The Chippewa Valley lost one of its musical legends on Sunday, June 14, when Ron Keezer passed away at the age of 80. Keezer, a native of the Chippewa Valley, was a professor emeritus of music at UW-Eau Claire, where he taught percussion and directed the Percussion Ensemble and other groups for decades. In addition to being a conductor, composer, music publisher, faculty member of the Shell Lake Arts Center (1973-2007), and father of Grammy-nominated pianist Geoffrey Keezer, he was an accomplished and enthusiastic drummer. In this clip, recorded by Laura Buchholz at Shell Lake in 2017, Keezer cuts loose on the Swing Era hit “Sing, Sing, Sing.” Rest in peace, Ron.

Read more about Ron Keezer and his role in the long-running Eau Claire Jazz Festival in this 2016 Volume One article.

Here’s a bio of Ron Keezer from his music publishing business, Really Good Music.