User:Hofmannbd/John defoor

In remembrance of John Defoor. Loving father, husband, director, and friend.

This article is designed to recognize the amazing contributions to jazz and adolescent development that John Defoor achieved in his lifetime as a jazz musician, arranger, and professor. As a student of his for 5 years I have first hand knowledge of his sentimental mood and can recount the many stories of his first hand experience with the world of jazz. John not only played with some of the jazz greats of our past, but also laid the foundations of Cincinnati's finest jazz program: the College Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He then went on to share his knowledge with countless students at Xavier University where I had the opportunity of auditioning and joining his jazz band. With over 25 years at Xavier John Defoor has most certainly left his mark on the Cincinnati Jazz scene. I can't begin to recount the edification I received at Xavier as a direct result of John Defoor's tutelage. The hopes of this page is to draw posts from his 3 decades of students, colleagues, friends, and family. John would have argued that being in his jazz group made you family due to the spaghetti dinners and gin sessions but some were luckier than others. I had the privilege of knowing the icon from the summer of 2005 to the day he left us in May of 2010. My only wish is that my prose were more refined to better exemplify his greatness . The following stories are to be corroborated by past and present students, jazz performers, colleagues, friends, and family as primary sources.

Story 1: John's Drink of Choice John used to play at a variety of clubs across the nation with all kinds of musicians. His drink of choice was always a Gin martini. Until he had a regular gig at (add venue sue or someone who knows). It was here that he discovered his preferred drink. One night after a set he asked the bar tender why he liked his martini better here than any other place. He said, "John, for you, I pour the gin and ice into the shaker, pick up the bottle of vermouth, then put it down, and pour your drink". John has drank strait Gin the rest of his life to the last show I held him up at at Xavier, and till the day he died.

Story 2: Bird John had a relationship with Charlie Parker (Bird). There interactions would last as long as the bottle of Gin would last.

Story 3: Dizzy 1 "Dizzy and I would have nights where one of us was in a wheel chair." "Not because we were old but because we both liked to get wasted and needed it. So we decided to trade off nights where one of us was the sober one wheeling the other around"