FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1972

Today in 1972 we lost Jimmy Rushing. Goodbye Jimmy and thanks.

Jimmy Rushing Interview

TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1972
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RUSHING RITES DRAW

300 INCLUDING BASIE

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More than 300 mourners, among them Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Erskine Hawkins, Buck Clayton and Al Hibbler attended the funeral yesterday of Jimmy Rushing at St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Lexington Avenue and 54th Street.

Mr. Rushing, one of the great blues singers and a one-time member of the Count Basie orchestra, died Thursday at the age of 68.

In his tribute to Mr. Rushing, the Rev. John Garcia Gensel, the church's associate pastor and minister to the jazz community, said "Mr. Five by Five" would be remembered best for his "childlike quality of enthusiasm and simplicity," a quality quite different from childishness, he explained, and one most warmly recommended by Jesus to his followers.

The musical tributes included Tony Watkins singing "Precious Lord, Take My Hand"; a trumpet solo by Joe Newman of "Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child," with Junior Mance on the piano, and a rendition of "My Buddy," with Louis Metcalf on the trumpet, Bobby Pratt on the trombone and Mr. Mance on the piano.

Burial was at Maple Grove cemetery, Kew Gardens, Queens.
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