SAN GABRIEL, Calif. (AP) – Danny Barcelona, a drummer who traveled the world with Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars and played on such Armstrong recordings as “Hello, Dolly,” died April 1. He was 77.

Barcelona died of cancer in a nursing facility near the Monterey Park home he shared with his wife of 50 years, his daughter Dana Barcelona-Bonner said.

He was born in Hawaii and was affectionately called “the little Hawaiian boy” by Armstrong. In the early 1950s, Barcelona started his own sextet, the Hawaiian Dixieland All Stars, which toured the Hawaiian Islands and Japan. During those years, he met his wife Dee, who was performing at a Waikiki hotel with her two sisters as the musical trio, the Morgan Sisters.

Barcelona, who joined Armstrong’s All-Stars in 1958 and traveled worldwide with the band, played on more than 130 recording sessions and soundtracks with Armstrong, including his hits “Hello, Dolly” and “What a Wonderful World.”

The band broke up after Armstrong’s death in 1971. Barcelona then became a fixture at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu, playing with the Bernie Halmann Group. He moved to Monterey Park in 1979.

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Sol LeWitt

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Sol LeWitt, an artist known for his dynamic wall paintings and as a founder of minimal and conceptual art styles, has died. He was 78.

LeWitt died Sunday in New York of complications from cancer, The New York Times and The Hartford Courant reported.

Much of his art was based on variations of spheres, triangles and other basic geometric shapes. His sculptures commonly were based on cubes using precise, measured formats and carefully developed variations.

By the mid-1960s, LeWitt had begun to experiment with wall drawings. The idea was considered radical, in part because he knew they would eventually be painted over and destroyed.

LeWitt’s first wall drawing, part of a 1968 display in New York, was so striking that the gallery owner couldn’t bear to paint over it. She insisted the LeWitt come and do it himself, which he did without hesitation.

LeWitt, born in Hartford, was in the U.S. Army for two years during the Korean War, serving in non-combat positions in California, Japan and Korea. He lived for the last two decades in Chester, Conn.

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Gaspar Roca

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Gaspar Roca, a journalist who founded the Puerto Rican daily El Vocero and directed it for more than three decades, has died. He was 80.

Roca died of respiratory failure Sunday at his home in the Hato Rey section of San Juan, according to a statement by his family on Monday.

Roca founded El Vocero in 1974 and worked as its editor until his death. The newspaper is considered one of the major dailies in the U.S. territory, with a circulation of 132,000.

Oscar Serrano, president of the Puerto Rico Journalists Association, credited Roca with improving press freedom on the island by pushing several court challenges, including a 1980s case in which the U.S. Supreme Court opened preliminary criminal hearings in Puerto Rico to the public.

“Journalism is in mourning over this loss, which marks an important chapter in the exercise of freedom of the press,” Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila said.

AP-ES-04-09-07 2050EDT