In the early morning hours of Sunday, September 25, Steve Marcus passed away in his sleep at home in New Hope, PA. His death was unexpected and has left his family and friends stunned and feeling devastated. There was a service for Steve on Tuesday, September 27, where he was eulogized by his close friends Andy Fusco and Larry Coryell.

Here are some of Steve Smith's thoughts and reminiscences about Steve Marcus:

I loved Steve Marcus. He had a loving heart and an open mind that was both intuitive and wise. As a person and musician, Steve’s spirit was eternally young. It was natural for him to listen to, and play, both rock and jazz. He surprised us all when, on tour with Buddy’s Buddies in recent years, he would go on about Pearl Jam, Nirvana, 2Pac and a number of other current groups or singers the rest of us had never heard of. He was open-minded in his youth and unlike many people, remained so all of his life. I realized that it made complete sense for him to be far ahead of most jazz musicians in the 60s when he and players like Larry Coryell, Gary Burton, Mike Nock, Bob Moses, Herbie Mann and Mike Mainieri were first blending rock and jazz into a potent and undiluted new form of music. Steve said he loved rock as much as jazz and appreciated the Beatles as much as Coltrane. While on tour we would listen to Steve tell us great stories of when he saw Hendrix, The Who, Miles and Coltrane, all with the same child-like enthusiasm.

I first knew Steve as the first tenor player and main soloist in the Buddy Rich Big Band, a chair he held for an incredible 12 years. He holds the record for playing with Buddy longer than anyone! After I got to work with him and know him personally I found out what a beautiful, gentle, loving and non-judgmental man he was. He had a simple but profound wisdom about life that always made sense. After hours of driving from gig to gig, week after week, we could get into some pretty deep conversations. 

Steve’s views were always interesting and right on target, resonating with deep spiritual truths. Listen to this interview with Steve for an insight into his thinking and perceptions: http://www.kjzz.org/music/interviews/2004/buddyrich

Steve’s sense of humor was brilliant and would have us all laughing much of the time. Steve’s closest friend was Andy Fusco, the fantastic alto player. The two of them were an extraordinary pair, when they were together their interaction with each other would be so funny that the rest of the Buddy’s Buddies group, Mark Soskin (piano), Baron Browne (bass) and myself would be laughing so hard that it would hurt!

As I found out more about Steve Marcus the artist I dug into his history as a recording artist listening to his diverse solo albums. When I was a student at Berklee, in the early 70s, I had a very good record of his called "Count’s Rock Band" with Steve Gadd, Will Lee and Steve Khan. As it turned out he had a "Count’s Rock Band-Tomorrow Never Knows" recording from 1967 with Larry Coryell, Mike Nock and Bob Moses that was two years ahead of Miles Davis’s "Bitches Brew" and was one the very first jazz/rock recordings. Since I had been working separately with both Larry Coryell and Steve "The Count" Marcus I talked to them about getting back together for a "reunion" recording. They ended up rekindling their friendship after being out of touch with each other for many years. A few years ago we recorded "Count’s Jam Band – Reunion" and played some strong gigs with the band.

I miss Steve Marcus very much and find it hard to take in that he has left us. I always loved playing with him. He swung hard and played his heart out every solo. For the perfect example of that check out the recording and DVD of "Burning For Buddy" where over twenty different drummers sat in with the Buddy Rich Big Band. Steve plays a solo on just about every tune. Every solo was strong whether it was the first take or if the drummer needed more than one take to get the arrangement right, Steve still played a great solo take after take.

He was like that on the bandstand too. When it was time for Steve’s solo he would deliver whatever was called for, from a burning up-tempo, "Love For Sale," a jazz/rocker like "No Jive" to the sensitive treatment of his Buddy’s Buddies ballad feature "How Do You Keep The Music Playing?"

The world was truly a better place with Steve in it. His spirit raised the vibration of the room, of the people he came into contact with, of the musicians he shared the bandstand with. I know that I’m not alone in wondering -- how will we keep the music playing without Steve Marcus?