My uncle, Walter C. Frank passed away on Friday at age 94. He was a world class joke teller, pianist, passionate accountant, and Holocaust survivor. A sweet and fascinating man, full of wisdom and insight...AND...he gave me my first lesson on how to play the blues, explaining to me about the dominant seventh, what we sometimes call The Blue Note...yes kids...thats where that comes from. I must have been around nine or so...Ill never forget it. Born in Germany and later targeted by the SS, he and his family managed to make it out of Buchenwald...this was still early on in Hitlers rule, and the death camps hadnt yet gone into full swing. They managed to escape to Shanghai where they lived for a number of years, and finally to San Francisco. And along the way he learned to play some badass blues piano. Wrote a book about it all too...an amazing life..... ...he will be sorely missed.
Posted on: Mon, 01 Sep 2014 08:04:38 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015