Ron Gable
THE Jazz Advocate
Dayton Ohio & Beyond
1938-2021
It is with profound sadness that the Board of Directors of the Dayton Jazz Advocate announce the passing of our friend and Dayton Jazz Advocate Founder, Ron Gable.
Ron was a tireless promoter of jazz in the Dayton area for a long, long time. Early on, Ron & his wife Rosemary had become friends with Mama Jazz of WMUD FM in Oxford, Ohio. He was so passionate about promoting jazz in the Dayton area and beyond that Ron and his wife Rosemary founded Jazz Advocate in the late 1990s. The mission?
“to support the uniquely American Art form of Jazz in the Dayton Metropolitan Communities by collaborating with other organizations to use Jazz as a tool to unite our communities”
It became clear that local media was making cuts of jazz coverage so they stepped up to the plate: Ron & Rosemary started a website as a grass-roots news publication to give local artists a means to publish events. This web site also contained an Artist Registry whereby musicians could publish their contact information and ideally get more gigs. Convinced that they could possibly increase the popularity of jazz, Ron worked with many local organizations. He was particularly fond of working with the Dayton area Park Boards to sponsor jazz festivals, Historic South Park being the recipient of a lot of his efforts. In addition, he worked extensively with one of the oldest jazz venues in Dayton, Jazz Central. Ron also worked with Dayton Public Schools, providing refurbished instruments to students and the WDPS radio station broadcasting at 89.5 FM and or at wdpsfm.com. Ron was also instrumental when WDPS wanted to expand it’s community based Jazz Beat portion of their broadcasting efforts in 2010, resulting in WDPS bringing on radio show hosts Conrad Jessee (big band), Cliff Darrett (latin jazz) and Jim Woodford (Bebop).
Even when Ron decided he needed to reduce his hours of interaction with the very organization he created, Jazz Advocate, his passion found a new outlet by joining The Milton Club and establishing a weekly jazz night thus creating a new jazz venue and swing dancing venue. It was hard to keep that passion for jazz in check even after he voluntarily cut back on his own time. He even published a musical travel blog which was widely subscribed to by local jazz fans. Ron’s jazz promotion efforts will be sorely missed in the Dayton area. If truth be known, probably his favorite type of jazz music was Traditional New Orleans jazz. Dave Greer’s Classic Jazz Stompers helped Ron in that regard locally, and Dave Greer was also a close friend of Mama Jazz. Let's wish Ron a Traditional New Orleans “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.”
Our heartfelt condolences and prayers go out to Rosemary and all of Ron's family.
Visitation will be held from 1-3 pm on Saturday, July 24, 2021 at Hope Lutheran Church, 500 Hickory Street, Dayton, where the funeral service will begin at 3:00 pm. Arrangements entrusted to Newcomer North Chapel, 4104 Needmore Road. More information on arrangements and Ron's obituary can be found here.