Hall of Fame Honorees - Johnny Ross

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Johnny Ross
Inducted: 2011
(1926 - 1990)

Jazz musician and arranger Johnny Ross died in way that fellow performers might envy: on stage.

Ross, 63, a longtime Austin jazz instrumentalist on saxophone and clarinet, collapsed on stage in front of a crowd of about 100 people after finishing a beautiful solo on Just Friends. He was performing with the Rich Harney Trio at the Top of the Marc jazz club on West 6th Street in Austin.

“I think he died doing what he wanted. It’s the way I would prefer. Johnny was a good guy, one of the best saxophone players around in Austin, not very well known among the younger people, but around older people he was legendary,” Harney said.

“Not much was known about where Johnny came from,” said Michael Mordecai.
“He was just always here. A great arranger, clarinet and sax man who played
lead alto with the Clifford Zirkel Big Band. He had beautiful penmanship when it came to writing charts…you could feel the music jumping off the pages. He was born in Austin, played in Vegas for several years where he had a stroke, then moved back to Austin where his mom helped with his rehab. He always seemed fine to those of us who played with him. He was a quiet guy but a true musical force.”

Clifford Zirkel, leader of the Big Band Sound of Austin, described Ross as “an exceedingly gifted musician and a magnificent arranger in the classic style of the big bands, but then he could turn around and blow the hottest Dixieland you ever heard on clarinet.”

Johnny Ross was a member of the Austin Musicians Union who presented a concert at the Zilker Hillside Theater dedicated to his memory on May 6, 1990 featuring Mady Kaye, Tony Campise and the Big Band Sound of Austin.

AUSTIN JAZZ SOCIETY

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