ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A great loss to the jazz music community tonight (Sunday). Guitarist Rick Haydon has passed away. Haydon was a Professor of Music at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville where he served as Director of Jazz Studies and head of the Guitar Program .
Professor Haydon received the 2004 Woody Herman Award from the Birch Creek Music Performance Center in Door County, Wisconsin.
Haydon played with many of the greats like the legendary Bucky Pizzarelli, the late father of guitarist John Pizzarelli.
A Facebook post from 2021 highlights Rick Hayden from St. Louis as someone who provided crucial feedback and helped refine recordings for another musician, indicating a hands-on role in music production or mentorship.
William Lenihan posted on Facebook this evening.
"RIP Rick Haydon. A friend and former student of mine has passed away. Rick was a dear person, a fine musician, a family man and a person of good humor. I met Rick as my university student in the early days of the program at SIU-E when jazz studies were just off the ground. Dave Engelke and of course Brett were around in those days, Dave teaching classical guitar. They were formative days for the department and for this kind of study.
Rick was an experienced player in rock and pop and was familiar with jazz. Rick played in bands in the 70’s and later was part pf the gigging scene in St. Louis before narrowing his focus, musically. A versatile musician, a very personable guy with endless jokes but also with a serious side - in those early days we shared books of Krishnamurti, Alan Watts and a film script of Woody Allen among other books of the day. After lessons, Rick, already a young adult, we would hang and talk for some hours. I remember years later, he visiting a radio interview I gave at WSIE-FM, dropping by as he heard it live-on-the-air, where we had a nice chat.
There are so many memories of Rick. I think we actually met before I became his teacher - when I was working with Charo (famous entertainer of the time) in a hotel theatre-showroom with a great big band - and Rick’s band was the bar band with his fellow Illinois musicians. He had a nice archtop guitar and they were playing ‘Breezin’, George Benson’s recent hit. After the first show night, we spotted one another in the lobby with our guitar cases in hand and briefly met. These were good days for music, for friendship amongst musicians - and when a true, professional scene still existed, long before cultural shifts.
When I left my position teaching Jazz Guitar at SIU-E - to go study with Richie Beirach in NY, a musician we both admired - Rick took over teaching there and built an enthusiastic career in jazz education, continuing to gig and spread his good nature to many. Rest in Peace, Rick. Love you, man."
Funeral arrangements are pending