Fred Kaz: Another Second City giant has passed on. Back when I was 20 years old and taking classes at Second City, I use to go to watch the improv sets 2 to 3 times a week. I spent the next 4 years taking classes with everyone that I could and Id go to watch the improv sets at least once a week. Actors came and went, but in performance, the man who held it all together all those years and all those shows was Fred Kaz, SCs musical director who played the piano like other people breath. He had a jazzmans ear, timing and sensibility. He made every scene better. I saw him guide the actors through their improvised scenes from being lost to being found. He brought brilliance and heart and soul to everything he underscored and to every actor he worked with. I learned so much by watching him play and by listening to his music. Years later, I was pleased to be able to honor him by giving him a Chicago Improv Lifetime Achievement award in a front of a crowd of 950 people in a sold out reunion show we did with The Second City cast from 1979 at The Athenaeum Theatre - Chicago as part of CIF. To see him play one more time was wonderful. To hear him speak after getting the award and then getting a standing ovation was gratifying. Everyone called him Captain Kaz, but for me like Ernie Banks was Mr. Cub, Fred was Mr. Second City. Rest in peace Fred and thanks for everything.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 18:41:24 +0000