Play it again Ian – as you played it for all of us! Thanks for the music.
You were a great help to Pig Perfect Theatre and a lovely man.
Heartfelt condolences to family and friends
Peter Purdon, Ballina
The passing of jazz musician Ian Walsh is a great loss to the jazz community and the Byron community in general. He was an outstanding artist and person. I was aware that he was not well.
When I arrived in Byron close to 40 years ago I heard Ian playing jazz at ‘The Rails’ hotel and was highly impressed by his jazz skills and jazz ’conversations’. Indeed, these were the days when there was a real sense of community in Byron Bay. The place was alive with performing local artists.
Having worked in the jazz scene in Sydney and the Cross for years I approached Ian and took piano lessons. Poor Ian… my tiny brain could not hold the complexity of chordal jazz structure… let alone go near music written in D flat. He was so patient and kind as I stumbled on with learning.
His jazz charts are a work of art. I often saw him with Fay, his gentle partner, listening to jazz at the Tweed Bowlo… a man with the greatest ‘jazz chops’. He sold me his piano and as the decades have passed his patient spirit resonates whenever the key D Flat is presented. Miss you Ian. Love to all of his family. We are richer in spirit ‘coz of Ian.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
