Friday, August 15, 2014

Roy Campbell and William Hooker CD, Heart of the Sun

My old friend Roy Campbell, a wonderful trumpet player, passed away recently. We had The House Band, which played every Monday night at the Bitter End for Giorgio Gomelski's Tonka Wonka Mondays, always with a guest band leader: I've put up Billy Bang's music with this band on this blog, and if anyone requests, have a lot more.

Roy and I had just released a CD, Heart of the Sun, as the William Hooker Trio and were to do our CD release concert at Cornelia Street Cafe. Instead we had Matt Lavelle, who read a poem Roy wrote decades ago about the life and death of a jazz musician.

There was a beautiful tribute at Roulette with dozens of players. An open casket funeral near his home in the Bronx with Roy in a suit holding his trumpet and a beautiful flag with Roy reading something like "Blues, Jazz, Hip-Hop, R&B and Gospel".

I'm really glad I reconnected with Roy lately and I was looking forward to spending much more time with him.

writing this blog...

I haven't been writing this blog for a few months as I haven't had any comments or feedback, not even one note! But according to the "statistics" there have been over 10,000 visits. Maybe these are internet robots... but if I hear that you are reading, I'll continue with it.