[Deathwatch] Dick Heckstall-Smith, musician, 70

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Another from a loyal reader -Ed.

Saturday December 18

Saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith dies
By Jeremy Lovell

LONDON (Reuters) - Legendary saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith, who
played with a list of musicians that reads like a who's who of the
international jazz and rock music scene, has died of cancer.

"He died yesterday in hospital after a long battle with cancer,"
musician and long-time friend Roger Bunn told Reuters on Saturday. "He
was a giant of the music industry."

Heckstall-Smith, born Richard Malden in September 1934, played with the
likes of John Mayall, Alexis Korner, Jack Bruce, Mick Jagger and Ginger
Baker as well as fronting bands including Colosseum -- an influential
jazz/rock ensemble in the late 60s.

Bruce, bassist of the legendary Cream -- one of the world's first
so-called super groups -- described Heckstall-Smith as his "musical
father".

When Colosseum folded in 1971 Heckstall-Smith went solo and formed his
own band Manchild which toured the United States supporting Fleetwood
Mac and Deep Purple.

A severe spinal problem forced him to stop playing and touring for
several years, but in 1981 he returned to the stage with a new band
Mainsqueeze which toured supporting Bo Diddley.

Heckstall-Smith then directed his talents to Celtic folk music,
African-influenced jazz and blues until illness struck again in 1992 in
the shape of two severe strokes while on the operating table for a
heart bypass operation.

In intensive care for six days and unable to even talk when he came
round, he rehabilitated himself with children's poetry.

A year later he was back in the studio with Bruce and in 1994 the
original line-up of Colosseum reformed for a full-scale European tour
the following year, releasing its first studio album for 27 years in
1997.

In his later years Heckstall-Smith divided his time between Colosseum
and the hard-working Hamburg Blues Band.

His party piece was playing two horns at the same time.

In 2000 he returned to the studio again with a string of friends
including Mayall, Bruce, one time Rolling Stone Mick Taylor and
Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green to record Blues and Beyond -- a
record he said he had always wanted to make.