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Lou Donaldson, one of Badin and Stanly County’s favorite sons, died Nov. 10, just nine days after turning 98.
“Thank you for your support of Lou and his music throughout his career,” his family wrote on loudonaldson.com. “Because of you, his legendary contributions to Jazz will live on forever.”
Carol Webster, Lou’s daughter, revealed in an email Wednesday night that he had “experienced a bout of pneumonia recently but was recovering nicely and was receiving rehabilitation to help him get back on his feet.”
That is the reason he could not travel to his 98th birthday celebration at Dizzy’s Club in New York, which he had attended every year since his 90th.
“At this year’s celebration he was inducted into the Jazz at Lincoln Center Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame. His granddaughter Tracy Webster and grandson Daniel Tutt made remarks and accepted the award on his behalf,” Carol Webster said. “Lou called into the band’s sound check before the party and then during the celebration they called him so that the sold out audience could sing ‘Happy Birthday!’ He always enjoyed those celebrations and was delighted indeed.”
“Throughout his final days, Lou spoke to a lot of his musician friends, family and reporters covering his 98th birthday, displaying his trademark sense of humor and always causing everyone to laugh,” Webster said. “He remained the consummate performer even though he was retired and no longer playing his saxophone.”
Donaldson was born Nov. 1, 1926, in Badin. His father was a preacher and his mother was an elementary school and music teacher.
He attended North Carolina A&T prior to becoming drafted for World War II. After receiving a medical discharge, he returned to college to get his degree.
His Navy and A&T experiences led him into the Rhythm Vets, a band of alumni who had served in the Navy. It was with the Vets where he would make his professional recording debut as part of the 1947 soundtrack for “Pitch a Boogie Woogie,” an all-Black jazz film revue.
At the urging of fellow touring jazzmen such as Illinois Jacquet and members of Dizzy Gillespie’s band, Donaldson ventured to New York City in 1949. A year later he would marry Maker Neal Turner, to whom he was married for 56 years, until her death in 2006.
In 1952 he had his first session for the famed Blue Note label, performing with vibraphonist Milt Jackson, pianist John Lewis, drummer Kenny Clarke and bassist Percy Heath. He would later record as a leader or sideman with Clifford Brown, Grant Green, Thelonious Monk, Horace Silver, Art Taylor, Art Blakey, George Benson, Jimmy Smith and many others, a who’s who of jazz legends.
Donaldson, who was a member of the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame and several other music honors organizations, toured the world as a famed jazz alto saxophonist until he was 90, but he never forgot where he came from.
He returned to Stanly County for at least four performances, including one in 1994 with organist and frequent record collaborator Dr. Lonnie Smith. On this occasion he received the key to the Town of Badin, and it was announced then that a park in Harristown would be named after him.
He was scheduled in 1995 for a show to benefit the Badin-Harristown Optimist Club. In 2007, he would return for Albemarle’s Sequicentennial. In 2013, he was back for Badin’s centennial celebration, serving as grand marshal of the parade and performing a show in the elementary school’s auditorium.
Perhaps the ultimate local accolade happened on Friday, Oct. 14, 2022, when a portion of N.C. Highway 740 was renamed in his honor as Lou Donaldson Boulevard.
“This is the greatest day that has ever happened to me,” he told the Stanly News & Press after the dedication ceremony, which took place at Cedar Grove AME Zion Church in New London, where his father had been a preacher. He said the town has meant “everything” to him.
“The Town of Badin hopes beyond hope, that Lou always knew he’s meant as much to his home as his home has meant to him,” Town Manager Jay Almond wrote in a Facebook post Monday. “If you don’t know quite what to do with the news of Lou’s passing, put on your favorite Lou album and take the drive down NC740 on a five-mile stretch called Lou Donaldson Boulevard and you’ll find Badin at its heart, just the way Lou did.”
“Sweet Poppa Lou” is survived by his daughter Dr. E. (Elizabeth) Carol Webster (Daytona Beach, Florida) and son-in-law Charles Webster, MBA (Daytona Beach, Florida), sister Elizabeth Pauline Page (Hampton, Virginia), sister-in-law Anita Donaldson (Virginia Beach, Virginia), granddaughter Tracy Webster, Esq. and spouse Derek Romich (Alpharetta, Georgia), grandson Daniel Tutt (Bronx, New York) stepson of Lou’s oldest daughter Lydia Tutt-Jones (who died in 1994), niece Donna Riggins (Albemarle), niece Cynthia Samedy (Albemarle), niece Theola Turner (Charlotte), niece Virtina Waters (Charlotte) and many other nieces and nephews throughout the country.

B.J. Drye is general manager/editor of The Stanly News & Press. Call 704-982-2123.