TRIUMPH's Rik Emmett Remembers JEFF HEALEY
TRIUMPH frontman RIK EMMETT remembers legendary blues and jazz guitarist JEFF HEALEY, who died on March 2nd after battling cancer his entire life:
"I was the music director on the Toronto Music Awards show, back in '86 or '87, when Jeff won his first Guitarist of the Year Award. We talked at length about his career, just taking off. We jammed together in rehearsals for that show, and on stage that night. Years later, he and I played together on stage at the Pheonix in Toronto on a White Ribbon charity night, with DOMENIC TROIANO as well. I have a photo in my archives from that night, and I will treasure it even more, now that both of those amazing guitarists are gone.
I also played with Jeff on stage in the same venue a few years back, on a snowy winter night, in a band paying tribute to Domenic at the National Jazz Awards show, and we took solos in turn on an R&B blues tune - and Jeff's solo was simply outstanding. We also did a photo session afterwards, and he was gracious and accommodating to the photographer and the people organizing that - in spite of the fact that he was on a cane, recovering from a bout of cancer surgery on his thigh.
Generally, let me say these things:
He was a bright, insightful, articulate man. He had a keen mind, and an astonishing memory. He was also a truly unique talent: because he had been self-taught, with such a personalized technique and approach, he could do things, and get sounds, that no other guitarist quite managed.
His ear, obviously, was amazing. And his love for old blues and jazz had deepened his musical sensibilities, so that his playing had evolved to a much higher level. I heard him last year on the Songwriter's Hall of Fame, accompanying another singer on an archtop jazz guitar, and playing some exquisite, tasteful stuff that really, truly blew me away. His TONE was superb.
So this deepens my sense of tragic loss: he has been taken before his time, and it has cut short a true musician's 'voice', that deserved to be heard over a long and mature life. Coming in the wake of losing my own younger brother to cancer, it doesn't take much to move me back into a sad, dark place.
I did a CFRB interview radio show last year, where Jeff was slated as the next guest in the studio, and we got to chat in the control room, and later out in the building's lobby as he waited for a taxi. Here are the things about Jeff's personality and character that I found so remarkable:
- He was not shy, or afraid. He was not any kind of victim to his blindness: rather, he was self-confident, social, outgoing, confident.
- When I saw him and talked to him after the recurrence of his cancer, he was in good social humour, and there was not a trace of self-pity: he carried himself with grace, and dignity, and always seemed like a consummate professional.
- He had a full measure of self-awareness. He knew what he liked and what he didn't like, and he wasn't afraid to have his opinions, and voice them. I think this made him a better musician, and a better artist.
- He had a very strong sense of humour, and a sense of fun - a true musician's desire to "play".
- As a player, I think perhaps his strongest trait was that he really knew how to burn. He knew how to find the 4th gear of his playing, and sustain his energy at that level, so that his solos paid off. This was the thing that I admired about his playing most of all.
He will be missed. He will be mourned. We have been graced to bear witness to his talents, and to benefit from his gifts."
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