Hank Crawford - what's happened to him?

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Does anyone know what Hank Crawford is up to?

He hasn't made an album since 2000. I've googled him, in the hopes of finding some site with a list of gigs he's doing, without success.

AMG doesn't say he is dead, so I guess he could be alive, but inactive. Perhaps he's retired. Perhaps he's ill.

MG

[Swinging Swede]

He suffered a stroke some years ago. He did come back to playing, but I remember reading a review that his post-stroke playing was weak. Unfortunately.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

saw him in 96 maybe 97/ w. jimmy McG of course, at a small little hotel bar with only a few people/ it was a bar and i got there right before the show and they were all 'sir you cannot sit in here this a bar you are not 21' and i was all: 'fine go ahead and call the fucking cops cause until they drag me out of here im not going fucking anywhere im seeing jimmy mcgriff and hank crawford and the rest of you can go to hell": they let me stay! that shit wouldn't fly now days in the 00's i bet!

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

at the time of the show my sax teacher told me hank was offthe scene quite a bit cause of alcahol releated stuff

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

He suffered a stroke some years ago. He did come back to playing, but I remember reading a review that his post-stroke playing was weak. Unfortunately.

I'm very sorry to hear that. But thanks.

MG

[Shawn]

I saw Hank several times in the late 90's with McGriff and you could definitely tell something wasn't quite right. He would play beautifully for a while, then he would kind of "zone out" and would seem to not know what song they were playing. I was sitting at the front of the stage next to McGriff during one of these episodes and Hank walked over to him and asked him what song they were playing...3 times...each time Jimmy yelled out "Summertime" and Hank would walk back over 10 seconds later and ask him again.

But then he would click back into reality and just rip it up. One night Frank Wess came to sit in with the group, he ended up being the primary soloist because Hank was having a really hard time. I'm sure he didn't intend to play the entire set but he seemed truly concerned for Hank and helped him along.

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

I saw Hank several times in the late 90's with McGriff and you could definitely tell something wasn't quite right. He would play beautifully for a while, then he would kind of "zone out" and would seem to not know what song they were playing. I was sitting at the front of the stage next to McGriff during one of these episodes and Hank walked over to him and asked him what song they were playing...3 times...each time Jimmy yelled out "Summertime" and Hank would walk back over 10 seconds later and ask him again.

But then he would click back into reality and just rip it up. One night Frank Wess came to sit in with the group, he ended up being the primary soloist because Hank was having a really hard time. I'm sure he didn't intend to play the entire set but he seemed truly concerned for Hank and helped him along.

He was fine when I saw him with David Newman and Calvin Newborn in the early '80s and with McGriff and Bobby Broom in the late '80s.

And his last album, "The world of Hank Crawford" was one of his best.

Oh.

MG