[Dixielandjazz] Kinda OKOM obit - Vassar Clements

[David Richoux]

I know some of you don't care for Western Swing, Bluegrass Blues or 
things like that, but I think Vassar was an outstanding cross-over jazz 
fiddle player. I will be playing some jazzier things he did on my show 
this Thursday.

Dave Richoux  The Jazz Parade   www.kfjc.org Thursdays 10AM to Noon PDT

======================================


JOHN GEROME
-------------- next part --------------

Associated Press
-------------- next part --------------


NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Vassar Clements, a fiddle virtuoso and A-list studio 
musician who played with Paul McCartney and an array of others, died at 
his home Tuesday after a battle with lung cancer, his daughter said.

Clements, 77, was hospitalized for 18 days earlier this year, receiving 
chemotherapy and other treatment.

"He had no quality of life since he'd been diagnosed," said daughter 
Midge Cranor, who added that the cancer had spread to his liver and 
brain.

Clements' last performance was Feb. 4 in Jamestown, N.Y., Cranor said.

His work bridged a variety of styles, including country, jazz, 
bluegrass, rock 'n' roll and classical.

"When the rhythm is good, I can play it," he told The Associated Press 
in a 1988 interview .

During his career, he recorded on more than 2,000 albums, joining 
artists as varied as McCartney, Johnny Cash, Bonnie Raitt, the Grateful 
Dead, Bruce Hornsby, Hank Williams Jr., the Byrds, Woody Herman and the 
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

Clements, a Kinard, S.C., native who grew up in Kissimmee, Fla. also 
recorded more than two dozen albums of his own.

The 2005 Grammy for best country instrumental performance went to 
"Earl's Breakdown," by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band featuring Clements, 
Earl Scruggs, Randy Scruggs and Jerry Douglas.

He even once recorded with the Monkees - by happenstance. He was 
working on a recording session when someone asked him if he wanted to 
stay and play on another one.

"I didn't know until later it was the Monkees," he said.

Clements, who appeared in Robert Altman's 1975 film "Nashville," taught 
himself to play at age 7 and had no formal training. The first song he 
learned was "There's an Old Spinning Wheel in the Parlor."

"It was God's gift, something born in me," he said about his talent. "I 
was too dumb to learn it any other way. I listened to the (Grand Ole) 
Opry some. I'd pick it up one note at a time. I was young, with plenty 
of time and I didn't give up. You'd come home from school, do your 
lessons and that's it. No other distractions.

"I don't read music. I play what I hear."

He was employed at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a year in 
the mid-1960s, working on plumbing. At various times, he also worked in 
a Georgia paper mill, was a switchman for Atlantic Coast Railroad, sold 
insurance and had a potato chip franchise.

But music was always part of his life.

"I'd always play. Square dances, anything," he said.