Really shocked by this news - yes John, terrible sums it up. I saw him less than 2 weeks ago at Swanage, playing superbly as per usual in Peter King's Quartet (must have been his last gig I guess). My impression at the time was that he looked fine (Peter made some quip about him taking forever to set up his kit - but that was the mark of the technical perfectionist/master) - his playing if anything was even better than the previous time I'd seen him at Swanage and was typically precise and very driving (they played Chick Corea's 'Inner Space' to start things off, at a cracking pace).
It was stated by the festival host in the intro that he was the 'best time player in the UK' and there were no arguments whatsoever with that statement - spot on.
First time I saw him was in the late 70s in the Ronnie Scott Quintet, at Scotts, along with Dick Pierce, John Critchenson and Ron Mathewson. Saw that group quite a few times at the club.
RIP and my sympathies to his family - and many thanks for some great playing over the years.