[rousseau]

My condolences. Jackie was brother to Dick, who passed away a number of years ago. Dick played drums in a jazz combo with Fred Purser on sax, Dick's long-haired guitar playing nephew who's been well known in Hamilton for years (can't think of his name) and a Vietnam vet bassist (also can't think of his name). They were "Fred Purser and the Washingtons."

In the mid 1980s they had a regular gig at the Patio Cafe at the corner of Duke and James. I was in the first flush of an undergraduate infatuation with all things jazz at the time (Monk, Coltrane, Miles, Rollins, etc.), and so discovering Fred Purser was a revelation. One legendary evening Dick finished off a number by scraping his stick up against the dart board on the wall just behind him as a final flourish. It was like he (and they) could do no wrong, and to this day that magic moment is one of the touchstones of those halycon days for me and one of my friends.

Jackie's music was never my cup of tea, but I certainly did appreciate his presence in Hamilton, in particular owing to his connection with Fred Purser. A Steeltown icon has passed, and it behooves the city to commemorate him.