The last surviving member of a legendary rock band has died in Upstate New York at age 87.
Garth Hudson, who played the organ, accordion, saxophone and other instruments in The Band, died Tuesday morning, according to the Toronto Star. A cause of death was not announced, but his estate executor said he “passed away peacefully in his sleep” at a nursing home in The Band’s longtime home base of Woodstock, N.Y.
According to Variety, Hudson was known as the quiet member of the group that began as the Hawks, a backup band for rockabilly singer Ronnie Hawkins. Hudson supported Bob Dylan on his first rock tour in 1966 and served as the recording engineer for their legendary “basement tapes” in West Saugerties.
Hudson, guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist-singer Rick Danko, pianist Richard Manuel and drummer-singer Levon Helm formed The Band and released their first album, “Music from Big Pink,” partly based on those tapes with Dylan. The 1968 release featured “The Weight” and “I Shall Be Released,” while other songs were released in 1975 as “The Basement Tapes” with Dylan and The Band.
Hudson was a talented musician who played the organ, piano, keyboards, clavinet, soprano and tenor saxophones, but was reportedly the only member who never contributed vocals to The Band on stage or on records. He rarely stood out, except for the lengthy Bach-inspired introduction to “Chest Fever,” known in concerts as “The Genetic Method.”
Levon Helm, Garth Hudson and Rick Danko performing with The Band at the Capitol Theater in Passaic, New Jersey on October 21, 1983. (Photo by Ebet Roberts/Redferns via Getty Images)Redferns
Hudson, an Ontario native, was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994, both as a member of The Band. He was also part of the all-star lineup at “The Last Waltz,” The Band’s 1976 farewell concert filmed by Martin Scorsese with guest performers like Dylan, Hawkins, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, and Dr. John.
Outside of The Band, Hudson performed as a solo artist and with notables like Elton John, Neko Case, Teddy Thompson, and his own 12-piece band The Best! with his wife Maud Hudson, who died in 2022.
Robertson, who died in 2023, praised Garth Hudson in his 2016 memoir “Testimony.”
“He played brilliantly, in a more complex way than anybody we had ever jammed with,” he wrote. “Most of us had just picked up our instruments as kids and plowed ahead, but Garth was classically trained and could find musical avenues on the keyboard we didn’t know existed. It impressed us deeply.”
