George McCabe was a drummer, a traveler, and a lifelong learner. With his intelligence and wide-ranging knowledge, he could talk to anyone about anything. George and his wife Elaine began attending Litchfield Jazz Festival from its inception and made a ritual of being the first to reserve Best Friends tickets, claiming their favorite seats before anyone else even opened our “tickets are on sale” email. They supported us for years, and when Geoge passed in 2022, he left funds to sponsor a drummer in need of support to attend Litchfield Jazz Camp for two weeks. As time went on, Elaine, always flexible, was determined to put her money where the need showed itself, and allowed us to ‘spread the wealth’ and offer partial scholarships to more than one camper.  Then she let us consider instruments other than drums. This year she is personally funding yet another camper, a young trumpet player from Waterbury, where she worked as teacher and school principal for three decades.

Elaine took special pleasure in funding our applicants this year: we gave her two male drummers (one had joined us as an 11-year-old prodigy three years ago) and one female drummer. She was very pleased about the girl and partnered with  Redding Music Foundation to support her.

I keep a picture of an adorable 12-yo George at his kit on the office sideboard. Last week. Elaine and I met for lunch, and she gifted me with another photo.

George is on the left and that’s Dave Brubeck on the right. As a boy of 16, George and his posse used to worm their way into Lake Compounce, helping the roadies to hump gear and the like, so they could hear the band shows Compounce was famous for.  One fine day, Dave Brubeck appeared, and after the show, George ripped the promotional poster down and treasured it for years. On the occasion pictured, the 2008 appearance by the Dave Brubeck Quartet at Litchfield Jazz Fest, George brought the poster, Dave autographed it, and the two new friends took a little walk down memory lane together.

George, who studied drumming from age 16, played professionally across Connecticut. He was a proud, card- carrying union man. All his life, he supported music and musicians by attending as many live performances as possible, and Litchfield Jazz Festival was always a favorite.

We thank George McCabe and Elaine McCabe, for continuing to make these important scholarships available to deserving campers at Litchfield Jazz Camp and we congratulate all the talented recipients.