Kermode, Richard E. Obituary (1946 - 1996)

Born Oct 05, 1946, Kermode, Richard E. attended Kenmore West High School in Town Of Tonawanda, NY. View the obituary, post a memory, or share a photo about Kermode, Richard E..

Graduation Year	Class of 1965
Date of Birth	Oct 05, 1946
Date of Passing	Jan 19, 1996
About	Services were held in Denver for Richard Kermode , 49, a jazz-rock keyboardist with Buffalo roots who played at the Woodstock rock festival with Janis Joplin and recorded with Carlos Santana. He died Jan. 16, 1996, in Denver General Hospital after a brief illness. Survivors include his wife, the former Gail Knox; three sons, Eric Kermode, Jeremy Kermode and John Barrios, all of the San Francisco area; a daughter, Adrienne DeMonico of Niagara Falls; and a sister, Trish Dehn of Concord, Calif. Born in Lovell, Wyo., he grew up in Buffalo and displayed his talents on the Hammond B-3 organ while still in his teens. Playing in a jazz trio called Milestones, he became a star attraction in the Ontario House in Niagara Falls, where he played four nights a week for more than four years in the mid-1960s. "Richard came to me when he was about 17 years of age," said Ontario House proprietor Bob Minicucci and he was a tremendous, tremendous artist. "Many people came to see him; many musicians, too. One night when (legendary jazz organist) Jack McDuff was in town, he dropped in. That was really an honor." Kermode moved to San Francisco after he was called by Janis Joplin as she was forming her Kosmic Blues Band. He returned to Buffalo in the early 1970s to play in Memorial Auditorium with Malo, a group led by Carlos Santana's brother, Jorge. Kermode then joined Santana and recorded three albums with the group. Jazz vocalist Flora Purim sang one of his songs, "Yours in the Light," on the "Welcome" album. His work also was featured on the "Lotus" album, a Japanese release that became highly prized as an import album here. He also recorded with Patti LaBelle, Luis Gasca, Pete Escovedo, Airto and Purim. He developed a passion for Latin music while playing with Malo and worked with numerous Latin jazz, salsa and Brazilian bands. He last performed in Buffalo in 1989, filling in for the late Stan Szelest in a club band and taking part in a West Coast-Buffalo Reunion jazz show in the former Cafe Casablanca. Minicucci held a benefit show for him in the Ontario House in 1990 when he was recovering from near-fatal kidney and liver ailments. He was able to resume his musical career and in recent years played in bands on USO tours, entertaining U.S. military personnel around the world. He toured South Korea last summer and followed that with a number of solo dates in his favorite foreign destination, Japan. He moved to Denver in 1994 to work on salsa music projects.