RIP Jerry Jeff Walker

[thegreatgumbino 17]

Jerry Jeff Walker, a Texas country singer and songwriter who wrote the pop song “Mr. Bojangles,” has died at age 78.

Walker died Friday of cancer, family spokesman John T. Davis told The Associated Press.

 

“He had battled throat cancer for many years, and some other healthissues,” Davis said Saturday.

 

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/jerry-jeff-walker-texas-singer-songwriter-dies-78-73806084

[zombywoof 250]

I heard this today.  Jerry Jeff will be missed.  My favorite LP of his remains "A Man Must Carry On' from 1977.   Part live and part  studio it was Jerry Jeff doing what he did better than most - throwing everything against the wall to see what stuck.  Messy as it gets but Jerry Jeff somehow made it work and a whole lot of fun.

[Paul14 62]

The man is a true legend! The man who took Jimmy Buffett to Key West, & taught us It was ok to be “ContraryTo Ordinary “.  
never missed an episode of Texas Connection, & I love everything he ever did musically! Can’t say I wasn’t expecting this. He had one of the best lives ever!

[QuestionMark 131]

May Jerry Jeff's memory be a blessing.

I got to know him a bit when my friend, his bass player, Bob Livingston of Jerry Jeff's Lost Gonzo Band, called me and said Jerry Jeff (who I had briefly once met in Austin) didn't really know anyone in Chicagoland anymore and would be performing at the House of Blues in Chicago, and would like me to hang out with him and Bob while they were in Chicago.  This was circa 2006.  So, of course I said sure and met up with Bob and Jerry Jeff where they were staying and hung around with them backstage before and after show.  Jerry Jeff wanted me to objectively critique his performance during the show, so afterwards backstage he and I engaged in some great musical conversation about his performance and music stuff, until it was time to call it a night.    That was a great memorable evening for me as a musician, and Jerry Jeff's validation of my musicianship and friendship meant a lot to me then and still does now.   He will be greatly missed and I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to have gotten to know him.   

Jerry Jeff was not only a great songwriter, and great pioneer of the Austin, Texas music scene, he was also a great advocate for other songwriters and other musicians.   Below is  a YouTube video of him singing Guy Clark's great song, "LA Freeway".   

QM aka "Jazzman" Jeff

 

[dhanners623 79]

22 minutes ago, QuestionMark said:

May Jerry Jeff's memory be a blessing.

I got to know him a bit when my friend, his bass player, Bob Livingston of Jerry Jeff's Lost Gonzo Band, called me and said Jerry Jeff (who I had briefly once met in Austin) didn't really know anyone in Chicagoland anymore and would be performing at the House of Blues in Chicago, and would like me to hang out with him and Bob while they were in Chicago.  This was circa 2006.  So, of course I said sure and met up with Bob and Jerry Jeff where they were staying and hung around with them backstage before and after show.  Jerry Jeff wanted me to objectively critique his performance during the show, so afterwards backstage he and I engaged in some great musical conversation about his performance and music stuff, until it was time to call it a night.    That was a great memorable evening for me as a musician, and Jerry Jeff's validation of my musicianship and friendship meant a lot to me then and still does now.   He will be greatly missed and I'm really grateful to have had the opportunity to have gotten to know him.   

Jerry Jeff was not only a great songwriter, and great pioneer of the Austin, Texas music scene, he was also a great advocate for other songwriters and other musicians.   Below is  a YouTube video of him singing Guy Clark's great song, "LA Freeway".   

QM aka "Jazzman" Jeff

 

What a great story. And one of the morals is, even when you’ve “made it,” a true craftsman still looks for — and cares about — objective feedback. He earned a reputation as a hard-living guy in his early years, but he was a true professional. He blazed a trail and he’ll be missed.

[E-minor7 221]

Glad Walker made it this far - been playing Mister B. for ages and knowing it twice as long.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    If songs were measured by how strong inner images they create that cell-epos would range up there on the high ladder. Will look into more of his stuff now.  

 

What a memory to have Jazzman Jeff ^

[MissouriPicker 388]

Another icon gone.  Another one of those folks who didn’t follow the in crowd.  He and a group of contemporaries didn’t jump on the rock-and-roll train.  The stayed who they were.

[zombywoof 250]

I first heard Jerry Jeff back in late-1967 on Bob Fass' WBAI "Radio Unnameable" show when Jerry Jeff and David Bromberg showed up and did an unplanned and unannounced live in the studio performance.    Bob played the tape of the show so often  that listeners in the NY area believing it was a commercial recording started going to local record stores asking for it which apparently got ATCO interested.  The version of "Mr. Bojangles" from the Fass show  appears on the "Five Years Gone" LP.  This remains my favorite version of this song.

[philfish 7]

ZW thanks for that post, I went straight to ytube to listen to that version. I had heard it before, I didn't know David Bromberg  was with him.  That's the gold standard, anything David Bromberg is involved with usually is.

Thanks Jerry Jeff for all the songs. I've sung the hell out of them   

[zombywoof 250]

1 hour ago, philfish said:

ZW thanks for that post, I went straight to ytube to listen to that version. I had heard it before, I didn't know David Bromberg  was with him.  That's the gold standard, anything David Bromberg is involved with usually is.

Thanks Jerry Jeff for all the songs. I've sung the hell out of them   

 

Bromberg was actually a local boy made good.  I also recall him coming up to Putnam Valley when I was living there in the mid-1970s to hang around with Jay Ungar.

Bob Fass though is a NY legend.  As well as "Mr. Bojangles," Arlo Guthrie also debuted "Alice's Restaurant" on his show.  

Edited October 26, 2020 by zombywoof