<\/title>\n<\/head>\n<body>\n<p>Dudley Hill, a longtime bluegrass, rock and jazz guitarist, helped\nstart a string band in the mid-1990s to honor jazz great Django\nReinhardt by playing his music at gigs around Western Washington. It\nwas supposed to be a hobby.\n<\/p>\n<p> Instead, Mr. Hill’s band, Pearl Django, went on to tour Europe,\nrecording seven CDs and developing a cult following. Members started\nDjango Fest Northwest in 2001, a four-day festival of workshops and\nlive music on Whidbey Island that every October drew bands and hundreds\nof fans from around the world.\n<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Hill died of colon cancer Saturday at his Tacoma home, his\nbrother and a sister by his side. He was 56.\n<\/p>\n<p> “He was actually amazed how fast it took off,” his daughter, Kashia\nJones, said of the band’s success. “He is very proud of where the band\ncame from, and where it is going.”\n<\/p>\n<p> Mr. Hill was born on April 19, 1948, in Tacoma. A naturally\ngifted musician, he taught himself to play the guitar and could perform\nsongs the first time he heard them on the radio, his family said. <\/p>\n<p>\nAfter graduating from Stadium High School in Tacoma in 1966, he\nenlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War. Upon returning to Tacoma,\nhe worked at a plywood factory and played guitar in pubs on weekends.\nHe met his future wife, Joanne Hogenson, at a lounge in Tacoma. The\ncouple married in 1970 and divorced four years later. <\/p>\n<p> Mr. Hill also gave guitar lessons. Among his students, said\nhis family, was then-12-year-old Mark O’Connor, today considered one of\nthe world’s best fiddlers.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nDuring the 1970s, Mr. Hill recorded a highly acclaimed bluegrass album\ntitled “From a Northern Family.” <\/p>\n<p>In the 1990s, he met a talented local guitarist named Neil\nAndersson, with whom he later formed Pearl Django. <\/p>\n<p>“Dudley and I were interested in the music of Django Reinhardt, so\nwe started to learn his songs,” said Andersson. The duo later added a\nbassist, a violinist and a third guitarist. Mr. Hill composed two songs\non their debut album, “Le Jazz Hot” in 1995. Pearl Django was in high\ndemand around the state after jazz station KPLU 88.5-FM played their\nsongs.\n<table align=\"right\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<script language=\"JavaScript\">\n\n<\/script>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<script language=\"JavaScript\">\n\n<\/script>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\nPearl Django received rave reviews nationwide and performed in France\nand England. The band had a memorable 2001. National Public Radio\nrecorded an interview and a performance by Pearl Django in the spring.\nIn August, the band performed in Iceland, returning to Washington to\nstart the Django Fest Northwest on Whidbey Island in the fall.\n<\/p>\n<p>But that same year, Mr. Hill was diagnosed with colon cancer and\nlater could not join the band on many road trips. He quit the band last\nMarch.\n<\/p>\n<p> “We never replaced him,” said Andersson. “He is irreplaceable.\nThere is no one like him.”\n<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Hill is survived by his brother, Bob Hill of Tacoma; sisters\nSally Hill of Graham, Judy Wells of Puyallup and Susan Dunigan of\nSammamish; daughter Kashia Jones of Tacoma; and two grandchildren.\n<\/p>\n<p> Mr. Hill requested that no funeral service be held.\n<\/p>\n<\/body>\n<\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dudley Hill (1948-2005), guitarist and founding member of Pearl Django, lost his battle with cancer. Dudley had a long career playing bluegrass and swing music. He was particularly well known for his punchy chord melody style and his unwavering sense of swing. Incidentally, he also gave lessons to the great guitar and violin virtuoso Mark […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-site-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":133,"date":"2005-01-16T13:09:05","date_gmt":"2005-01-16T13:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/?p=133"},"modified":"2005-01-16T13:09:05","modified_gmt":"2005-01-16T13:09:05","slug":"in_memoriam_dudley_hill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/in_memoriam_dudley_hill\/","title":{"rendered":"In Memoriam: Dudley Hill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dudley Hill (1948-2005), guitarist and founding member of Pearl Django, lost his battle with cancer. Dudley had a long career playing bluegrass and swing music. He was particularly well known for his punchy chord melody style and his unwavering sense of swing. Incidentally, he also gave lessons to the great guitar and violin virtuoso Mark O’Conner. He was a man of few words, but his playing was always poignant and heart felt. His passing is a great loss to all of us.\n

