Martin Fierro has passed

Marin Independent-Journal:

Martin Fierro, a renowned jazz-rock saxophonist who played with Jerry
Garcia and the Grateful Dead and became an elder statesman of the jam
band scene, died of cancer Thursday at Marin General Hospital. He was 66.

Known for his fiery playing, magnetic personality and zany on-stage
antics, Mr. Fierro, a longtime Marin resident, was one of the Bay Area
music community's most beloved characters.

Of American Indian heritage, Mr. Fierro, whose first name is
pronounced "Mar-teen," was born in Mexico and raised in El Paso, Texas.

[...]

Excited by 1950s rock and the tenor sax sound of fellow Texans like
David "Fathead" Newman, he picked up the saxophone in high school and
cut his teeth in jazz groups in Mexico City and Southern California.
He settled in the Bay Area in 1968, lured by the burgeoning
psychedelic movement and the San Francisco Sound.

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Full obituary is here: http://www.marinij.com/ci_85774

R.I.P Martin

Peace
Bluezman