Jazzman passes: A terrible loss for B'game

This is a very difficult post for me to write but acknowledging the passing of one of the coolest guys in B'game is necessary.  I first met Andrew Speight eighteen months ago and wrote about him here.  His vision for local jazz of the highest order continued to blossom as I noted here.  He was the band leader for the regular mid-week gigs at the Broadway Grill and I last saw him there on Wednesday--the day before he died.  You can get more of a sense of the man from this NBC Bay Area report.  Andrew was a mainstay of the opening weekend at the new Keys Jazz Bistro in North Beach, as noted by his friend Simon Rowe in the NBC piece, and I told him so between sets that night.

My relationship with Andrew evolved from new acquaintance to being good buddies over the last eighteen months.  I was a regular at his House of Bop club on Capuchino Ave. and he was a regular at my place for drinks, music and planning about bringing more jazz to B'game.  Regardless of how obscure of a jazz record that was playing when he walked in, he would pick out the artists by name and expound on their playing and their personalities.  After he did that with a particularly unusual album I was playing, I expressed amazement at the skill and he said, "it's not hard when you have played with the guy yourself".  I often felt like I was sitting in his SF State class instead of my side yard.

The loss is hard to grasp when you understand what we had planned for B'game.  His first album since the 1980's was recorded at his house last year.  It's mixed, mastered and in the queue to be pressed with the working title "Live in Burlingame".  The LP would help promote a Burlingame Jazz Festival that he hoped to arrange the weekend before or after the Monterey Jazz Festival when a number of his artist friends would be passing through the Bay Area and would be available for gigs.  The plan was to have two or three venues to allow for the local kids to get some stage time.  Andrew was an educator to the end.  We lost a gem of Burlingame and all that could have been.  Here he is at Keys Jazz Bistro on November 12.  RIP.

Update:  The local jazz community sent Andrew Speight off in style yesterday (Dec. 18) with a three-hour jam session at Broadway Grill.  About 40 musicians sat in with the closing number featuring a 5 horn front line.

Comments

[Sir Paul]

Thanks Joe for sharing this.He was one of a kind for sure.Another Mick Dundee from down under with so much talent originally from Australia a took up residency here in Burlingame for many years .We have seen so many times here in our city that life can be very short .We pray for those who have departed into God’s loving arms .His garden must be beautiful as he only takes the Best.Sing the choir of Angels as they lift him into God’s loving arms.Rest in peace mate .

[Paloma Ave]

I have said it before and I will say it again.

The railroad tracks at Broadway in Burlingame are the most dangerous railroad crossing in all of San Mateo County.

A $100,000,000,000.00 billion dollar budget surplus and we have to wait until 2028 to have the tracks raised?

How many more accidents and deaths until then?

[MM]

Thank you for sharing this Joe. We have had the privilege of watching his trio perform at the Burlingame Grill on occasion. All the more that the Burlingame Jazz Festival should be pursued in his honor? I will hope to follow updates on this.

I also hope that the movement on grade separation (or at least a 100% working signal system) at that crossing is given much more urgency now.

[Joe]

Here is a link to the KTVU piece that ran last night:

https://www.ktvu.com/news/san-francisco-jazz-musician-hit-and-killed-by-train

[Cathy Baylock]

Beautiful eulogy for a beautiful man. Thank you for describing his incredible life. You have done Andrew justice. A huge light has gone out in Burlingame❤️

[Joe]

Here is a very complete obituary for Andrew by local music journalist Jeff Kaliss:

https://www.sfcv.org/articles/music-news/obituary-saxophonist-andrew-speight-killed-train-collision

[Unice G]

Very unfortunate. The details that were listed in the newspaper were all incorrect on how he got hit by the trains.
I imagine there’s gonna be a large lawsuit against the Burlingame city, as well as a Broadway, improvement district and Caltrain

[Laura]

L don't believe the City of Burlingame and the Broadway Improvement District have anything to do with the Broadway crossing. That is all Caltrain.
From a witness account,unfortunately, the car wasn't trapped, but deliberately drove up and into the tracks.

[JohnKL]

The legal assessment above is incorrect. They are responsible for the design next to Maverick Jacks allowing drivers to get onto the train track with no proper signage warning drivers.

The City had to sign off on the plan.

I am sure they will subpoena all electronic messages and documentation of community meetings prior to the completion of the track area.

I don't practice law anymore so I will leave it up to the legal teams.