The highly respected composer-playwright-pianist Weldon Irvine met an untimely death under tragic circumstances this past April 9. His body was not identified by authorities until April 17. He was 58.

Known in Jazz and poetry circles simply as Weldon and within the world of Hip Hop as Master Wel, Mr. Irvine's skills as a musician and lyricist throughout his career were well demonstrated in just about every genre of African American music. With well over 500 compositions to his credit, much of which has been recorded on albums, audio tapes or CDs, he was the producer, arranger and conductor for an inestimable number of concerts, festival presentations, and staged musicals that focused on each of those genres: Gospel music, Rhythm and Blues, Be Bop, Hard Bop, Fusion, Funk, Free Jazz and Hip Hop. He has worked with such Jazz notables as Miles Davis, Nina Simone, Stanley Turentine, Bill Jacobs, with Aretha Franklin and Donny Hathaway, as well as with poets Louis Reyes Rivera, Rich Bartee and the Griot Trio, and has worked with such Rappers and Spoken Word Artists as KRS-One, Grand Master Flash, Gang Starr, Big Daddy Kane, Ice Cube, Black Star, Tree, Rah Goddess, and Mums the Schemer, to name just a few.

Born and bred in Virginia, and graduating from Hampton Institute (now Hampton University), where he majored in literature and minored in music, he moved to New York City in 1965, forming his own seventeen-piece big band, and was soon commissioned to work on Lorraine Hansberry's TO BE YOUNG, GIFTED AND BLACK, for which production he wrote the title tune.

Throughout the '60's and '70s, he continued recording and performing in clubs and festivals, and premiered his first blockbuster musical at the Billie Holiday Theatre, in Brooklyn, YOUNG, GIFTED AND BROKE. It ran for eight months, won four prestigious AUDELCO Awards, and signaled the beginning of a decade-long relationship with that theatre, in which he produced well over twenty subsequent musical dramas.

As he transitioned himself into becoming an elder of Hip Hop culture, many of the more politically conscious artists in that arena, including Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Q-Tip, sought him out as teacher and mentor. As well, he was highly respected among the political activist organizations and institutions working in the African American community, including the December 12th Movement, Sistas' Place, Patrice Lumumba Coalition, and radio personalities Minister Conrad Muhammad, Clayton Riley, James Mtume, and Elombe Brath, among others.

As the 21st century entered, he produced and financed THE AMADOU PROJECT, a CD commemoration of the 1999 slaying of the young and unarmed Amadou Diallo, who was shot to death by four New York City police. The CD features a host of Spoken Word Artists, Rappers and MCs, including close associates Don Blackman and Carla Cook, as well as voice-overs by the parents of young Diallo.

"My sympathy and condolences go out to the community here, to his family, and to the international community as well," said Mr. Saikou Diallo, Amadou's father. "We have lost a great man."

Before his untimely departure, Weldon Irvine was the recipient of a SPIRIT AWARD, given to him by the Medgar Evers Student Association and Akeem Productions, this past February, 2002.

As of this writing, funeral arrangements are still to be announced by his family.