Irv Cox ... Died August 4 2005

[StrtdTooLate]

Perhaps some of you knew Tenor, Alto, Bari, and Flute player Irv Cox. He grew up in Charlotte, NC moved to LA and about 10 years ago back to Charlotte. Search on the Web and you see that he played in several venues. Played for Louie Jordan for a good while.

Very good horn player.

65 years old.

[jazzbluescat]

:cry: My condolences to the family.

That's too young to go.

[StrtdTooLate]

Did a web search, lots of hits. Anyone know him or played with him?

[irvsdaughter]

Hi, I am Irv Cox's daughter~ Stacy. I was googling my dad's name the other day and came across this sight. I just want to thank you for the nice notice you posted. I really appreciate the effort and moment you took to do that. He really was a special, gifted musician!!! Thanks again, take care, Stacy Cox

[StrtdTooLate]

Your Dad and I became very good friends after he moved to Charlotte. He showed me a picture of you he carried at all times. He loved you very much.

[irvsdaughter]

Wow, you knew my dad! That's really great! I am sitting here with my Uncle Steve, Dad's younger brother. I am showing him this site and the postings! I just really appreciate that Dad had my photo in his wallet and was proud of me and showed it to you. I miss him (I think we all do, although he drove us nuts sometimes, well most of the times) but I think he did the right thing, ended things on his own terms which I respect. He's in a better place I am certain.
Isn't the Starship "Miracles" sax solo incredible? I have it in my car and listen to it all the time.
Steve and I wish you and your family a very Happy Thanksgiving. Thank You for posting all this. You're awesome.
Warm Regards,
The Cox's ~ Stacy & Steve :)

[AshevilleBass]

I played with Irv several times in the Asheville area and once we drove together to a gig 4 hours away, so I got to know him a bit. The musicians here were always awed by his playing and his demeanor. Irv was always the hippest cat in the room. Great tan and shades. Not to mention monster chops. We miss him.

When Irv died, none of the musicians I know knew any familiy contacts for him, so I'm glad to know about you Stacy. I will send you an email regarding something your dad gave me.

Best regards,

jeff

[irvsdaughter]

Jeff:

I just emailed you privately, but once again I want to thank you for being resourceful and reaching out to me! Since we didn't have a memorial or a service after my Dad's passing here in Los Angeles, I think Sax on the Web has inadvertently and informally been a lovely and perfect substitute! Compliments can come none higher then from your peers and it's obvious there's very cool musical contingent that exists in NC. I am so humbeled and impressed! Warm Regards, Stacy Cox :)

[John Laughter]

Stacy & Steve Cox, I sent a PM. Please drop a line to JSAXL@aol.com

[lifedream5]

Irv was my first serious sax teacher and friend. He taught me alot about everything. I was hungry for knowledge about the craft, and Irv was the one who began showing me the way. He was very generous, giving me several mouthpieces to try for a nominal amount of money, no where near what they would of cost second hand. Most importantly, he taught me how to practice. I think the most important thing that I got from Irv was feeling his spiritual energy while he played. Irv played at my wedding with me. We played central park west (he introduced me to coltrane) and c jam blues. I know that this may be a little too late to post this, but I was thinking about Irv this morning before taking my little son to school and decided to google him and ran across this thread. My condolences to his family, and yes he did carry a picture of his daughter every where he went. If I remember correctly, he had a large framed picture right in the room with us when we practiced. Best wishes Phil Lyew

[bachwtc2]

I am classical pianist who just happened to discover Irv Cox playing at the Queen Mary in the late 1980's. His freedom and depth of feeling/expression revolutionized my way of looking at music. So, I used to follow him around with a Sony TCD5M cassette machine with nice mic to record his gigs, mostly on the Queen. It was "Cox and Dean at the Queen" for awhile. In 1989, I hired him to play at my brother's wedding in Laguna Nigel, rather than hiring myself to play long-hair music by the Three B's. One of my joyous memories of Irv is how much he loved Romantic music like Rachmaninoff but hated the hardcore classical composers. Ironically enough, my fianceeand I knew and loved a piano-tuner "Smitty", recently deceased, who played Chopin, Rachmaninoff and Scriabin like an angel but hated Mozart, Beethoven and tolerated Bach. Chacun a son goux" as the French put it or one man's meat is another's poison. I have some video footage of Irv playing live at Robert's wedding. Let me know.
Donald Morris