This Sunday Music Muse Day I have a remembrance. I usually prefer to celebrate the birthdays of the living, and departed, but this will popped up on the Duke Ellington Society group. My father, Sam Woodyard, died on September 20, 1988, in Paris, France, of cancer. Sam was the drummer for Duke orchestra from the the mid-1950s, most famously beginning with the famous 1956 Newport Jazz Festival concert.. Many consider him one of Duke's best drummers. Honestly, he wasn't a part of my life, as he choose his career over family, and believe me, there is no bitterness in that statement, By way of closure, I had the chance to visit him in Paris, after the news of his illness was passed to his mother through Dizzy Gillespie, a year before he passed, and I travel to Paris for his funeral and carried his ashes back home. I'm proud of his musical legacy, and through the friends he made in Paris and elsewhere, I knew he was loved and comforted in his last difficult years. His music will continue to touch jazz fan for all time. RIP Sam.
A lovely tribute. My favourite example of your Dad's playing is the track 'Limbo Jazz' on the Duke Ellington Meets Coleman Hawkins album - apparently he didn't know it was being recoded, so you can clearly hear him singing alongin the background!
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