BEST OF THE "GOOD 'OL GOOD ONES"

Although expected, I was still shocked and saddened by the death Thursday, of 85 year old Chicago jazz DJ Dick Buckley. I invested a couple thousand hours or so of my life's journey listening to his magnificent deep voice spin the stories behind the jazz legends of his youth just as he spun the turntable calling forth from fifty to eighty years ago the three minute masterpieces that have yet to be equaled by today's aspiring jazz giants.

He started each program proclaiming he would swing out for us jazz fanatics the "good 'ol good ones", borrowing that phrase from "Pops", Louis Armstrong, who used it in every live appearance. Buckley ended each show with a simple one word sign off that summed up his life and the gift he gave us - "Happiness".

Also published in Chicago Tribune, July 26, 2010