Jeff Healey

A sad day today in the Canadian music world. Blues/Rock/Jazz guitarist Jeff Healey died yesterday after a long battle with cancer. He was only 41.

I first saw Healey in concert about 18 years ago at the Montreal International Jazz Festival -- he was opening up for a more established blues star. When he was announced, I'd never heard of him before so didn't know what to expect. Needless to say, he lit up the place like never before, one of the most electrifying performances I've ever seen. He totally stole the show from the headliner who set seemed tame and sedate by comparison. After the show, I tried to remember the name of that amazing guy but nobody seemed to remember. I only found out the next day in the review in the paper.

He has a blues rock album coming out in a month or so, the first since 2000. He'd been mostly recording jazz in the last number of years.