RIP Kurt McGettrick July 1, 1946-May 6, 2007
An Appreciation of Kurt McGettrick from
the Overture July 2007
THE OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF PROFESSIONAL MUSICIANS, LOCAL 47, LOS ANGELES, CA,
AFM, AFL-CIO, CLC
BY MEMBER STEVE SPIEGL
On May 6, I lost a dear friend and irreplaceable colleague, Kurt McGettrick. After playing in my Big Band every Monday morning for almost 35 years, his unique talent and quiet presence will be more than terribly missed. He was an accomplished master of numerous woodwinds and genres, who always brought the highest level of professionalism and musicianship to his art, both playing and writing, and always with the most personal, muscular and unique style that became a hallmark of all his artistic endeavors. He had a dry, very witty, cynical sense of humor that always had biting insight, but what I have always valued most of all about him was his exceptional character as a person, with standards, values, and kindness that defined how he lived his life, as a husband, father, artist and colleague, who had one of the most "live and let live" attitudes of all the people I have known. He brought the same enthusiasm and pride to such diverse interests outside of music as car racing and cooking as he did to his profession. He was the very definition of a "singular" and unique voice artistically, and we are all diminished by his loss. Monday morning music making will never be the same without him. Thanks for sharing your talent with us, Kurt.
