New York, NY (Top40 Charts) When the newly blind guitarist
Jeff Golub stumbled and fell onto New York City subway tracks where he was clipped and dragged by a train in 2012, New Yorkers came to his aid. When word spread throughout the New York City music community last month that Golub was on his death bed, New Yorkers bought concert tickets to the January 21 all-star benefit concert put together by Marquee Concerts and Smooth Jazz New York in order to raise money for Golub's family. Although Golub succumbed to complications from a rare degenerative brain disease on New Year's Day turning next week's event at B.B. King's Blues Club & Grill in Times
Square into a memorial show, New Yorkers scooped up the remaining tickets to make sure the concert that will feature performances by more than two dozen luminaries sold-out to provide maximum assistance to Golub's family.
At the time of the subway scare, which was chronicled extensively in the New York media, Golub dismissed the incident that he was lucky to escape with only minor scrapes and bruises as "stupid blind guy stuff." However, losing his vision the year before due to collapsed optic nerves turned out to be a harbinger of a far more serious problem for the Akron, Ohio-born musician who has called New York City home since the 1970s. Golub began struggling with his balance and speech during a 2013 national concert tour in support of his final album, the playfully titled "Train Keeps A Rolling," that adversely impacted his ability to perform. It got to the point that management had to pull Golub off the road. The guitarist's motor skills continued to deteriorate, but it wasn't until last November that he was finally diagnosed with Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), an incurable and aggressive brain disease.
Known for playing with soulful intensity and a bluesy touch, Golub's diverse resume boasts longtime stints as a sideman to Rod Stewart, Billy Squier,
Peter Wolf and
Tina Turner as well as a 20-year solo recording career as a chart-topping contemporary jazz artist thus the lineup for the memorial benefit concert will present a multi-genre lineup of Grammy winners, nominees and hit-makers. Slated to take the stage are (in alphabetical order) Mindi Abair, Rick Braun, Randy Brecker, Henry Butler,
Christopher Cross, Mark Egan, Richard Elliot, Bill Evans, Steve Ferrone, Euge Groove, Dave Koz, Chuck Loeb, Chieli Minucci,
Philippe Saisse,
Kirk Whalum and over a dozen more musicians.
Last
Thursday (January 8), Whalum presided over Golub's funeral held at the New York Society for Ethical Culture where a throng of artists and the city's busiest session players gathered to pay tribute to the late guitarist, his wife Audrey Stafford Golub, and sons Matthew (14) and Chris (12). Among the many performers filling the ceremony with heartfelt song were John Waite, Marc Cohn, Whalum and Cross.
