John B. Cleveland

March 10, 1943 - October 7, 2018

John B. Cleveland, legendary bass player and friend to all of us has passed away.

 

Jeanne O'Neill remembers John:

I first met John at Albert Hall when Tom Martin and I had a set there. We’d been playing as a duo for many years and always thought that it would remain that way. I remember standing in the lobby that night when John came up to me and introduced himself. He was very complimentary about our set and then he said, “But, ya know, you need a bass!” I guess the rest is our own small world history.

I invited him to jam with Tom and me one afternoon and we were fast friends and bandmates ever since. I loved hearing about all his adventures and his stories always drew me in and made me wish I was there with him playing all those crazy gigs and driving around in cars way too small to hold all the gear and the musicians.

When I think of John I think about his devotion to the music and his passion for life. He rounded out our duo and became the heartbeat of the band. When I would introduce him on stage the crowd would holler for him! I remember that I would ask him if he would like to sing and he always said no, but so many times I could faintly hear him singing along beside me. I will miss that most of all. And I will miss his humor, his wit, his sarcasm, his spirit, his smile and his loyal and loving friendship.

God Bless John B. Cleveland.

 

Mike Edgerton remembers John:

Back in the early 2000’s a man with a big bass fiddle started showing up at Albert Hall and BOTMA shows and jams. He lived in New York City but was making the trip down to Jersey on Saturday nights and one Sunday a month to play with all of us that were playing then. It wasn’t long before Gene Rosenow invited him to join in as the resident bass player for all of the shows he was doing and at the same time he started playing bass for Gene’s son Michael and I in our group M&M. John was a student of the genre when it came to the music we were playing and it was pretty apparent that he enjoyed himself. I recall having long conversations with him about “economy of motion” when playing stringed instruments. He and I shared a philosophy that if you could get the note playing an open string it just made more sense to do that than to reach up the neck to get it. He fell right in with us and could pretty much play anything we threw at him. He fit in. As the years passed and one band became another he eventually started playing pretty regularly with Ed Connors and John Schuster in J&E company. Eventually he was playing on a regular basis with O'Neill and Martin. When we’d run into him at shows it was always a pleasure to see him and play with him again. John finally moved down to Toms River after he retired and he didn’t show any signs of playing less. In the last year or so we played together at Gene Rosenow’s memorial jam as well as at the memorial show we did for Roy Everett at Albert Hall. I was saddened when I heard he had developed cancer a few weeks ago and shocked that he passed so suddenly. I will miss hearing him lay down a foundation for the other instruments to build on and I’ll miss knowing that a great bass player was standing right there next to me. RIP John.

 

Brad Einhorn remembers John (From Facebook - Used with permission):

Very sorry to learn this. John was one of my earliest bluegrass buddies in Brooklyn. At the original ponkiesburg parties at the brazen head he was behind the bass when I walked into that scene for the first time around the fall of 2001 and seemingly always there every Sunday without fail. Made the newbies feel welcome and held it down for the pros too. When I formed my first band, the cobble hillbillies, he was our original bass player. He was everybody's bass player and always so gracious. Didn't he leave one of his basses kind of permanently at Sunny's so there would always be one? I always loved that, and many years later, when I moved into a house big enough to hold a bass, even though I don't really play, I got one for the living room.

 

John's Obituary:

On October 7, 2018, John B. Cleveland of Toms River, New Jersey, passed away from cancer at age 75.

Born in Gadsden, Alabama on March 10, 1943, he moved to Michigan City, Indiana in 1951 with his parents Dr. John Benjamin Cleveland, MD and Muriel Rogers Cleveland and sister Dorothy A. Cleveland. While in Michigan City he enjoyed Sea Scouts and Boy Scouts and graduated from Elston High School, class of 1961.

During high school he launched his music career by playing upright bass in several bands including The Polish Underground, the Highlighters Folk Group, and the Elston High jazz band and orchestra. He later attended Wabash College – where he was proud to have survived pledge year as a Phi Delta Theta – and eventually enrolled at Valparaiso University.

Because his true passion was music, one of his favorite life accomplishments was in August 1963 when he opened “The Other Side,” Michigan City’s first teen music club with live music. There he played with several bands including Johnny and the Trendells, Nomads, the Danny Garbacik Quartet, and The Hitchhikers.

In 1966 he enlisted in the Indiana National Guard where he served as a combat engineer and attended officer candidate school, graduating as a second lieutenant. While living in Michigan City, John became a graphics designer and opened The Type Studio where he specialized in metal graphics and continued his music career with the Village Trio and became a charter member of the LaPorte, Indiana Symphony Orchestra.

To continue his graphics design and music career, John moved to Brooklyn, New York in 1979. An avid reader, John also dabbled in publishing and worked as a freelance editor for several years. To round out his career, John was able to fulfill another passion – enjoying the great outdoors – by joining the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation in 1995. During his time in New York, John grew his music career with several bands including Tenbrooks Molly and The Ulterior Motives.

After retiring from forestry in 2013, John moved to Toms River where he lived his lifelong dream of playing his upright bass full time. With Albert Hall in Waretown, New Jersey as his home base, he played with bands including Warm Hearted Country, Kentucky Red, J&E Company, the Singing Conquerors, and the O’Neill Martin Band.

John was blessed with the ability to live in the moment and will be remembered for his generous spirit, gentle kindness, and encyclopedic mind. He was also a damn good bass player.

John was preceded in death by his parents, Ben and Muriel. When he passed away peacefully in homecare hospice, he was with loving friends and family. Surviving family members include his daughter, Miriam Cleveland (Tyler Snouffer), granddaughters Kate and Becca, and sister Dorothy Cleveland.

In lieu of flowers, donations in John’s memory may go to Friendship Botanical Gardens (P.O. Box 8834, Michigan City, IN 46361). A memorial service will be held in Michigan City at 1:00 pm on October 28 at Friendship Botanical Gardens. A special show dedicated to John’s memory will be held at a later date at Albert Music Hall (www.alberthall.org) in New Jersey.

At the special request from the family who is collecting stories about John for his grandchildren, please contact Miriam Cleveland on Facebook to share your memories.

 

 

Photos by Bob Yellen, Gene Rosenow, Roy Everett and unknown.