Ron Dewar

Ron Dewar is a jazz tenor saxophone player in the Chicago area. He has toured and recorded with many well-known musicians, including Elvis Presley, Clark Terry, Sarah Vaughan, and Louis Bellson. In the 1970s, Dewar was the leader of the traditional jazz band The Memphis Nighthawks. Memphis Nighthawks recordings include the albums Jazz Lips on Delmark Records and Live at the Stabilizer.

Dewar began his career at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In the early 1960's, he was invited by Miles Davis to replace John Coltrane when Miles was auditioning saxophone players. Ron declined to be a candidate. During this period he also played briefly with Charles Mingus. Ron's interest in traditional jazz stemmed from his teacher and colleague from Illinois, Doc Kitrell, who helped pioneer the interest in older jazz forms in the 1960's. Ron's partner in the exploration of this and many other forms was Steve Jensen, with whom Ron formed the Memphis Nighthawks. Steve's big band that he founded with Ron became the Jazz Members Orchestra and is now the Chicago Jazz Orchestra.

Ron also played in the 1980's with a great classic Chicago Rhythm section - John Campbell, piano, Kelly Sill, bass and Joel Spencer, drums. Famously, when Tony Bennett showed up at a Ron Dewar gig in the 1980's, because John Burr was playing bass with both men at the time, Ron packed away his horn so that he wouldn't have to fend off Tony's interest in taking Ron on the road.

Dewar was among the many musicians who appeared frequently at the Illini Student Union's weekly Jazz-U-Like-It sessions. Others were: trombonist Jon English, pianist Denny Zeitlin and numerous soon-to-be-famous members of the Bridgewater family like Dee Dee Bridgewater and Ron Bridgewater.

Dewar may also be heard as soloist on recordings such as "In a Mellow Tone" with the Thomas Gunther Trio and as an ensemble member on recordings by modern composer-conductor Salvatore Martirano. He is sometimes listed on recordings as Ronald Dewar.

On August 31, 2008, the Ron Dewar Quintet is opening the Chicago Jazz Festival at the Petrillo Bandshell. Ron's recognition is long overdue.

External links

* [http://www.thomasgunther.com/TgTrio-all_files/TgTrio_htm_files/TgTrio_Musicians_Info_sites/Ron.htm Ron Dewar Info Site]
* [http://www.mississippirag.com/cgi-bin/teemz/teemz.cgi?board=_master&action=opentopic&forum=Traditional_Jazz&topic=34 Mississippi Rag Bulletin Board]
* [http://www.allaboutjazz.com/articles/chic0702.htm All About Jazz: Art Davis]
* [http://www.answers.com/topic/live-at-the-stabilizer?cat=entertainment Review of "Live at the Stabilizer," Answers.com]
* [http://www.warr.org/oddjazz.html Review of Kalyan Pathak & Jayho Jazzmata, 'The Shape Of Ragazz To Come' at Wilson & Alroy's Record Reviews]
* [http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=1524259&cart=567198575&style=classical Salvatore Martriano "O, O, O, O That Shakespeherian Rag" ]