With a little blues for our friends. Concert for Keith Ross.

This fundraiser is to help Jesse, the son of my late friend

Keith Ross,

Sept 23, 1954 – Jan 28, 2025

Keith Ross was one of my closest friends. We met at 13 years old. We grew up together. And he

was considered family at my home.

For most of us that knew Keith, we will remember him as a passionate musician. He loved his

craft, and he instilled that passion in everyone who performed with him.

Always years ahead of the curve, Keith would promote new music that others had yet to

discover. On the student council at Victoria Park Secondary, he enlightened thousands of music

lovers, by turning them on to yet unknown performers.

He took greatly deserved pride in being a musician that presented his craft with an excellence

that put him on stages with some of Canada’s finest, and in recording studios with legends.

Keith could have been a curator or consultant to musical instrument collectors anywhere in the

world. He didn’t hoard knowledge, he believed that a “better informed” world was a better

world.

For those of us close to Keith, we knew him as a great father to his only son Jesse. He raised his

son singlehandedly into a fine and caring person. And when Keith’s health took a turn for the

worse, Jesse put aside a promising college education, took minimum wage work, and shared the

costs of living with his dad. Jesse literally put his father’s care ahead of his own future.

I am aware that Jesse was Keith’s main concern in life during his final months. I have no doubt

that his hard work will yield success in whatever he decides.

In the wake of his father’s passing, it is Jesse’s ambition to bring his father’s music art to light so

that others may also be touched by Keith’s passion for music.

With your donation, Jesse will return to the studio with special music guests to complete an album of

jazz standards that remains unfinished, and present a music festival to celebrate the blues and jazz

that was so much a part of Keith’s life.

Thank you,

Frank Zirone