Sam Rivers dies at 88

I feel like the latest entries on this blog have been about great jazz artists falling off, one by one. Well let's hope that all bad things come in threes because in addition to Paul Motian and Bob Brookmeyer, Sam Rivers died on monday at 88 in his Florida home.

The first time I learned of Sam Rivers was when a good friend of mine showed me the song Beatrice (named after his wife and manager, wh died a few years ago as well)... which is to this day one of my favorite songs to play at a session. It's a ballad - original in it's approach but not heady... in essence not trying to be anything it is not. I think that is what I always appreciated about Sam Rivers' music. He played out and he played in. He had a beautiful raw sound and was most definitely an original voice.

Thanks for your music Sam,
Petr