Al Vega, Boston jazz pianist, dies at 90
BOSTON—A longtime Boston musician who played with some of nation's finest jazz talents through a 70-year career has died at age 90.
Hospital spokeswoman Kory Dodd says Al Vega died Friday at Massachusetts General Hospital. No cause of death was given.
Boston radio personality Ron Della Chiesa told The Associated Press that Vega, born Aram Vagramian, was the house pianist at the Hi-Hat jazz club in the late 1930s, 40s and 50s, and played with many jazz greats including Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Count Basie and Duke Ellington.
Della Chiesa calls Vega a legendary musician and teacher, and a friend to generations of Massachusetts politicians, regardless of their party. He says Vega was also a longtime Little League and Babe Ruth baseball coach in Everett, where a square was dedicated in his honor in October.
