NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Lionel Batiste (buh-TEEST), the vocalist, bass drummer and assistant band leader of the Treme (truh-MAY) Brass Band, has died. He was 81.

Band leader Benny Jones Sr. says Batiste died Sunday. He says funeral arrangements are incomplete for Batiste, who was known as “Uncle Lionel.”

He says Batiste had been ill for about a month.

Jones says Batiste had been with the Treme Brass Band since it was formed in 1995, but he had been a musician nearly all his life.

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