\n $\"dudley.jpg\"$ <\/a>\n\n\n\n\n\n<\/title>\n<\/head>\n<body>\n<p>Dudley Hill, a longtime bluegrass, rock and jazz guitarist, helped\nstart a string band in the mid-1990s to honor jazz great Django\nReinhardt by playing his music at gigs around Western Washington. It\nwas supposed to be a hobby.\n<\/p>\n<p> Instead, Mr. Hill’s band, Pearl Django, went on to tour Europe,\nrecording seven CDs and developing a cult following. Members started\nDjango Fest Northwest in 2001, a four-day festival of workshops and\nlive music on Whidbey Island that every October drew bands and hundreds\nof fans from around the world.\n<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Hill died of colon cancer Saturday at his Tacoma home, his\nbrother and a sister by his side. He was 56.\n<\/p>\n<p> “He was actually amazed how fast it took off,” his daughter, Kashia\nJones, said of the band’s success. “He is very proud of where the band\ncame from, and where it is going.”\n<\/p>\n<p> Mr. Hill was born on April 19, 1948, in Tacoma. A naturally\ngifted musician, he taught himself to play the guitar and could perform\nsongs the first time he heard them on the radio, his family said. <\/p>\n<p>\nAfter graduating from Stadium High School in Tacoma in 1966, he\nenlisted in the Navy during the Vietnam War. Upon returning to Tacoma,\nhe worked at a plywood factory and played guitar in pubs on weekends.\nHe met his future wife, Joanne Hogenson, at a lounge in Tacoma. The\ncouple married in 1970 and divorced four years later. <\/p>\n<p> Mr. Hill also gave guitar lessons. Among his students, said\nhis family, was then-12-year-old Mark O’Connor, today considered one of\nthe world’s best fiddlers.\n<\/p>\n<p>\nDuring the 1970s, Mr. Hill recorded a highly acclaimed bluegrass album\ntitled “From a Northern Family.” <\/p>\n<p>In the 1990s, he met a talented local guitarist named Neil\nAndersson, with whom he later formed Pearl Django. <\/p>\n<p>“Dudley and I were interested in the music of Django Reinhardt, so\nwe started to learn his songs,” said Andersson. The duo later added a\nbassist, a violinist and a third guitarist. Mr. Hill composed two songs\non their debut album, “Le Jazz Hot” in 1995. Pearl Django was in high\ndemand around the state after jazz station KPLU 88.5-FM played their\nsongs.\n<table align=\"right\" border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"6\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<table border=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<script language=\"JavaScript\">\n\n<\/script>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td align=\"center\">\n<script language=\"JavaScript\">\n\n<\/script>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\nPearl Django received rave reviews nationwide and performed in France\nand England. The band had a memorable 2001. National Public Radio\nrecorded an interview and a performance by Pearl Django in the spring.\nIn August, the band performed in Iceland, returning to Washington to\nstart the Django Fest Northwest on Whidbey Island in the fall.\n<\/p>\n<p>But that same year, Mr. Hill was diagnosed with colon cancer and\nlater could not join the band on many road trips. He quit the band last\nMarch.\n<\/p>\n<p> “We never replaced him,” said Andersson. “He is irreplaceable.\nThere is no one like him.”\n<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Hill is survived by his brother, Bob Hill of Tacoma; sisters\nSally Hill of Graham, Judy Wells of Puyallup and Susan Dunigan of\nSammamish; daughter Kashia Jones of Tacoma; and two grandchildren.\n<\/p>\n<p> Mr. Hill requested that no funeral service be held.\n<\/p>\n<\/body>\n<\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dudley Hill (1948-2005), guitarist and founding member of Pearl Django, lost his battle with cancer. Dudley had a long career playing bluegrass and swing music. He was particularly well known for his punchy chord melody style and his unwavering sense of swing. Incidentally, he also gave lessons to the great guitar and violin virtuoso Mark […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-site-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.djangobooks.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}