Tributes have been paid to one of Belfast's best known jazz musicians, who has passed away.
News of the death of Gerry Rice, who had played in the Grand Opera House pantomime band for 35 years, was announced by his drummer son, Brian on social media.
Posting on Facebook on Thursday, Brian wrote that it was with "great sorrow that we had to say goodbye to our father Gerry Rice today".
He added that his father, who played both the saxophone and clarinet, had "gone to take his seat in that big band in the sky".
The musician, who was in his early 80s, was well known to many as he had also held a 22-year residency at the Europa Hotel in Belfast where he played with his Gerry Rice jazz quartet on Saturdays.
Having joined the Jimmy Compston band at the age of 16, Gerry went on to play with the Dave Glover Showband for a time before he helped form the famous Witnesses Showband.
Among those who paid tribute was singer Peter Corry, who described Mr Rice as "one of the greats of NI music" before adding that it was "always a pleasure to be on stage with Gerry".
Other tributes described Mr Rice as someone who had a "great musical talent", and someone who was "a true gent and great friend".
Another added that Mr Rice was a "gifted musician and a true gentleman".
Requiem Mass for Gerry Rice will take place today at 12 noon at St Peter’s Cathedral in west Belfast with burial afterwards in Milltown Cemetery.
