Jeremy Bacon photo by Jim Levitt
BY STEPHEN REED GRIGGS
Jazz pianist Jeremy Bacon died at Franciscan Hospice House in Tacoma on July 8, 2024, after months of treatment for metastatic colon cancer. He was 64 years old.
Jeremy Bacon was born in New York City on December 16, 1959, and named after his father, who worked for The Conference Board and sang as a member of The New York Choral Society and The Occasional Singers, an avant-garde group led by folk singer Gil Robbins (father of actor Tim Robbins). And his mother, Carol, was a notable stone sculptor influenced by Isamu Noguchi.
Jeremy, his father, and his uncle Paul were especially big jazz fans. Paul designed album covers for recordings, including several by Thelonious Monk for Blue Note Records and Cannonball Adderley for Riverside Records.
Bacon took piano lessons from childhood. He was further musically encouraged in high school at the Center for Open Education and studied jazz improvisation and composition at Oberlin. After college, Bacon became the protégé of pianist Don Pullen, who had worked with renowned bassist Charles Mingus. Beyond music, Bacon practiced tai chi with Grandmaster William Chi-Cheng Chen.
Bacon worked regularly in a trio led by bassist Charles Fambrough, which included seasoned artists like drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, trumpeters Johnny Coles and Michael Philip Mossman, saxophonists Joe Ford and Ralph Bowen, and guitarist Pat Martino. He was musical director for Joey Arias’ Billie Holiday show at Carnegie Hall and accompanied many vocalists, including Kristin Chenoweth and Jeanie Bryson, daughter of Dizzy Gillespie.
Bacon’s discography includes two recordings under his name, Cloud Hands and Cage Free: Free Range, Travels with the band Big Train, three with saxophonist Joey Cavaseno, and one with vocalist Queen Esther. Appreciated by live audiences across the United States, Europe, and Japan, Bacon performed on stages vast to intimate, including Carnegie Hall and John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to New York nightclubs Birdland, Smalls, Mezzrow, Smoke, Minton’s, 55 Bar, and the Blue Note.
After Bacon moved to the Pacific Northwest in 2018, he was beloved by audiences and fellow artists, performing regularly as a leader and accompanist. He taught piano on the faculty of Cornish College of the Arts, accompanied dance classes in the theater department, and performed with Seattle JazzED at many regional elementary schools.
Bacon referred to his calendar of performances as a garden that he tended. His philosophy of preparedness and positivity was, “Prepare for the rehearsal as if it’s the gig. Prepare for the gig as if you’ve never played that well in your wildest dreams.”
Jeremy Bacon is predeceased by his brother Peter Bacon, mother Carol Bacon, and father Jeremy Bacon, Sr.. He is survived by his wife, Ruth Anne Garcia, son Theo Bacon, sister Gina Frary Bacon, niece Tyler Rose Mann, nephew Riley Mann, and stepmother Geneve Bacon. A memorial is being planned for October.
