12/09/2025
FRANK GEHRY
February 28, 1929 - December 5, 2025
One of my favorite people, and certainly one of the most interesting people I’ve known, the architect Frank Gehry, passed on to his next adventure at the age of ninety-six. I was fortunate to have several memorable times with Frank, each one educational, inspiring and often hilarious.
Frank was a pure artist, not constantly talking about his work in the self-absorbed, self-indulgent manner that so many “creatives” affect, but rather in a way that included you in the excitement of the process, how the work connected to the world and how it would hopefully improve it. Every moment was an opportunity to absorb and create beauty.
Frank was already an architectural rock star when I asked him to be one of my original thirteen guests on Judy Carmichael's Jazz Inspired - Public Radio Show in 1999, before I’d managed to entice any stations to carry it. He immediately said yes without asking me anything about the show, which was a show of faith and an extremely generous gesture considering his insanely busy schedule.
He had a line of people waiting to see him the day we got together to record, each ready to claw me out of the way to get their Gehry moment.
By the time we sat for our chat, he’d had second thoughts about his jazz cred, and the first words out of his mouth were: “What am I doing here?”
Frank feared he didn’t “know enough about jazz.” He’d supported my music for years, so I knew, while he wasn’t a jazz maven in his own mind, he was a jazz lover. And Frank was fascinating, funny, droll and profound, so we were destined to have a great exchange.
I last saw Frank at his office in September 2022 with our mutual friend Jill Walsh, who knew how much this surprise visit she’d arranged would thrill me. Then ninety-four, he was still spry and engaged, and while he needed a few reminders when his memory faltered, the minute I asked to see what he was working on, he became almost giddy with enthusiasm, especially getting to show me performing arts projects, knowing how much they’d interest me. “Maybe you could play here, Judy!”
In the beginning, I naively thought I’d have two guests per show, so Frank’s episode was shared with another favorite of mine, actor F. Murray Abraham, an additional great artist who said yes to help me get "Jazz Inspired" started, caring only about the work, bringing understanding to it and sharing it with the world.
https://www.jazzinspired.com/browse-shows/2015/1/29/frank-gehry-f-murray-abraham?rq=frank%20gehry
