Jazz Educator Was Known to Healdsburg's Music Scene, Students

, one of the most recognizable figures in the Healdsburg jazz scene for the past dozen years, passed away over the weekend in Oakland.

The trumpet player and band leader first came to Healdsburg in 1999 to help set up an education component in the then new-born Healdsburg Jazz Festival. His most recent appearances were just last year spring, when he appeared with at the , and a month later with his own international ensemble in the same venue for another "" performance.

A statement from his wife and family said, “He appeared to be in a state of great peace and his transition came easily. The girls and I wish to thank everyone for the outpouring of love, soothing comments, and prayers. We feel incredibly blessed to be in the company of such amazing and kind people.”

He had been diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010, but continued to teach and perform until recently.

Healdsburg Jazz Festival founder said, “So many in Healdsburg experienced his warm, caring spirit. I can't even imagine the numbers of students and adults he touched in Healdsburg, let alone the rest of the world.”

, another jazz ambassador to Healdsburg, said, “He was a tireless warrior for jazz and for our kids, bringing jazz to High Schools and Middle Schools throughout Oakland, the greater San Francisco Bay Area, and Northern California. The city finally gave Oaktown Jazz a beautiful space in Jack London Square across from Yoshi's in 2010. I hope it can flourish the way Khalil dreamed and deserves.”

Khalil Shaheed was born as Tom Hall in 1949, and came to the Bay Area from Chicago in the mid-1970s. In his earlier incarnation he had he toured with Buddy Miles for 7 years, and among other efforts produced the brass section on a blues track with Jimi Hendrix “Blue Window” recorded in 1969, only recently released through Martin Scorsese’s Blues TV and CD project.

“It was at a time when everybody was partying a little overtime, to put it lightly,” said Santos,” but those were also times of solidifying the San Francisco Bay Area musical family that cut across several genres of music, particularly Funk, Soul and Latin. Tommy was a vibrant part of that scene.”

He converted to Islam and changed his name in the 1980s, which Santos characterized as “the major force in a total rebirth of the man, as he ‘cleaned up’ and wholly dedicated himself to his art, his understanding of the world, and to community service.”

“This is the neighborhood in which I live and I can tell you beyond the shadow of a doubt that his work is directly related to what sanity still exists between the shootings that happen here every day or two. In that regard, Khalil was a great blessing and savior for countless kids and their families - truly a local treasure.”

“In 1994, Khalil founded the Oaktown Jazz Workshop with the intention of not allowing the commodification and appropriation of jazz to prevent Oakland's youth from being exposed to it. He wanted to give them the opportunity to know and celebrate jazz and draw from its history and wisdom in their own creative ways. He also understood that Jazz is essential to teach life skills to kids, not only in Black and working class communities, but anywhere in this country.”

In his role as an educator, Shaheed and his band members – including at one time or another Babatunde Lea, Richard Howell, Glen Pearson, Clairdee, Rhonda Benin, Angela Wellman, Walter Savage, Ron Belcher and many others familiar to Healdsburg jazz fans – took part in the annual program that brought the history and inspiration of jazz to area fifth graders.

By coincidence, Operation Jazz Band is this week in Healdsburg primary schools, with the members of the participating musicians playing on Friday night at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts as.

“He’s going to be sorely missed and especially among the population of his students,” said Babatunde when I found him and several of his fellow OJB  musicians having lunch in town today. “He was a  conduit to a path for all the students who were serious about becoming a performing artist in the genre of jazz.

“Once thing he was always able to bring in,” the percussionist continued, “ were the masters who were drawn in for his students to see. And that was very important. He exposed them to so many different levels of jazz.

“A lot of important musicians now came through Khalil. I’m hoping that somebody steps in and tries – it’ll be impossible to fill his shoes – but at least gives a presence to keep that energy going.

Keyboardist Frank Martin chimed in to say, “He was just a champion of kids, he just loved turning kids on to music and helping them out. I had a lot of respect for him as a person, separate from a musician. I’ll miss him – and all the kids will really miss him.”

Gary Brown, who is playing bass in OJB as well as in Friday evening’s concert, added, “Khalil was an exceptional person in the way he brought his background, his history, his life experience to children. He motivated them by that in ways they hadn’t learned about yet … Of course I’ll miss him, but his spirit lives on in the work he’s done. I’m sure he’s still with us.”

One of Shaheed’s final public appearances was last month at a memorial concert Eddie Marshall in Oakland. Santos said, “He looked tired and swollen from the chemo, and was obviously in pain, but he had to be there with his family because that's the kind of person he is. … His hug was weak, but his heart was irrepressible.”

Continued  Santos, “I know of few others who are as loved and respected by their peers and all age ranges of our community. Khalil was fearless and spoke up in any setting on behalf of all of us - a real GIANT in our village.

“He was a peaceful man on a mission and was exemplary for all of us in his focus on his spirituality, his family, his music and band, and last but not least, the kids in Oakland,” said Santos.