Beloved Seattle jazz pianist Overton Berry has died

Seattle lost a jazz great this week. Pianist Overton Berry died on Monday at the age of 84.

Back in 2014, KUOW's Ross Reynolds spoke with Berry about the beginning of his long career:

“I had a cousin who played trombone with Count Basie, and I think later on with the Ray Charles orchestra, and he advised my mother (who was a very mean lady) to start me off on piano, because he said he's gonna learn music and if he wants to switch to any other instrument he can. So I, you know, I started off studying when I was like four and a half, five years old.”

Overton Berry attended Garfield High School. He started out at age 16, playing United Service Organizations shows on the West Coast. He served as music director for the House of Entertainment during the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. After a decades-long career, Seattle's Earshot Jazz inducted Berry into the Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame in 2012.

Among other tunes, Berry became known for his riff on The Beatles' "Hey Jude." You can find Ross Reynolds' full interview with Overton Berry at KUOW dot org.