John Rossi

I called JR around 2005, and he spent most of the call talking about how Roomful was the best thing that ever happened to him. "The best times I ever had was with Roomful, and the bad things, well they were really nothing."

From 1971 through 1984, we played nonstop together with that Band that Basie remarked on. ("Sometimes I wish some of the guys in my band played the blues the way the guys in this band do.")

Trust me, we had all been through the wringer together, and it was NEVER emotionally in the middle with that band, it was always great or horrible. The Music was what we all lived for.

In 2016 there was a Roomful Reunion at Lupos. John wasn't playing then, and before the gig I went next door to the Dunk, and who was in there but JR. He had gotten grief about getting in so I invited him out on a date and we traipsed down the street hand in hand like a couple of Stooges and I waltzed him in and backstage.

"Jeez John, you look great," said Lupo. "How do you do it?"

"Good teeth, good hair," he smiled...

Two years ago I called John on the way to another Roomful reunion (the Founders) at the Met in Pawtucket and for 15 minutes he talked about Roy Milton. He didn't come to the gig but he wanted us all to know he loved us.

Once in NYC he took a book over to Condon's to have Joe Jones sign a picture of "The All-American Rhythm Section," and Joe nearly bit his head off because Freddie Greene and Walter Page were also in the picture. ("The All-American Rhythm Section -- that was Basie and Me," he pressed.) So he wouldn't sign it.

The point is it's the intensity of feelings that characterize such a musician as John. We would have been mass murderers if we didn't play, and it's no accident that when he (inexplicably to me) stopped playing drums, he picked up a gun and became a security guard. He was always for the little guy. In a way he was a real loner, he kept to himself, but when he talked, he meant it, he would be completely honest.

I wish there had been an extensive interview with him, by the way, because in 10 years there won't be anyone left with that particular patois. We came from the two bookends of Rhode Island, "da Hill" and "The Hill." I was there when he showed up at our rehearsal at Grace Methodist Church in Westerly, after Scott Hamilton had recommended him to Duke. Both John and Preston Hubbard came out of Scott's band. There was a reason why he talked about Roy Milton. That was the Sound of his drumming --- straight to the dancefloor in that 40s-50s way. He had as much a major role in the Sound of Roomful as anyone in that band.

My God, I could go on and on about JR. Just let it be known I loved him like a True Brother, and always will.