Very sorry to hear of the passing of Derry sax icon Gay McIntyre who has died at the age of 88 via Gerry Bradley's report for BBC News.

A very genial man and a fixture of jazz in Derry for many years I only first heard him live around 2013 at ''the Rocker'' where he was a regular. But his legend long preceded this when you tallked to anyone about jazz in Derry going way back. But in the Rocker, the Rocking Chair bar in Waterloo Street where I heard him first play 'Danny Boy', it seemed at last the right time, right place no matter how many years earlier this should have been. And no one has ever come close live playing the great song in a jazz context in terms of emotion that I have witnessed. If you're Irish particularly from the north as I am 'Danny Boy' means something very special in universal folk culture. It's people music and nonpareil no matter how low, middle or high brow you think you are.

The last time I heard him was in 2014 about 65 miles away chatting to Gay again briefly at the bar of the Ardhowen theatre by the waters of the Erne after a fine show of his after first saying hi on the previous occasion and even carrying his case as he made his way out of the Rocker! That Fermanagh night later was a better show, and the band began with ‘On Green Dolphin Street’ and Gay was playing his usual alto saxophone at first and was joined by Bennigans scene pianist John Leighton, NoCrows bassist Eddie Lee from Sligo town, and drummer David Lyttle from Waringstown in county Down. It was a ‘Reminiscing’-themed occasion with plenty of bebop including ‘A Night in Tunisia’ and ‘Scrapple from the Apple’ and a good sprinkling of vocals numbers from new jazz singing star in the making Victoria Geelan who drew on some 1940s songs. McIntyre showed his command on trad-jazz clarinet on a strong version of Acker Bilk’s ‘Stranger on the Shore’ and dedicated the encore yes ‘Danny Boy’ to the much-loved broadcaster Gerry Anderson, another Derry icon, who had played in Gay’s band and who had died not long before. You couldn’t help but dry a tear from your eye listening to Gay’s moving version and the same applies today hearing the news. RIP