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Mel Graves - Jazz Bassist, Composer, Teacher

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Mel Graves, a gifted bassist, composer and teacher equally at home in the jazz and classical worlds, died Saturday at his Petaluma home of pancreatic cancer. He had turned 62 two days earlier.

Mr. Graves was a fluent improviser known for his work with Mose Allison, Denny Zeitlin, Dewey Redman and other top jazz players, and a prolific composer and arranger who wrote for the Kronos Quartet and other new music ensembles. He had hoped to attend Sunday's musical tribute to him at Sonoma State University, where he was a professor of music and created the Jazz Studies program.

An overflow crowd turned out to honor Mr. Graves, who nurtured many young musicians. Among the performers was Zeitlin, who got a call in 1968 from a young bassist who told the pianist he loved his recordings and had moved to San Francisco hoping to play with him. Zeitlin invited Mr. Graves over to jam.

“Instantly, I sensed that here was a player of tremendous talent, musicality, energy and fearlessness," said Zeitlin, who formed a trio with Mr. Graves and drummer George Marsh that stayed together for a decade. It was an improvising band that stretched from jazz and rock to funk, electronic and avant-garde music. The trio continued to play together intermittently over the years while Mr. Graves concentrated on teaching and composing.

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