In Memoriam: Randy Weston

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Pianist Randy Weston (1926–2018) performs at the 2013 Chicago Jazz Festival.

(Photo: Michael Jackson)

In addition to his induction into DownBeat’s Hall of Fame, Weston received other honors, including a Jazz Masters Award from the National Endowment for the Arts, fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Doris Duke Charitable Trust, and honorary doctorates from the New England Conservatory of Music and Brooklyn College.

Above all else, according to Bridgewater, Weston will be remembered for being one of the most gregarious and kind artists in jazz.

“He treated everybody well—even the Gnawa musicians he got to know became family to him. Yesterday at Randy’s funeral, somebody said, ‘I never heard Randy say a bad thing about any musician or anybody,”’ Bridgewater recalled after attending a Sept. 10 service at Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York. “That was his nature. He welcomed everybody.” DB

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