Guy Kopelowicz ("brownie"), 1939-2025

[Д.Д.]

Very sad to hear this. I had a very enjoyable dinner with Guy in Paris some 20 years ago and he was a truly gracious man.  

[B. Clugston]

Sad news. He brought such great knowledge to the board, often from an eyewitness perspecitive. RIP.

[bichos]

r.i.p. guy "brownie"

[EKE BBB]

Although to some extent this is not totally unexpected, I am deeply saddened by the news of the passing of brownie, for many years one of the most knowledgeable, respected and generous members of this board, and who I considered a good friend.

I used to interact with Guy quite a lot in the past, both on and off organissimo, exchanging info and minutiae on our favorite musicians (he was also a fan of Tete Montoliu) and hard-to-find recordings.

I visited him twice at his home while in Paris. He and his wife were among the nicest persons I have ever met. I had the chance to see and wander through his invaluable LP and CD collection (at some point he sold his vinyls). And, like in Flurin’s case, Guy also guided me through second-hand jazz CD shops in Paris.

Last time I was in contact with him was during the pandemic; he had been diagnosed with Parkinson and already had some difficulties for typing. As I could follow by his scarcer posts on the board, the disease evolved unfavourably.

The world is a colder place without him and I will truly miss him.

However, wherever he might be, I am pretty sure he will be enjoying some Lester Young, John Coltrane or Clifford Brown, while smoking a good cigar and tasting a cup of and old vintage Armagnac.

Tete was “el Gran Señor de Catalonia”;  Guy was “le plus grand gentleman de Paris”.

[clifford_thornton]

thanks for these recollections... I did not realize he had Parkinson's. 

it is always sad when we lose a board member. Guy was many things to this community, that's for sure. And his positivity and enthusiasm underscored it all.

[Brad]

He was the epitome of class and oh so knowledgeable.  A loss. RIP. 

[gmonahan]

So very, very sorry to hear this sad news.

 

[medjuck]

Shit!  I just noticed this. He was great.  I really missed him when he stopped posting.  Now aI guess I'll never be able to thank him for all the knowledge he brought here. 

[Stompin at the Savoy]

Farewell, Brownie.  Enjoyed your posts.

[EKE BBB]

A good sample of Guy's work as a photographer is contained here.

[Balladeer]

Adieu, Brownie.

I will miss your posts.

RIP

[porcy62]

Met him in Paris once. A very fine human being with impeccable taste and knowledge in music. Still have a book about Charlie Parker he gave to me as presents. He wasn’t less then a gentleman in everything he posted on bnbb and organissimo and we all know how much could easy to pass the line of a respectful discussion. A true loss. He will not forgotten by me. RIP.

[sidewinder]

I'm only sorry that I never got to meet him in person and very saddened by this news. Commumications with him and the posts both here and on the BNBB were always a pleasure and he really knew his stuff. Also very kind to send me a couple of spare CDs from Paris on one occasion. May he RIP.

[neveronfriday]

Instead of posting here, since I'm only around every couple of months to read up on what's new, I posted something about Guy on my microblog (it's the entry for December 5th, 2025, just in case you read this later on).

deus62 | microblog

Guy was a wonderful human being and became a friend.

[clifford_thornton]

New Point of Departure has the unabridged version of Brandon Burke's interview with Guy:

https://pointofdeparture.org/PoD93/PoD93Kopelowicz.html

Brandon used to post here regularly. Due to questions about rights and the estate, photos are not in the article.

[neveronfriday]

10 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

New Point of Departure has the unabridged version of Brandon Burke's interview with Guy:

Thanks for the link!

[optatio]

20 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

New Point of Departure has the unabridged version of Brandon Burke's interview with Guy:

https://pointofdeparture.org/PoD93/PoD93Kopelowicz.html

Brandon used to post here regularly. Due to questions about rights and the estate, photos are not in the article.

Many thanks too for posting the link!

[Brad]

14 hours ago, neveronfriday said:

Instead of posting here, since I'm only around every couple of months to read up on what's new, I posted something about Guy on my microblog (it's the entry for December 5th, 2025, just in case you read this later on).

deus62 | microblog

Guy was a wonderful human being and became a friend.

Wonderful remembrance. Thanks for sharing it. 

[neveronfriday]

10 hours ago, Brad said:

Wonderful remembrance. Thanks for sharing it. 

Thanks!

BTW: As websites are easily translated today (in case you don't know French), I found the following 2 links some members here might find interesting as well (the first one includes a photo from the memorial service):

Hommage: Guy Kopelowicz L’ancien chef d’AP Photo à Paris est mort à 85 ans

Hommage: Guy Kopelowicz

Edit: The first one has some fascinating info about Guy's life and work, incl. some things here and there many might never have heard before, the second one is mostly a remembrance written by his son.

Edited 3 hours ago by neveronfriday

[Dan Gould]

@neveronfriday Thanks very much for all your posts about Guy.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

2 hours ago, neveronfriday said:

Thanks!

BTW: As websites are easily translated today (in case you don't know French), I found the following 2 links some members here might find interesting as well (the first one includes a photo from the memorial service):

Hommage: Guy Kopelowicz L’ancien chef d’AP Photo à Paris est mort à 85 ans

Hommage: Guy Kopelowicz

Edit: The first one has some fascinating info about Guy's life and work, incl. some things here and there many might never have heard before, the second one is mostly a remembrance written by his son.

From his numerous posts over the years, I would not have figured Brownie as someone who always listened to free jazz.

[clifford_thornton]

Yeah, that's fascinating to hear. It's interesting that he did not talk about the death of his father in the PoD interview; perhaps it was still too traumatic.

[neveronfriday]

1 hour ago, Kevin Bresnahan said:

From his numerous posts over the years, I would not have figured Brownie as someone who always listened to free jazz.

He didn't, as we all know, but I can certainly understand his wife (and his son) mostly remembering the ear-shattering noise of the free jazz he liked to put on. 

1 hour ago, Dan Gould said:

@neveronfriday Thanks very much for all your posts about Guy.

Welcome!

BTW: I always save all these kinds of remembrances when I come across them, simply because the Internet has increasingly developed amnesia in recent years. Important things are often immediately buried a mile deep (thanks to Google) or simply disappear altogether after a short while. And we all know how terrible search results have become.

Maybe some of you remember Hans Koert (Netherlands), who ran various websites, especially with in-depth information about Oscar Alemán. If you check his old https://keepswinging.blogspot.com/ website, you can see how quickly things can disappear from the Net. Jørgen Larsen, who continued running Koert's website(s) for a while (up until 2024), outlines these problems in his recent (and then last) post(s) over there. Have a look.

Edited 22 minutes ago by neveronfriday

[clifford_thornton]

yeah, stuff just gets broken or disappears with various updates to operating systems, storage, and platform architecture. A lot of my AAJ reviews, articles, and interviews are damaged or abbreviated because of this--to say nothing of the various sites I wrote for that have gone completely dark. The moral of that story is to back everything up and ensure you have access copies (my early 2000s self needed a talking to!).

[neveronfriday]

14 minutes ago, clifford_thornton said:

yeah, stuff just gets broken or disappears with various updates to operating systems, storage, and platform architecture. A lot of my AAJ reviews, articles, and interviews are damaged or abbreviated because of this--to say nothing of the various sites I wrote for that have gone completely dark. The moral of that story is to back everything up and ensure you have access copies (my early 2000s self needed a talking to!).

Exactly!