Maurice Reedus

Blues tenor saxophonist, born 1930 in Cleveland, OH. Died Aug. 18, 2008 in Cleveland, OH. Reedus, the seventh of nine children born to a laborer and a beautician, grew up in the projects on Quincy Avenue. After graduating from Central High School, he worked for a West Side furniture manufacturer. Reedus, who served in the Army in the early 1950s, worked for the Postal Service for many years. All the while, he made music in Cleveland, as well as on the road and in other countries, with such artists as Nancy Wilson, Jimmy Smith and Lou Rawls. Reedus began playing with Robert Lockwood Jr. in 1972. He performed with the blues guitarist on such albums as "Contrasts," "Does 12," "What's the Score" and "I Got to Find Me a Woman." He also played with the Robert Lockwood Jr. All-Stars on "Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen," which won a Grammy in 2008. In his later years, Reedus, Lockwood and such bandmates as Robert "Red Top" Young and Gene Schwartz (2) had a weekly Wednesday gig at Fat Fish Blue in Cleveland. The band, with various substitutes in the lineup, kept performing after Lockwood's death in 2006.