FARMINGADLE, Maine_ Maine jazz musician and educator, Steve Grover, has died.
Grover hailed from Lewiston, and attended the renown Berkeley College of Music in Boston.
Grover played the drums and was known for his compositions, including "Blackbird Suite" which won him the prestigious Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz/BMI Jazz Composers Competition in 1994.
As a professor at University of Maine Augusta, Grover was known for using a variety of influences in his composition and listening classes, such as the Beatles. In a 2011 interview with MPBN, Grover actually credited the Beatles for helping spawn his musical career.
"No question. The Beatles were it. I was eight years old, nine years old, and I remember when they first came to America." he said, explaining that the Fab Four and a wealth of surprising material stand up well to jazz. "In fact, the reason why I started taking drum lessons was because of the Beatles and all the subsequent British invasion bands."
Grover also released an album of Beatles songs done in a jazz style.
Grover lost his battle with cancer Thursday. He was just 60 years old.
A concert in Grover's honor is being planned at the Woodfords Congregational Church in Portland, with a date and time yet to be determined.
