(UPI) — Cleto Escobedo III, the saxophone-playing bandleader for Jimmy Kimmel Live!, died Tuesday morning, late-night talk show host Jimmy Kimmel announced in a statement. Escobedo was 59.

“Early this morning, we lost a great friend, father, son, musician and man, my longtime bandleader Cleto Escobedo III,” Kimmel said in the statement posted to Instagram.

“To say that we are heartbroken is an understatement. Cleto and I have been inseparable since I was nine years old. The fact that we got to work together every day is a dream neither of us could ever have imagined would come true.”

No cause of death was mentioned in the statement, in which Kimmel urged the public to “cherish your friends and please keep Cleto’s wife, children and parents in your prayers.”

The announcement came days a

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