Jazz jam held in memory of Ben Tucker

By rmacko
Published: June 4, 2014, 7:52 pm
SAVANNAH, Ga. – Friends and fellow musicians performed Wednesday night at the Lutheran Church of the Ascension in Downtown Savannah for the Ben Tucker Memorial Jazz Jam. The jazz legend was killed one year ago on June 4, 2013.

Ben Tucker was a member of the Lutheran Church of the Ascension. That’s where musicians who played with him held the concert in his memory. It ran from 5 to 7 p.m. Wednesday.

Tucker was a world-renowned jazz musician who played the upright bass. He liked to share music with everyone, including school children. Friends say he brought people together through his personality and music.

Tucker was killed last June 4 while riding his golf cart on Grand Prix of America at the Westin Resort on Hutchinson Island. Investigators said he was hit by a car going more than 90 miles an hour.

Friends say Tucker was true to the music, and Wednesday night’s event was a testament to that.

“We have a jazz presence because of his contribution and his advocacy for jazz,” said Savannah trombonist Teddy Adams, who played with Tucker for nearly 40 years and performed at the memorial concert.
Read more: http://wjcl.com/2014/06/04/jazz-jam-held-in-memory-of-ben-tucker/

Jazz funeral held for Savannah musician Ben Tucker

By DASH COLEMANMORRIS NEWS SERVICE – updated Monday, June 10, 2013 - 10:40pm

Hundreds of friends and family remembered Ben Tucker on Monday for his kindness, talents, leadership, sense of humor and contributions to the Savannah community. The jazz music legend, recognizable across Savannah by his trademark “Hey partner” greeting and his skills with the bass, died a week earlier at age 82.

“It didn’t matter where you were from or how old you were, Ben was your friend,” said Tucker family friend Pete Chaison. “He’d find the best of each of us and every one of us and treat us all like family.”

Monday’s memorial service reflected the them of “Going Home Baby.” The ceremony featured music, personal reflections and one last standing ovation for a man showered with much applause in six decades as a professional musician. Tucker’s bass stood like a sentry near his casket at the front of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension sanctuary.

“The bass section in heaven just got a little more vibrant,” Ascension’s pastor, the Rev. Carl Yost, said. “Ben is going home.”

A day earlier, Savannahians paid their respects to the late jazz musician at a viewing Sunday.

Throughout the afternoon, people filed in to the upstairs chapel at Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Ascension on Wright Square, where Tucker lay in an American flag-draped casket.

The 82-year-old musician, community leader and businessman died Tuesday after the golf cart he was driving was struck by a speeding car on Hutchinson Island.

Read more: http://onlineathens.com/local-news/2013-06-10/jazz-funeral-held-savannah-musician-ben-tucker

Ben Tucker: Remembering A Bassist And Citywide Icon

Savannah College of Art and Design/Courtesy of Savannah Music Festival

by PATRICK JARENWATTANANON, June 06, 2013 8:00 AM
We jazz fans tend to filter through a lot of names. For every Sonny Rollins or Wes Montgomery on the cover of an album, there might be two, three, four, five, eight, 14 more musicians backing him or her. Slowly, we begin to string together the works of these sidemen, too: what they're capable of, with whom they recorded, in what circles they appeared to run. Somewhere, we know this isn't the complete story, but sometimes, it's all we have to start thinking of one.

To evaluate the late bassist Ben Tucker on that criterion would reveal some impressive credits. He played bass in Billy Taylor's trio for years. He's on records by Art Pepper and Warne Marsh made in Southern California. He's on dates led by Gerry Mulligan, Grant Green and Quincy Jones made in New York City. The recording log alone reveals every indication of a first-rate player during a fertile period in music.

Look a little further on the credits and you'll see he was a composer, as well. His blues "Comin' Home Baby" was recorded by a jazz group led by drummer Dave Bailey in October 1961; the next month, Tucker was again present when flutist Herbie Mann recorded it live in concert. Mann's version became a hit, but not the Top 40 success that reluctant vocalist Mel Tormé enjoyed when Tucker worked with Bob Dorough to create a lyric for the tune. Among the hundreds of Tucker's songwriting credits, "Comin' Home Baby" remains his biggest commercial success — it was even recently recorded by Michael Bublé.

Read more: http://www.npr.org/blogs/ablogsupreme/2013/06/06/188967302/ben-tucker-remembering-a-bassist-and-citywide-icon?ft=3&f=126134671&sc=nl&cc=jn-20130609