Jeff Healey RIP

I was talking to some buddies in another forum like this one talking
about the passing on of Jeff Healy. He was known for his jazz
guitar and a smash hit song Angel Eyes. He will sure be missed
judy tooley

methodistgirl said:

I was talking to some buddies in another forum like this one talking
about the passing on of Jeff Healy. He was known for his jazz
guitar and a smash hit song Angel Eyes. He will sure be missed
judy tooley

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Sad news Ms. Judy

Jeff Healy was blind, but yet he played an awesome blues guitar, most often in his own trio. He would sit on a chair having the guitar placed horisontally on his thighs, and then play the guitar like had he done nothing else his entire life, which is mostly the truth.

He participated with his trio in the old american movie "Road House" starring Patrick Swaysey and Sam Elliott.

I have one album of his on stock "Cover To Cover".

Jeff Healy soars.

It's difficult for me to write about Jeff Healy. I was a full time guitarist playing a Strat and Marshall in the early 70's, moving to Toronto way before Jeff Healy happened. I'm also left-handed with the bass string on the bottom. Seeing him as a one dimensional part of Hendrix clone, who I saw in Toronto, I wasn't too impressed. It's too bad he got used to playing on his lap, making me think no-one tried to help him when he started out. He didn't play a lot of chords. Reaching over his strings the same way I do helped him with the wide bends and high string riffs most standard guitarists can't do. Hearing him a few times, I thought it was too bad his band wasn't better. His drummer seemed to be dominating, taking advantage of Jeff's inability to walk around by himself. Even the first few tunes he released played off his blindness. Jeff had a lot to give, and his songs pushed him past the limitations of his business life. He started to stand up towards the end, playing with his hand over the fretboard. I wasn't surprised he gravitated to another, more acoustic instrument, a cornet, that offered no impediments for his lack of sight. Starting his own club and having a house gig for his retro jazz band was a nice thing, getting away from the loud rock club gigs. He'd fire up the old band if someone threw the money his way, but health problems and more musical maturity slowed those gigs down.

My home town Welland has a summer food festival, with live acts. Being a former steel town, there's a lot of rock and country. City council likes to throw the cash at former touring acts in Toronto such as Jeff, Gowan and Kim Mitchell, when they can't clean up the city and let local acts play locally. In a city of over 50,000, there are literally no local gigs. One night, bike-hiking back from an all day adventure, I heard the sound of a Strat and wah-wah through a Marshall amp, wavering along the canal, disappearing and returning. It was Jeff alright. When I got closer, across the canal, I sat on a bench and listened. He played "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", one of the few Beatle tunes I still like to jam. Expecting to sound outside the same as inside is not an echo and feedback thing. So it was interesting to hear such a familiar sound pass by on the breeze. I don't know if you remember that George Harrison song with Clapton, when they moan and groan and oo and ah at the end, but Jeff managed to take it from there and unleash awesome bends, actually pulls, with the wah and riffed out for a long time, crash and burn ending.

Jeff may have struggled, and kept struggling, but when he started playing and singing it was easy to let go and soar with him. He is gone, and it's a blessing, I'm sure it is, because when everyone who knows Jeff Healy thinks about him, he is still playing their favorite song.

Healey, not Healy

I wish I could grab a posting and get inside to edit. What was I thinking, other than feeling sad and seeing Healy and looking back seeing Healy so I typed Healy, but it's not, it's Jeff Healey. What made writing about him difficult for me was what I have already said, plus this, that I didn't say. I met him when I was playing in Toronto. I'm not saying he came to see me. I was playing showband guitar in a heavy cover charge venue and was just walking offstage when someone came up to me and asked if I'd speak to a friend of his about my guitar playing. When this person pointed out his friend, saying he was blind, I said I'd walk over with him right away. When his friend said "He's here", Jeff had his hand out right away. A lot of people were watching, I'm sure watching over Jeff. I wasn't using heavy effects or distortion for this gig, but Jeff was interested in my clean chord, what he perceived as Hendrix style rhythms. That's still my favorite compliment. I didn't get the chance to finish our conversation, as his "handler" kept what could have been a real friendship happening. I had just moved to Toronto, cheaper to keep a residence there than going back and forth. I grew up with the son next door, very disabled, coming over for lunch and babysitting him sometimes, both his parents working. So being blind wasn't much of a handicap for me to deal with. When you meet someone so musically perceptive, so plain speaking, especially when you relate so deeply, it's difficult to admit to that missed opportunity. 'Nuff said.

The former drummer of "The Jeff Healey Band", one of Jeff's handlers, is now finding much contention over his unauthorized release of live tapes, and the family estate is considering suing. I hope he gets handled too.