SEBASTOPOL, Calif. (AP)
- Bob Lucas, a jazz pianist who played with greats
such as Dave Brubeck and Dinah Shore,
died Sunday of leukemia, two weeks
after his final performance, with Eddie
Fisher. He was 60.
Two weeks ago, a frail Lucas, battling
a 102-degree fever, accompanied Fisher
in a performance in San Francisco that
was filmed by Dateline NBC for a piece
on Fisher's attempted comeback.
Lucas discovered jazz when his father invited
Louis Armstrong to stay at the
family hotel after other hotels refused
to rent a room to the black musician.
Lucas passed up a scholarship at the New
York Light Opera Company for life as
a jazz musician. He came to California
in 1968, playing at clubs in the San
Francisco area.
In the late 1970s he took over the foundering
Russian River Jazz Festival and
brought it back to life in a few years.
Lucas was well-known for his charity work,
playing at events such as AIDS and
cancer benefits, dropping by nursing homes
or anywhere he could gather an
audience.
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Leukemia
