Huey Long, a jazz guitarist whose sprawling career included stints with musical giants Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker and as part of the famed Ink Spots vocal group, has died. He was 105.

Mr. Long died Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 in a nursing home in Houston. His daughter, Anita Long, said that in his final moments, Mr. Long listened as she sang melodies they once harmonized on, including the Ink Spots’ classics “If I Didn’t Care” and “I’ll Get By.”

“Music was always a mainstay for him,” said Anita Long, who opened a museum in Houston dedicated to preserving her father’s musical legacy. “The music, that was his life.”

Artist Background:

Mr. Long was first drawn to music as a teenager when minstrels visited his hometown of Sealy, about 20 miles west of Houston. He began playing the banjo and joined the Frank Davis Louisiana Jazz Band in the mid-1920s.

In 1945, Mr. Long was leading his own trio when vocalist Bill Kenny invited him to join the Ink Spots, whose velvet harmonies and flashy style helped them become one of the first black groups to gain acceptance among white listeners.

The Ink Spots were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1987 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

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