Mel Graves

Mel Graves, prolific jazz composer, bassist and director of the Sonoma State University jazz program, died Saturday -- the day before friends, collaborators and students mounted the "Movin' On" tribute concert in his honor. He was 62.

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this past summer, Graves set out in his last months to write his final composition, "About Knowing" -- a spiritual opus elevated with spoken-word passages.

"My goal is recording my latest piece, which will be my last piece," he said in one of his final interviews several weeks ago.

Last Thursday, as Graves rested under around-the-clock hospice care on his 62nd birthday, longtime collaborators George Marsh and Tom Buckner entered the studio to record his crowning, multilayered work.

"It almost feels like Mel is here in a way, telling us what to do," said Marsh, his longtime collaborator and fellow SSU colleague. "I feel very sad about Mel leaving us, but I also feel a celebration."

The next day, they brought a CD of the final composition to his bedside and played it for him through headphones.

"Hearing that and knowing that everything was in order, maybe that allowed in some ways for him to pass in peace," Marsh said Monday.

Born Clyde Melvin Graves Jr. in West Virginia, he moved to Ohio at an early age. His father was a truck driver and his mother was a homemaker. Raised in the suburbs of Columbus, Graves started with the clarinet and tuba before switching to the bass. He was gigging in a local band by 15, getting special permission to play in clubs where alcohol was served. He attended Ohio State University before migrating to the West Coast, where he graduated from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music in 1969.

It was a recording by pianist Denny Zeitlin that brought him to San Francisco.

"He had the audacity to just pack up, come to San Francisco, call Denny and say he'd like to play with him," remembered his wife, Susan Adams Graves. "Just imagine -- 'I'd like a gig, I'm a kid from Ohio State, my dad's a truck driver.' "

They would play together for the next decade. During that time, Graves also got his first real taste of the touring life while playing in the Jerry Hahn Brotherhood, sharing bills with Chicago and Blood, Sweat and Tears, from the Fillmore West to the Fillmore East.

Over the years he would go on to perform with a wide range of jazz greats like Mose Allison, Joe Henderson, Odean Pope, Dewey Redman, Larry Coryell, Kenny Werner and many more. After completing his master's degree at UC San Diego, Graves eventually settled in Sonoma County, where he took over the Sonoma State jazz studies program in 1982.

One of his lasting legacies was the high standard he set for his students, many of whom are working as professional musicians today. Looking back on his career, Graves said: "I'm proud that I was able to pass on, not an academic version of jazz, but the real thing."

On Sunday, more than 500 people flocked to the tribute concert -- a show Graves meticulously planned and orchestrated.

The packed house overflowed into the hallway with people lining the stage and wings as an SSU alumni band shared the stage with Art Lande, Peter Barshay, Randy Vincent, Marsh and Zeitlin (who remembered his friend as a "fearless player").

As emcee, his wife summoned zen guru Suzuki-roshi in closing: "He was asked, 'What is Nirvana?' And he said, 'The answer is following one thing through until the end.' "

Graves followed it through to the final words of his final composition: "When you know what is true for you, it will benefit one and all, accept it and live by it."

In addition to his wife, Graves is survived by son Loren Graves of Davis, brothers Ron and Harold Graves of Ohio, and cousins Judy Nolfi of Ohio and Donna Moerman of Florida. No services will be held.

Donations may be made to: Mel Graves Jazz Scholarship Fund, Music Department, Sonoma State University, 1801 E Cotati Ave., Rohnert Park 94928.

-- John Beck