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Garth Hudson, the Band’s Keyboardist and Professor of Rock, Dead at 87

Garth Hudson, a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist best known for his distinctive organ and saxophone work with the Band, has died at 87.

Garth Hudson, a virtuoso multi-instrumentalist best known for his distinctive organ and saxophone work with the Band, and who in his later years remained an in-demand player among young musicians — including Neko Case, Norah Jones, and Wilco — died early Tuesday morning at the Ten Broeck Center for Rehabilitation & Nursing in upstate New York in age 87. One of the most inventive keyboardists in the history of rock & roll, Hudson was born in London, Ontario, on Aug. 3, 1937 — years before his fellow Band members — to a pair of gifted musicians: His mother was a pianist, and his father played a variety of wind instruments, though he was employed as a farm inspector and entomologist. Hudson moved back to the Woodstock area in 1991, where he continued to tinker (among other projects, he built a derringer handgun and cast his own bullets) and make music, playing with local bands and recording with a new generation of admirers that included Wilco, Norah Jones, Neko Case, and Doug Paisley.

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