Luis Le Batard, the last survivor of the Le Batard Brothers Orchestra
deb...@comcast.net
Luis Le Batard, the last survivor of four siblings of the popular Le
Batard Brothers Orchestra, which played throughout Cuba and abroad in
the 1940s and 1950s, died of heart failure Christmas Eve in Miami. He
was 87.
Le Batard, grandfather of Miami Herald sports columnist Dan Le Batard,
was a saxophone player with the jazz orchestra, which broke up in the
mid-1950s, said Lourdes Le Batard, his daughter-in-law.
In the orchestra's heyday, Le Batard played with his twin, Julio, who
played trumpet, brothers Gonzalo, also a trumpet player, and German,
the conductor who also played saxophone and piano, and their father,
Gonzalo, a saxophone player.
''Anybody over 70 will remember The Le Batard Brothers,'' Lourdes Le
Batard said. ``They used to be a very handsome group of men, so the
ladies loved them.''
Luis, his father and his brothers all came later to the United States,
but the orchestra was never reconstituted. Luis and German Le Batard
continued to work as musicians in New York until their retirement, his
daughter-in-law said.
Luis Le Batard also had a sister, Gloria, and two other brothers,
Ramiro and Eduardo, all of whom predeceased him. He is survived by his
son, Gonzalo, his daughter-in-law Lourdes, and two grandsons, Dan and
David.
His funeral is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. today at Rivero Caballero
Funeral Home, 3344 SW Eighth St., Miami.
Miami Herald