RIP Leroi Moore, 1961-2008

August 20, 2008

I was deeply saddened to hear that Leroi Moore, the saxophonist of Dave Matthews Band passed away on August 19, 2008.

I don’t consider myself a huge fan of DMB — at least not any more.  That said, two early albums, Under the Table and Dreaming and Crash, are among my all-time favorite albums.  And I have seen them in concert a couple of times.  Unfortunately they lost me after that, but Dave Matthew’s acoustic guitar antics and the unique sound of DMB left big impressions on me.

I must admit that I am not a big fan of saxophones, particularly in rock music.  I can’t tell you exactly why, but I grimace most of the time when they come on, and at best tolerate them — sax on some of Pink Floyd’s tunes are OK — with two notable exceptions: DMB and Morphine.  Of the two, I discovered DMB earlier, and Leroi totally changed my opinion on what sax can do in rock music.  Not just in improvised solos, but to me his major contributions are in the areas of riffs and textures — particularly, I loved his bari sax stuff on Crash.  I can see the low bari punch extending into heavy metal arena — one of the experiments I’d like to try in my music.

Though I am not into DMB’s more recent material, I’ve always admired them for their band chemistry and the way they conducted business — they and U2 remain role models for me in that regard.

Rest in peace Leroi — I’ll look you up on the Other Side.  I hope we can jam.

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