Chuck Deardorf (April 3, 1954 – October 9, 2022) was an American musician. He was best known for playing double bass and bass guitar with the Deardorf Peterson Group. He also headed the jazz department at the Cornish College of the Arts.
Early life
Deardorf was born on April 3, 1954, and grew up in the Dayton metropolitan area. He started playing the double bass when he was fifteen. During his senior year of high school, he relocated to the West Coast and attended Central Kitsap High School. He then studied at the Evergreen State College, before playing at Seattle jazz clubs such as Parnell's and Dimitriou's Jazz Alley. There, he served as a backing musician to Zoot Sims, Monty Alexander, and Kenny Barron, among others.
Career
Deardorf first taught music at Western Washington University in 1978. He then joined the faculty at the Cornish College of the Arts a year later as a professor of jazz and instrumental music. He ultimately became the administrator of the school's jazz program, serving in that capacity from 1986 until 2000.
Outside of teaching, Deardorf continued to perform and record as a sideman for musicians such as Jovino Santos Neto, Bud Shank, Don Lanphere, Dave Peck, and Pete Christlieb. He also played together with Dave Peterson, a local guitarist and composer, on a frequent basis starting in the late 1970s. The duo eventually established the Deardorf Peterson Group in 2004. They released Portal, their first album as co-bandleaders, that same year. Deardorf also released two albums as leader – Transparence (2011) and Perception (2019). He joked that he "play[ed] both kinds of music: country and western".
Personal life and death
Deardorf married Kelly Harland in 1987. She is a singer and author, and he had produced and featured on several of her albums. They remained married for 35 years until his death. Together, they had one son.
Deardorf suffered from hereditary kidney disease. To avoid dialysis, he underwent a kidney transplant from his brother in 2011. He died on October 9, 2022, aged 68, at the Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. He had contracted COVID-19 two months before his death, leading to health complications.
Discography
As leader
2004 Portal (co-leader with Dave Peterson as The Deardorf/Peterson Group) 2011 Transparence 2019 Perception
As sideman
With Don Lanphere
1984 Don Loves Midge
1986 Stop
1988 Jay Clayton & Don Lanphere: TheJazz Alley Tapes
1990 Don Lanphere & Larry Coryell
1995 Go...Again
1999 Year 'Round Christmas
With Bud Shank
1990 Tales of the Pilot: Bud Shank Plays the Music of David Peck
1986 Bud Shank Quartet at Jazz Alley (Contemporary) 1992 The Awakening 1995 Lost Cathedral
