This is Charlie Gabriel playing his sax to honor his old friend and fellow musician, Donald Walden, who passed last Sunday. Tonight (Saturday) Detroit gathered to celebrate the life of this jazz great, and did it in a way that would have pleased Donald very much. Starting at 5 p.m. musicians gathered to jam at Bert's Marketplace in Detroit's Eastern Market. The place was packed! Donald's students from the University of Michigan joined professional musicians on the stage and, believe me, they really got down! I was there for seven hours and when I left at 11:30 p.m. it was still going on.

Oh, this man will be missed. It was more than his music, more even than his teaching and mentoring of young musicians. Donald Walden was quite simply one of our world's gentle souls. CLICK HERE to read about Donald's life.