OBITUARIES : Pony Poindexter; Saxophonist With Jazz Vocal Group
Norwood (Pony) Poindexter, a saxophonist and clarinetist featured on the old Lambert, Hendricks & Ross recordings, died Thursday in an Oakland hospital. He was believed to be 63 years old and had been relatively inactive since suffering a stroke in 1982.
Born in New Orleans, Poindexter studied reed instruments while still in elementary school and then attended the Candell Conservatory of Music in Oakland.
He toured with Billy Eckstine and his orchestra in the late 1940s and then with Lionel Hampton. In 1953, Charlie Parker briefly fronted a group Poindexter had formed in San Francisco.
After making several recordings and appearing with the Lambert-Ross jazz vocal group, he moved to Europe and performed there until his health failed.
Survivors include his mother, three daughters and a son.
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