Art Hoye passes

I just heard the very sad news about the passing of the great Art Hoyle. Art was not only a world-class player, but he was a wonderful person. When I first started playing with Art, I was just twenty-one years old. This was in 1988, and I after the first gig I played with Art, it was at the Empire room of the Palmer House in downtown Chicago. We hit it off musically, and after the gig, he invited me to join him for a meal at the legendary Miller’s Pub. We hung out for hours, and I was amazed as Art was telling me stories of his old days on the road, touring with Lionel Hampton.

Back in those days, lots of musicians would come in to Miller’s after their gig. Art was such a respected player that literally dozens of musicians would stop by the table to say hello. When they did, Art would introduce me to them and tell them, “Greg’s a new tenor player in town. He’s going to be playing with my band at Andy’s.” It meant so much to me to have the honor of playing with Art and learning from him on the bandstand. I loved the way that he spoke on the microphone. He had a natural command of the room. He was so hip. When Art spoke, it was like he was letting you in on a hip secret. He set such a wonderful example for me. He’d play beautifully structured solos, with such a lyrical sound. One night, he sang a blues, and it was called, “If you see Kay,” tell her I’ve been around….”If you see Kay,” etc. It was totally “clean,” but very clever and just hilarious. One time at a club, we were playing for a group of doctors, and Art launched into some kind of stream of consciousness, talking about the spleen! It was over a rhythm section vamp. It was totally spontaneous and just brilliant. On another gig, it was winter time, and for some reason, the door was open, and when we came back to play the second set, all of the horns were freezing cold. Rather than being upset, in typical Art Hoyle fashion, he said to me, “I see that the horns have cooled off nicely.”

I was always so proud to feature Art with my early quintets that I used to book at local clubs in Chicago. Once, we did a live radio broadcast for WBEZ. Larry Smith was the host. This would have been around 1990. I brought in a bunch of Horace Silver charts I’d transcribed. With no rehearsal or run through, we played a whole set live on the air, and Art played so beautifully on those charts….he was the consummate professional. I will miss him dearly and think of him often. Thank you, Art, for your kindness, guidance and friendship. RIP