Monday, December 04, 2006

ARNOLD DUPREY - THINKER, CREATOR, MAN, DEPARTED

Arnold Duprey, avid panman and former Bay Area resident, left us on Saturday. What a loss of a great thinker, music player, composer, arranger !

A native of Trinidad and Tobago, Arnold was also a competent soccer player, earning the sobriquet of "Samba Man" for his clever and resourceful approach to the game. He was a strong believer in "no man cyar run faster than the ball" and also "better to let the opposition come and take the ball off your foot than to make a stupid pass and give it to them".

Arnold was exceptionally strong in musical harmony. He would apply chords to a tune and almost give you a sound theoretical explanation of why he uses this chord instead of another workable one.

Despite all this seemingly theoretical machination, Arnold would never lose sight of the fact, as he explained to us over the years, that.. "music is not chords, music is colour".In conversation and discussion about the affairs of the world..be it politics, economics, global warming, North-American supra-nationalism, neo-colonialism (Caribbean style,) Arnold was never to be found wanting, or not 'au courant'.

His knowledge and insightfulness were impeccable and a pleasure to witness.Dumb me, I should have stayed closer to him to help me with my music ..I have been around some very good and some brilliant musicians in my day..but few have better demonstrated, despite all theirknowledge, that music is still an art form..and there are more instances of chords in the wrong places than wrong chords.

Arnold was a joy to be around and we have all learned from him. He will be missed.

RIP