On The Beach is from the Jeff Golub 2002 album Do It Again. On Jan. 1, the blues-rock-jazz guitarist Jeff Golub, died following a lengthy illness that left him blind and physically impaired. He was 59 years old.
Having experienced a series of setbacks, Jeff Golub has retired from live appearances after an illness rendered him unable to perform jazz guitar. While gradually losing his eyesight since June 2011, which was the effect of a collapsed optic nerve, he also unveiled a deeper seated and more obscure sickness: Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP). According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, PSP is characterized as a rare brain disorder that causes serious and progressive problems with control of gait (walking) and balance, along with complex eye moment and thinking problems. It continues on to say that the inability of certain eye movements derives from lesions on the brain. Mood and behavior, thus, are also affected.
But we will remember Jeff Golub for his contributions to music rather than his disease. A celebrated guitarist, he has worked with a laundry list of acts including Billy Squier, Rod Stewart Ashford and Simpson, Alphonse Mouzon, Kirk Whalum, Mindi Abair, Everette Harp, Peter Wolf, John Waite, Vanessa Williams, Gato Barbieri, Bill Evans, Rick Braun, Tina Turner, Dar Williams, Brian Culbertson, Gerald Albright, Henry Butler and more. He also released a string of bestselling solo albums as a smooth jazz band leader.
Having started his recording career as a member of Billy Squier's band, Jeff Golub poured his electric coloring onto several of Squier's hits on Capitol records.
Jeff Golub's final album, made with keyboardist Brian Auger, Train Kept A Rolling, was inspired by an incident of him falling onto the subway tracks and being dragged by a train. Luckily, the accident left him unscathed.
A tribute concert will be held in Golub's honor at B.B. King's Blues Club in Manhattan on Jan. 21, 2015 and will feature many of the artists Golub collaborated with. - Article by Ian Holubiak (
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