August 10, 2010
RIP Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, June 9th,1926 - August
9th, 2010. Best known as the longtime bass player of the Muddy
Waters Blues Band, Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, a Greenwood,
Mississippi native, passed away last night of complications
from lung cancer. He was 84. "Fuzz" was the definitive
blues bass player, a stirring vocalist, and a wonderful human
being. Here is the email that Bob Margolin, his longtime friend,
and fellow Muddy alum, wrote this morning:
Calvin “Fuzz” Jones passed away early this morning
at Baptist Memorial Hospital-DeSoto in Southaven, Mississippi.
His family is making funeral arrangements for Saturday in
Mississippi. No more information on that yet, update soon.
Calvin “Fuzz” Jones is best known for the 10
years he played bass in Muddy Waters’ band, about 1970-’80.
Previously, he had worked with Howlin’ Wolf, Little
Walter, and Elmore James. He was appreciated for his strong
electric bass playing, rocking stage presence, deep Blues
singing, and the friendly laugh and smile he had for all.
Calvin had been living in Senatobia, MS for the last few
years after decades in the Chicago area. Some of you receiving
this e-mail were very kind to help him financially to stay
in his apartment when he faced eviction in January. He appreciated
that so deeply, understanding fully that the Blues music we
all love had brought him your timely help. He had beat lung
cancer, and in the late 1990’s he had a large tumor
successfully removed from the back of his neck. Apparently
the cancer came back in one lung and he developed pneumonia
in the other and couldn’t breathe and was rushed to
the hospital. He suffered a heart attack there, and though
he was stabilized, his heart was weakened and gave out on
him for the last time this morning.
I visited him last Friday afternoon, and he was deeply sedated.
I’m glad to have seen him one more time, but he didn’t
know I was there. I think he was beyond medical recovery,
and that his illness overtook his strength. He was 84 years
old, and was enjoying his life as much as possible until very
recently. He had a sincere good word for everyone, and his
reaction to any kind of health, musical, or financial challenge
was his hearty trademark laugh. I asked him how he could laugh
so easily when life hurt him, and he said “When you
laugh the world laughs with you, when you cry, you cry alone.”
He brought us deep Chicago and Mississippi Blues on the bandstand
and on recordings, and his Blues and love for his friends,
family, and all of us are his legacy.
Sadly, Bob Margolin
