{"id":84578,"date":"2020-05-20T09:33:05","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T13:33:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/busm\/?p=84578"},"modified":"2020-05-20T09:33:58","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T13:33:58","slug":"a-loss-for-the-medical-campus-and-the-boston-jazz-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/camed\/2020\/05\/20\/a-loss-for-the-medical-campus-and-the-boston-jazz-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"A Loss for the Medical Campus\u2014and the Boston Jazz Scene"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lance Martin and the Lance Martin Trio performing at JazzFest in West Roxbury last year. Martin\u2019s death last week leaves a hole in the Boston jazz scene. Photo by Cydney Scott<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lance Martin<\/a> has put down his flute for the last time, too soon.<\/p>\n

The popular, self-effacing administrative assistant of the School of Medicine Diversity and Inclusion Office <\/a>and a stalwart of the Boston jazz scene died unexpectedly last week at age 60.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom his brain to his lips to his flute, he was wired directly into it,\u201d says occasional bandmate Rafael Ortega<\/a>, a MED professor of anesthesiology, who had previously been Martin\u2019s supervisor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was one of the sweetest guys I\u2019ve ever met,\u201d says Boston drummer and producer Dan Cantor, a Berklee College of Music associate professor and a longtime friend, who is producing Martin\u2019s new album at his Watertown studio, Notable Productions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Martin was popular not just with colleagues, but with students as well, often lending\u00a0 a sympathetic ear and advice about navigating school and life. As a musician<\/a> who played what he called \u201cphysical jazz,\u201d along with many other types of music, he was a favorite of Boston jazz fans, his fellow parishioners at Twelfth Baptist Church<\/a> in Roxbury, and anyone who heard him play around the Medical Campus.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was such an interesting person, and I will certainly miss my conversations with him,\u201d says Karen Antman, dean of MED and provost of the Medical Campus. \u201cHe was incredibly talented. I have never heard someone play a jazz flute like he could.\u201d<\/p>\n

Martin, who lived alone, was found dead Friday night in his apartment near West Campus by Boston Police performing a well-being check, with assistance from the BU Police Department. His death is under investigation by Boston Police, but is not believed to be suspicious.<\/p>\n