The wonderful bassist Dennis Irwin has been felled by his illness. Appreciations by Darcy and Ethan. I treasure my CDs of the Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra (now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra) playing Thad Jones, with trusty Dennis in the rhythm section. I met him once at O’Hare, coming back from a gig at Urbana-Champaign, where I ran into the members of Matt Wilson’s Arts & Crafts quartet. Dennis was bemused at having to check his bass in the hold, but otherwise didn’t say much. I wish I’d thought to say more myself.
Comments are closed.