Daily Express Wed Dec 22nd 2004

Jagger leads tributes to a true giant of jazz

By Martin Evans

ONE of Britain's most infuential saxophonists has died aged 70 after losing his battle with cancer.

Dick Heckstall?]Smith had played with some of the biggest names in jazz, blues and rock and was widely regarded as the most innovative and versatile sax exponent of his generation.

He was credited with influencing a wide range of musicians and bands from early blues combos to rock legends.

Mick Jagger last night paid tribute to Heckstall?]Smith and called him "one of the greats".

Jagger, who played with him as an 18?]year?]old blues singer before finding fame with The Rolling Stones, said: "Dick was the first saxophonist I ever played with and I remember him well because in the middle of a blues number he'd come up with a fan­tastic jazz solo which was real­ly out of left field at the time.

"I was only about 18 years old then, so the memory of playing with him has always stayed with me. He was a true great who provided an excellent role model for all the saxophonists who followed him."

Born in Shropshire, the son of a farmer, Dick learned the clarinet at school before mov­ing to the saxophone. He won a place at Cambridge University to read agricultural studies, but his passion lay in music. He joined his college's jazz club and after graduation moved to London, where he played in the bustling jazz scene. In December 1957 he joined the band led by clarinetist Sandy Brown, and worked with musicians including Acker Bilk, as well as Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker who went on to form rock super-group Cream.

Dick also became a leading light in the blues movement of the early 1960s, and was a founding member of Blues Incorporated. When Blues In­corporated split up, Dick went on to play with the Graham Bond Organisation and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. He was also a founding member of the top British blues bands Colosseum and Big Chief.

During the 1970s he turned his hand to rock. He toured the US supporting acts including Deep Purple and Fleetwood Mac. In 2001 he released the album Blues And Beyond, on which Bruce, Mayall and ex Rolling Stone Mick Taylor all played. In the same year he was diagnosed with cancer.

His long?]time friend Roger Bunn, who played with Roxy Music, said: "He was a giant of the music industry."

Dick was divorced from his wife Gary, and is survived by their son.