Jack Hill
1951 -2023
I remember the day I met Jack at the Museum of Making Music, where he served as a volunteer docent. We started talking about music, and before long, we were both geeking out over jazz organist Jimmy Smith. Jack went into vivid detail about why Mr. Smith was a master of the Hammond B3, while I rattled off his recording credits as if I had just read them. We laughed together, acknowledging our shared jazz nerdiness, and that was the beginning of our friendship.
What stands out to me about Jack’s personality is how deeply jazz and funk were ingrained in his being. He was a musician who honed his skills through hard work and a deep appreciation for those who influenced him. Even when he was shopping at Trader Joe’s, his groove came out in the way he rolled his cart down the aisle or strolled up to the sample lady, adding extra rhythm to the song playing on the loudspeaker. Jack was all about the groove.
Young Jack heard the rhythmic sounds of his uncle’s playing and followed suit by taking guitar lessons at the age of eight, paying for them with money from his paper route. He started playing with older musicians, landing gigs early on. By just ten, he was playing in bands with musicians twice his age. He also took up the cello in his school orchestra and trombone in his school band. Jack went on to play with musicians like the Bell Brothers, Ike Turner, Pat Metheny, and the Soul Brothers. As a musical director, Jack shaped recordings such as Brad Rambur’s "Can't Put it Down." In 1971, he married his dear wife Linda at just 19. Together, they performed with bands like the Wolf Marshall Trio at the Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad and other Southern California venues. When Jack wasn’t gigging, he ran his landscaping business, Symphony In Green, a name perfectly reflecting his musical passion.
The more I learned about Jack, the more impressed I was with his devotion to music. Understanding the source of that devotion made me appreciate even more his passion for sharing music. He was a masterful museum tour guide and had a real impact on the children who visited with their school groups. Watching Jack lead a group of 70 third graders was like seeing a smiling pied piper in action, joy radiating from his face.
Please click here to view a segment from Jack’s 2017 NAMM Oral History interview.
I knew a music man named Jack Hill. He not only impacted music and music makers, but his legacy continues to inspire and ignite musical passion in others, including myself.
Dan Del Fiorentino
NAMM Music Historian