- Aug 5 Salvador Bacarisse, Spanish composer, dies at 64
- Aug 8 Sándor Jemnitz, Hungarian composer, dies at 72
- Aug 14 Clyde Hurley, American session and big band jazz trumpeter (Glenn Miller - "Tuxedo Junction"; "In The Mood"), dies of heart failure at 46
- Aug 15 John Powell, American composer, dies at 80
- Aug 19 Kathleen Parlow, Canadian violinist, and educator, dies at 72
- Aug 23 Glen Gray [Knoblauch], American jazz saxophonist and bandleader (Casa Loma Orchestra), dies of lymphoma, at 63
- Aug 24 Jack Pettis, American jazz saxophonist and bandleader, dies of cirrhosis of the liver at 61
- Aug 30 Axel Stordahl, American arranger (Tommy Dorsey; Frank Sinatra), orchestra leader (Eddie Fisher), and composer (McHales's Navy theme), dies of cancer at 50
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