Victim Is Jazz Great Paul Bley’s Daughter

Singer Raised Locally

Killed In Calif. Crash

2 Children Also Dead In Head-On

COOPERSTOWN – Vanessa Goss Bley, 34, daughter of famed late jazz pianist Paul Bley and artist Carol Goss, Cherry Valley, was killed Friday in a three vehicle accident in Santa Barbara County, Calif.

Also killed in the wreck were two children, who are yet unidentified, according to Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s officials.

According to a story published in the Santa Ynez Valley Star, the head-on crash occurred around 4:45 p.m. on Friday near the Cold Spring Bridge on Highway 154, according to the Santa Barbara County Fire Department.

The 28-year-old Santa Barbara man was identified as John Roderick Dungan, driving a westbound in a Chevrolet Camaro and crossed the double yellow lines “for unknown reasons” and slammed head-on into a sedan, driven by a woman – later identified as Goss Bley – with two children in the car, according to Mike Eliason of SBC Fire.

The Camaro crashed head-on with a Chevy Volt and a GMC behind the Volt swerved to the right and collided with the Volt.

After the collision the Camaro came to rest on the Cold Springs Bridge and the sedan spun out and ended up on the shoulder east of the bridge. A third vehicle, an SUV, was trailing the sedan and was also involved in the crash, Eliason added.

“The Volt and GMC came to rest on the south shoulder where they both caught fire, ultimately causing a brush fire,” Ponce said in an accident report early Saturday. “The Camaro continued forward where it came to rest in the eastbound lane of SR-154 on the Cold Spring Bridge. The driver and passengers of the Chevy Volt were pronounced deceased at the scene of the collision.  The driver and the passenger of the GMC Yukon did not sustain any injuries as a result of the collision.  The driver of the Chevy Camaro suffered major injuries as a result of the collision, and was life-flighted to Cottage Hospital for medical treatment.”

Names of the children were pending confirmation of identification through DNA, said Raquel Zick, public information officer for the Sheriff’s Dept.

Goss Bley was known in her professional life as Vanessa Bley, a singer and front woman for the band Beast Patrol. She was daughter of late jazz pianist Paul Bley and pioneer video artist Carol Goss. In addition to her two bands and solo records, Gleason scored film and art installations, as well as the audio score for the film“Eyes of the Moon.”