CLEVELAND Jazz artist dies in car accident

CLEVELAND (AP) -- Roberto Ocasio, a versatile musician and band leader of Latin Jazz Project, has been killed in a car accident on Interstate 90. He was 49.
Ocasio's car went off the road Saturday at an exit in Cleveland, hit a chain-link fence and overturned, police said.
Ocasio, who was not wearing a seat belt, was ejected. He was pronounced dead at Lakewood Hospital.
Ocasio performed more than 250 times last year, mostly in Cleveland, said Bev Montie, Ocasio's manager. He has shared stages with such other Latino musicians as Eddie Palmieri and Nestor Torres. His band played locations from street festivals to Cleveland's Severance Hall.
Born in 1955 in New York City to Puerto Rican parents, Ocasio moved with his family to Cleveland in 1961. The family opened a small grocery, Our Family Market, specializing in Hispanic foods. The store is still owned by the Ocasio family.
Young beginning
From the age of 10, Roberto Ocasio was performing on Cleveland stages. He played the piano and six other instruments. He earned a degree in composition and arranging from the Berklee College of Music in Boston and returned to Cleveland.
By day, Ocasio served working-class neighborhoods as a social worker and housing advocate.
He formed Latin Jazz Project in 1997. Ocasio composed and arranged the band's music, a repertoire ranging from original pieces to rock tunes and American standards with his own twist. Song lyrics were performed in Spanish and English.
Ocasio lived in the Cleveland suburb of North Olmsted.
He is survived by his wife, Evelyn; two daughters, Lisette and Alicia; his father, Anibal of Cleveland; and a granddaughter.