized in the Tony award-winning play “Side Man,” written by his son Warren.
In addition to his son, he is survived by his daughter Jody.