My family all loved him because of his kindness. He was in his 90's and liked to hang out in the hallway, so I saw him almost every time I went to visit my mom (which was almost every day for the last year and a half). We had many many conversations - even prayed together a couple of times.
When we learned that he died (this happened maybe a month ago) we were all very saddened.
I'd never met his wife until tonight. She lived in a different part of the building (not sure what the story is on that). She was sitting at the dining hall table with my mom and me. I learned she was Trudi Mann - who was a jazz singer in NY who had a well known open mic for 16 years.
Trudi told me how her husband was Ray Noren who was a steel player, but who later focused on upright jazz bass after meeting Trudi and playing for her.
When Trudi said that her husband Ray had lived in this facility and had recently died, the lightbulb went off in my brain. "Wait! Did your husband live on the 2nd floor?" YEP. "Was he HooRAY?" Yep.
Oh man, I could have kicked myself for having spent so much time talking with Ray, but never once talking about music.
I expressed my sincere condolences and she went on to talk about Ray and her music career for a good 45 minutes. Some highlights of that talk were...
- Ray practiced ALL THE TIME
- Ray never cared about money. He only cared about music. If he played a gig he wasn't concerned about getting paid.
- He gave away all his instruments - he didn't want any money for them.
Wow.
This is a picture of Trudi I took tonight. Not the best photo, but I only took one. I think she said she will turn 92 or 93 this month. Trudi's bio is below the photo.
b. Trudi Brown, Kansas City, Missouri, USA. Intent on being a singer from a small child, Mann sang in an a cappella choir while in high school and also formed her own trio, the Melo-dears. After singing in various clubs in her home town, she formed a jazz trio which she took on the road. Trudi Mann And Men performed at venues all across the country, playing clubs, concerts, and festivals. While working with this group, Mann learned to play drums, accompanying herself and thus becoming an integral part of her group rather than simply the up-front singer/leader. Engagingly self-deprecating, she refers to this accomplishment as being able to play cocktail drums. This group worked steadily for six years until, in the early 70s, she settled in New York City. Since then, Mann has appeared at all the most prestigious jazz venues and from the early 90s, has hosted and performed at New York’s most popular ‘open mic’ dates, engagements regularly attended by artists such as Richard Rodney Bennett, Barbara Lea, Carol Sloane and Patti Wicks. Mann has studied with Peter Eldridge and has also attended group classes with Nancy Marano and Mark Murphy. Mann’s elegant way with ballads, and her ability to swing has earned her a large following in New York, and she is very well respected by her fellow musicians.
