French music scene pays homage to bluesman Lucky Peterson who died on Sunday

Radios across France, including RFI, will pay tribute with special programmes this week to the American blues legend Lucky Peterson who died suddenly from a stroke at the age of 55 on Sunday.

Lucky Peterson, legendary blues musician died at the age of 55 at a hospital in Dallas Texas (USA) on Sunday 17 May, 2020. © AFP/Archives

He had performed hundreds of times in France, and was part of the New Morning 'family', in reference to the famous Paris jazz club.

A message was posted on the artist's social media pages late on Sunday, in French and English.

It is with great sorrow we announce the passing of Lucky Peterson on Sunday, May 17, 2020 at 2:25 PM CST in Dallas,...

Publiée par Lucky Peterson sur Dimanche 17 mai 2020

Lucky Peterson often came to perform in France, and became a regular at the New Morning club in Paris.

Club director Catherine Farhi told Franceinfo Culture that Lucky Peterson had played maybe fifty times in the club since it opened.

"The public loved Lucky. And Lucky loved to be idolised, he loved playing in a familiar, laid back atmosphere,"  she said.

Coronavirus Blues

"There are a few emblematic stars of the club; there was Roy Hargrove (who passed away in 2018) and Roy Ayers. The 'New' is a big family. We're losing all our closest members, it's terrible !" she said.

"Without Lucky, I don't know how it's going to be..."

Peterson had also been very careful concerning Covid-19, she added, and he had even posted a mini live performance in March called the Coronavirus Blues where he gives a shout out to people stuck in Paris, warning his fans to take care.

Born Judge Kenneth Peterson on 13 December 1964 in Buffalo, New York state, United States, Peterson, grew up in a musical family where he learnt to play the organ to accompany his father James Peterson.

Blues artist Willie Dixon saw Lucky playing Hammond organ in his father's club at the age of five, and took him under his wing, where his career singing and playing guitar and organ took off.

Peterson worked with a number of different artists throughout his career, such as bass player Bootsy Collins, trompet player Wynton Marsalis, and the artist Ayo for his album Gravity at Last (2008).

Several of his albums were homages to other artists such as Mahalia Jackson in 1996, with singer Mavis Staples, and organ star Jimmy Smith (who had been his teacher) in 2014.

In 2009, his triple album Organ Soul Sessions was a celebration of the great names in jazz, soul and pop.

Regular at Jazz in Marciac since 1995

Jean-Louis Guillaumon, director of the famous annual Jazz in Marciac festival (Gers) also shared his sadness at losing a legend, and remembers when Lucky gave his first concert at the festival in 1995.

"It worked so well," he recalls, "that we got him back three years in a row. The public loved him and wanted more. He was a down-to-earth musician, full of warmth, he breathed the blues," he told France Info.

Peterson's most recent album was Just Warming Up! on the label Jazz Village.

Several French radios have organised special programme this week in honour of Peterson's long and influential career.

Radio France Internationale is dedicating its "L'Epopée des Musiques Noires" black music programme with Joe Farmer to the artist on Sunday 24 May, 1.30pm and 6.30pm (Paris time) featuring extracts of interviews recorded in 2005, 2009, 2014 and 2017.