Most folks know Hagood Hardy from his
composition, The Homecoming. It is unfortunate that I never
had the opportunity to meet Hagood Hardy in person as he died of cancer
on 1 January 1997, during which time I was ironically in Toronto near
his home. However, it is with thanks to cyberspace that we had some
dialogs about Horace Silver, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, and jazz in
general. Actually, I may have been one of the first people to
chat with him real-time in cyberspace. One day I noticed Hagood in
a CompuServe forum and started to chat with him. He must have been
amazed at the window that popped open before him with the personal
greeting "Hello, Hagood!". His response was, "Hey,
how did you do that?" He had been supportive of my composing
career and I've had the pleasure of really enjoying his music, especially
his soundtrack to the TV Production of "Anne of Green Gables".
A very nice biographical
tribute to Hagood Hardy can be found at the Channel
Productions web site. Channel Productions handles the US
distribution for some of his recordings. Audio samples of selected
music and ordering information can be found at their site.
