Remembering Dee Dee Rainbow

from The Seattle Times:

A longtime presence at Seattle jazz events, Dee Dee Rainbow has died

Dee Dee Rainbow, known to jazz fans for her rainbow parasol, multi-colored eye-glitter and exuberant good cheer at pretty much any jazz event that happened within 500 miles of Seattle, died Tuesday. She was 81. Rainbow was an art teacher for 30 years at Meany Middle School — her students reportedly suggested “Rainbow” as her last name, which she adopted legally — but was known for her great love of jazz. At the Monterey Jazz Festival, she started leading a New Orleans style parade down the aisle on Saturday afternoons, a tradition still going on this year, though with only a few folks.

More to come.

We have seen some comments on Facebook:

Greg Williamson:
Sad to hear of the passing of superstar jazz fan and artist, Dee Dee Rainbow. She brought lots of smiles, and made lots of performers feel like their contributions meant something. She will be missed.

Thomas Marriott:
… there was a time where you couldn’t hear live jazz in Seattle without running into Ms Rainbow. I traveled to Europe with her once and recall that she had her own rainbow coffee cup at breakfast every morning, her own rainbow bed-spread and curtains that she unpacked in every hotel room. There are so few real individuals / characters on the scene anymore, which is what makes Ms Rainbow’s passing all the more sad. She was a happy mystery to just about everyone – extremely outgoing and private at the same time. Both down to earth and impossibly “out there” as well. A sweet and kind person with an intense love for music and musicians. Pretty much all that anyone knew about her is published in her obituary. But anyone who ever met her knew they had a friend in Dee Dee. Thanks for all the rainbow blessings Dee Dee!

Jim Wilke:
It was always an “official” jazz event when Dee Dee showed up and blessed us with her wand.

Feel free to post your comments here.