Zachary Breaux; Guitarist and Jazz Recording Artist

Jazz guitarist Zachary Breaux died of a heart attack after trying to save a swimmer caught by a riptide. He was 36.

Breaux’s latest album, the funk- and jazz-influenced “Uptown Groove,” reached No. 14 on Billboard’s contemporary jazz chart after its release last month, with heavy airplay for the “Never Can Say Goodbye” single.

Breaux, who saved a man from drowning while on tour in Italy in 1988, was vacationing in Miami Beach with his family Thursday when he went to help a woman who was caught by a powerful riptide.

Breaux was caught by the current and suffered a heart attack after he was pulled ashore. He was pronounced dead at Miami Heart Institute.

The woman he tried to save, Eugenia Poleyeff, 66, of Brooklyn, N.Y., also died.

Breaux, the youngest of seven children, was raised on Southern blues in Port Arthur, Texas, and studied jazz greats John Coltrane and Wes Montgomery before making his way to New York’s club scene.