ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times

DATE: Sunday, February 23, 1997              TAG: 9702240109
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: MIAMI BEACH, FLA.
                                             TYPE: NEWS OBIT 

JAZZ GUITARIST DIES TRYING TO SAVE SWIMMER IN RIPTIDE

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 swimmer who was caught by a powerful riptide.

Breaux, too, 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 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.

- Associated Press

LENGTH: Short :   30 lines
KEYWORDS: FATALITY