NEW ORLEANS— Few people lived their passion like Don “Moose” Jamison, Moose was a lover of music, but more so, a lover of people.
He was a former musician, and after he stopped playing his horn, played music on the radio on WWOZ as part of his New Orleans Music Show. He was also a board member of the Jazz and Heritage Foundation.
“He would always be the advocate for jazz, to keep jazz in the Jazz Fest, and he felt really strongly about that,” Quint Davis of Festival Productions said.
Of course as an advocate for jazz and the musicians, quite naturally Moose was committed and worked to make sure students learning to play had what they needed to excel.
“He had a group called ‘Strike up the Band’ for all the high schools,” his companion Evia “Abby” Viel told us. “He bought instruments, because he said he saw the instruments, and all the students had banana peels and tape to put their instruments together.”
Moose maintained that effort throughout his life. We lost Moose Jamison in 2003, but today his legacy lives on in the Don ‘Moose’ Jamison Heritage School of Music. It’s a fitting tribute to the man who fought for the music he loved.
