Musical Space 9/6: Goodbye, Jerry Hahn

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KMUW / Jedd Beaudoin

This week on Musical Space Mark Foley waves goodbye to one of Wichita’s favorite guitarists, Jerry Hahn.

Goodbye, Jerry Hahn

World-class guitarist Jerry Hahn is selling his house and moving away from Wichita.

He has done this before; the music business is fickle, and he’s probably smart to go where audiences are fresh. This time he’s moving to Kansas City with his newlywed bride, Judy, whom he started dating about 50 years ago.

Jerry has lived in San Francisco, Portland, and Denver; and in his travels he played with an amazing number of first-class musicians: John Handy, The Fifth Dimension, Gary Burton and Cream drummer Ginger Baker. In 1970, with Mike Finnigan, the Jerry Hahn Brotherhood was among the first bands to successfully meld jazz with rock. They played the great rock venues and warmed up for Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, among others. Rolling Stone called him “one of the three or four best jazz guitarists in the country.”

Jerry got his start here in Wichita, though—playing live on local TV, in fact—and you can hear it in the way he allows a certain country twang to seep into his music. Many of his early recordings are hard to come by but the hunting and pecking required is worth the effort. He’s a great example of the kind of talent the Wichita music scene is capable of nurturing—a musician whose playing is always strong, focused, perfectly executed.

As you can hear for yourself

Music: “Moses” by Jerry Hahn