RIP Robin Lawson, 70

[Menacewarf]

First few paragraphs of this article....
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs...NEWS/908110318


"ASHLAND — Friends and family of Robin Lawson, 70, who died Sunday of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, remember him as a master jazz musician with a sense of humor and unflagging drive toward perfection.

Lawson is the second Ashland musician to be felled by the degenerative brain disorder. Choir and band leader Dave Marston died of CJD on June 22.

A British immigrant, Lawson performed in many musical groups and concerts, acted as Winston Churchill in a long-running one-man show, served as assistant to Congressman Bob Smith for eight years and worked as a radio and television journalist regionally.

Lawson, who battled CJD for a month, was a warm, humorous and hard-working Renaissance man who set out to master many fields of work and did well in all of them, friends and family members said."

August 11, 2009
By john darling
for the Mail Tribune

Some nice quotes from TalkBasser Jim Calhoun further down in the article. Sorry you lost your friend Jim.

[Jim Calhoun]

Thanks, Bryon

Pianist Robin Lawson was something of an icon in our little corner of the jazz world. When I first started playing the DB and getting interested in jazz thirty plus years ago, Robin's was one of the first names I heard among local musicians. He had a regular weekly gig at a local club and always had the best players around playing with him. In later years I had the good fortune to play with him many times and it was always a treat. He was a big fan of Oscar Peterson and many of our gigs featured the piano, guitar and bass line up of O.P.'s '50's trio with Herb Ellis and Ray Brown. In later years he taught himself arranging, writing many charts for theatre productions of the music of The Andrews Sisters, Peggy Lee, and Mel Torme (among others).

Robin celebrated his 70th birthday earlier this year and I remember thinking at the time that it would be hard to find a healthier 70 year old. How quickly things changed. It was probably about two months since his first symptoms appeared until his death, and the only good thing I can say about it is that at least he didn't have a long drawn out period of suffering.

Rest in Peace, buddy. My life is much richer for having known you.

Jim Calhoun

[hdiddy]

Agh, human form of Mad Cow disease... not a great way to go. RIP.