New Orleans send-off for a jazz lover in Las Vegas

Jerry Fink, Las Vegas Sun

Tuesday, March 27, 2007 | 7:31 a.m.

Jazz musicians often pay tribute to fellow musicians when they die.

Last week dozens gathered at Pogo's Tavern to pay tribute to a jazz fan.

Rita Kremberg had become a familiar face at most of the jazz joints in town over the past 20 years. She was brutally slain in her apartment this month. Police are investigating the killing in a gated seniors complex on Jones Boulevard near West Flamingo Road.

Admirers gave Kremberg, who would have been 69 at the end of this month, a New Orleans-style send-off, reserving an empty chair for her near the stage as the musicians played.

Dixieland clarinetist Dave "Mojo" Poe, who was Kremberg's favorite musician, played at the jazz jam. Other musicians included Bill Richards on piano, Dick Fazio on keyboards, Dean Nelson and Dick Geuder on trumpet, Brian O'Shea and Jimmy Dell on trombone, Rick Moreno on sax and clarinet, Carlos Donaho on banjo, Sugar George on drums, Norm Ross on bass, and vocalist Marsha K.

Gene Fogelman organized the tribute.

"I knew her late husband, Frank, since World War II," Fogelman said. "We frequented all the jazz clubs in New York."

Fogelman and his wife, Dianne, moved to Las Vegas in 1989. Frank and Rita Kremberg visited a few weeks later, liked the city and moved next door. The couple's favorite pastime was visiting Las Vegas' then prevalent jazz clubs.

"We basically didn't go anyplace unless they had live music," said Fogelman, who sometimes plays clarinet. "We were all regulars at the Gold Coast when Jimmy Fitzgerald played there and Chuck Diamond before him. Then there was Melrose out on Eastern and Desert Inn. We knew most of the jazz musicians here in town."

Dianne Fogelman died in 1997, and Frank Kremberg died in 2002.

"We all shared a love for jazz," Fogelman said.

Fogelman is mystified by Rita Kremberg's death.

"I spoke to the lead detective two days ago," Fogelman said. "It's still under investigation. It was very brutal. It's hard to believe anybody could have experienced that kind of brutality."

He said Kremberg would have appreciated the send-off, especially Poe's playing.

"It was something that she would do for me," Fogelman said. "If she's up there looking down, she was smiling."