Doc Cheatham’s Daughter Says Thanks

 

What a tremendous compliment to the lifetime achievements of my father that his last CD recording [Doc Cheatham and Nicholas Payton, Verve Records] was mentioned in several categories of your Best of the Beat Annual Poll. And the reviews and comments of his last performance at the Jazz and Heritage Festival last April were sincere and hold much sentiment for his family and friends.

 

The October tribute at the Palm Court and the celebrations at the Café Brasil and Snug Harbor were the first opportunities for his family to visit your city. There was no doubt in our minds that the kindness showed to him and the warmth and appreciation he felt with you all lengthened his presence with us. The quality with which he was able to continue his playing had to come from deep within but it was encouraged through the love of his friends, fellow musicians and fans. For those things we are eternally grateful.

 

The Adolphus Anthony “Doc” Cheatham Memorial Scholarship Fund has been established through the New Orleans Public School Foundation/Dollars for Scholars Program. The fund will offer financial assistance in the form of instruments, supplies, lessons, jazz clinics and other necessities for students studying jazz. My father would be pleased to know that the music he loved would continue to be played by the students he so enjoyed working with. His family is proud to have this fund associated with the city he so dearly loved.

 

Many thanks to your readers and to the contributing writers and critics of OffBeat magazine.

 

Sincerely,

Alicia J. Cheatham Crocker

Leesburg, FL

 

For more information regarding the scholarship fund mentioned in Ms. Crocker’s letter, contact Ms. Sonia Bivens, Executive Director, New Orleans Public Schools Scholarship Foundation, (504) 365-5596. –Ed.

 

From the Makers of Fish Head Music

 

Many thanks for your efforts in making our 20th anniversary so very special for us. It is an honor for us to be so appreciated in our hometown. This has been a week [the last one in January ’98] we will never forget, especially the parts that we can’t remember! Thanks again.

 

Love & Fishes,

The Radz

New Orleans

 

Funny, that part about not remembering much, is exactly how we feel after a Radiators show. – -Ed.