It’s not often we can say that academe’s loss is music’s gain. But, in the case of Ron Elder, we can. He retired last week as dean of the faculty of education and social work at Dundee University, no doubt to spend more time with his double bass.
An accomplished player (it says here) and a member of the East Coast Jazzmen for more than 40 years, Elder was a founding member of what eventually became the Average White Band.
It sure beats lecturing in “maths and methods”.