JazzTimes Calls On Gerald Veasley For Tribute To Wayman Tisdale
Feb 23rd, 2010 by Bilal Ali
For the second time in two years, bassist Gerald Veasley has contributed an article to JazzTimes magazine he no doubt didn’t want to. The magazine called on Veasley to contribute to its annual Personal Farewells issue, which is now on newsstands. The format has current jazz artists writing a remembrance of musicians who died in the past year.
In 2008, Veasley penned a remembrance of Joe Zawinul, a legendary jazz pioneer who founded the band Weather Report and who died on September 11, 2007, at age 75. For the current issue, Veasley remembers fellow bassist and smooth-jazz star Wayman Tisdale, who died May 15, 2009.
Veasley recalls Tisdale’s skills on the basketball court, both in college and in the NBA. He also, of course, talks about his skills as a musician: “Wayman enjoyed sales numbers for his recordings that most jazz artists dream about,” Veasley writes. “He reached No. 1 on the Billboard contemporary jazz chart and his music was consistently in heavy rotation on smooth-jazz radio. He provided what the music industry needs to keep the big wheel turning: hits. Slam dunk.”
Veasley also noted perhaps the biggest part of Tisdale’s legacy: his personality. “Above all, what impressed me about Wayman was his attitude. In a business where more than a few artists are jaded, bitter or entitled, Wayman was genuinely joyful.”