Ronnie Kole, New Orleans pianist, dead at 89

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans pianist Ronnie Kole has died. The 89-year-old’s death Thursday night was announced on his website and the Ronnie Kole Entertainment Facebook page. Kole was a Chicago native. He began learning piano from an aunt when he was a child and considered himself largely self-taught. He was a protege of the late jazz trumpeter Al Hirt. And, like Hirt, he once had a club in the French Quarter — Kole’s Corner. He lived in Slidell, across Lake Pontcharta