Jon Seiger, a gifted and versatile jazzman, died Friday, September 13, in Rochester, NY. He was 63 years old. For more than a decade Seiger has fought off various illnesses and survived several surgeries, many caused by ongoing gastrointestinal maladies.
Seiger played both trumpet and piano, and he was well-known for his pitch-perfect vocal impression of Louis Armstrong.
A graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music, Seiger was one of very few legally deaf musicians. Over the years, Jon accompanied such notables as Ella Fitzgerald, Gap Mangione, Jimmy McPartland, Doc Cheatham, Marty Napoleon, Ken Peplowski, Maynard Ferguson, Billy Eckstine, Joe Williams, and Bob Haggart.
He had also performed with many rock ’n’ roll groups such as The Drifters, The Shirelles, and Johnny and Edgar Winter. In 1988 he played Carnegie Hall with the Hi-Tops. For three years, Jon was the house bandleader at The King Cole Room at The St. Regis Hotel in New York City.
While his primary gig was with Jon Seiger & The All-Stars, he also performed with the Can-Am Band and Ray Skalski’s Jambalaya Band.
Seiger performed in eight European countries and often appeared in Argentina, Jamaica, and Canada. He and his All-Stars have entertained at venues as far afield as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and the Dublin Music and Art Festival.
While his experience is both deep and wide, Seiger’s uncanny ability to channel Satchmo remains his most mystifying talent.
“Seiger begins to sing,” writes Rochester Democrat and Chronicle critic Jeff Spevak. “And damn if he doesn’t sound like Louis Armstrong. And not just a little like Armstrong. Exactly like Armstrong.”
A few year ago Seiger and his all-stars released a CD tribute to Armstrong titled West End Blues featuring covers of tunes such as “Up a Lazy River,” “High Society,” “Struttin’ with Some Barbecue,” and “What a Wonderful World.”
