[JPL] Bob Florence, R.I.P.

[Jim Wilke]

I just got the word myself, Ed.  Bob was a beautiful cat, and as great 
a pianist as he was an arranger ... harmony so lush and rich, and 
burners that would scorch your a**  (remember Willowcrest?).  A great 
sense of humor, too, on and off the stand.  I remember him counting of 
a rehearsal of a new chart with "One, two, goodluck! "  and after they 
got through it asking  "Anybody hurt?"    I just dug out a recording I 
made of Bob in a quartet with Ingrid Jensen, playing Moon Alley in a 
tiny club in Port Townsend as a full moon rose over the bay.   I'll 
miss him and my heart goes out to Evie.

Jim Wilke
Jazz After Hours, PRI
www.jazzafterhours.org


On Thursday, May 15, 2008, at 09:05  PM, EdBride at aol.com wrote:

>
> Bob Florence, the wonderful west coast composer, pianist, and leader,  
> passed
> away on Thursday, around 1pm PDT. His friend Mike Suter saw him in the
> hospital in the morning, on his way to a blood test. Two hours later, 
> Bob was  gone.
>
> Interestingly, Bob's final recording was "Eternal Licks and Grooves." A
> wonderful human being and musician, the music world is less, with his  
> departure,
> and the flame burns a little more dim. God bless you, Bob.
>
> Ed
>
>
>