Calvin Keys, Widely Loved Jazz Guitarist With Endless Soul, Dies at 82
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Senior Editor KQED Arts & Culture.Calvin Keys, the Oakland-based jazz guitarist who worked with giants like Ray Charles and Ahmad Jamal, and who possessed a unique style both on stage and records, died Sunday afternoon. He was 82
Keys was surrounded at Berkeley’s Alta Bates Medical Center on Sunday by family and loved ones from the Bay Area music scene, said his close friend and musical collaborator, Art Maxwell. The cause of death was complications due to a stroke.
“The world has just lost a wonderful person and musician,” said the bassist Henry Franklin, who played and recorded with Keys. “He was very prolific on his instrument, very inventive, and I’m sure he’s got one of the first seats in the big orchestra in the sky.”