John Dierker put virtue into virtuoso.
At least that’s how his friends saw him: a multi-talented but egoless musician who could make his mark on Baltimore’s avant-garde music scene and then teach a Towson University student how to perfect the latest pop hit. The 62-year-old clarinetist, saxophonist and pianist was well known around town for his musicianship, generosity and dry humor, said Gregory Thompkins, a longtime friend and collaborator.
Thompkins was one of dozens of people who paid tribute to their late friend online this week.
Dierker, a Dickeyville resident and prominent experimental musician, was fatally stabbed Tuesday while riding his bicycle in Leakin Park. Police have not yet identified a suspect.
“John just loved making good sound,” said Thompkins, a saxophonist. “John truly delivered the best of what not only a musician, but as a person should be.”
Dierker and Thompkins met as middle schoolers in Pasadena, where they grew up, and later played together in the Chesapeake High School band. They shared a musical talent and a birthday – December 1, 1963. After graduating in 1981, both headed to Towson University. About a year later, Dierker transferred to the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he earned his degree, Thompkins said.
Their paths crossed from time to time over the following decades; they sometimes played together. In the early 2000s, Thompkins saw him playing a show with a band at Ottobar – and Dierker convinced him to come on stage to join them.
“That’s the kind of guy John is,” Thompkins said. “Why invite another horn player to your gig, knowing it’s going to take up your solo time or whatever? But he was pretty adamant about it.”
They continued to play together in a band for two more decades.
Jim Hannah, another friend and collaborator, said he knew Dierker as a musical giant, a revered teacher and an “incredible improviser on woodwinds.” Dierker had been an assistant professor at Towson University since 2009, a spokesperson confirmed.
Dierker also loved kayaking and biking, Hannah said, and was a devoted husband to Michelle and father to a daughter, Ida.
“What a beautiful, fierce lion!” » Hannah, a percussionist, wrote on social media. “A creative force so strong and so gentle. So undeniable. So unforgettable. So hilarious. So righteous and unwavering. So brilliant. Such a brother. Such a friend.”
Jeff Arnal, a percussionist who also made music with Dierker, remembers spending a week with his friend at Dierker’s family hunting lodge in Denton, where they recorded a duo album.
“Why a hunting lodge? » said Arnal. “Apparently a real recording studio would have been too conventional.”
Dierker had “a way of making the most absurd situations seem perfectly reasonable,” Arnal said.
Zack Branch met Dierker when he was an 18-year-old student at Towson in the early 2000s. Dierker wasn’t yet teaching there, but he was playing there with friends from the jazz department.
Experimental music wasn’t familiar to Branch, but he got to see one of the best in action. Dierker had “one of the most masterful and broad palettes of all,” Branch said.
“He had a whole spectrum of sounds and textures that he could create, whether we were playing normal songs with chords and harmonies or if it was something noisier, more minimal, where the instruments were just making sounds instead of playing melodies,” Branch said.
Over the years, Dierker helped Branch find his own way in the music scene and adapt his instrument, the cello, to improvisation and experimental contexts. He admired the way Dierker embraced even the most abstract music and remained true to the spirit of the piece while adding his own signature.
“That’s one of the intangibles about him — you could always tell it was John playing any instrument, on the many reeds he played,” Branch said.
Dierker was also the kind of friend and fan who would stay at a show for all the performances — not just to see his friends or a band or artist, Branch said. And he always loved having a glass of whiskey or beer with friends, especially when he could also pay for their drinks.
In his personal life, Dierker enjoyed spending time in nature and reading nonfiction, usually about natural history, Branch said.
John Berndt, another musician and longtime friend, remembers first meeting Dierker at an experimental show. in 1988 and wrongly interpret its “so real and serious” atmosphere as hostile.
After a few conversations, he realized how wrong he had been. — Dierker, always humble, simply hasn’t made his many interests and talents widely known, Berndt said. They became great friends and lived together for three years in the early ’90s.
It wouldn’t be an unusual weekend if Dierker played a kitschy wedding band concert, then moved on to a serious jazz concert, then played “super dissonant, crazy avant-garde music” at the Red Room, said Berndt, the venue’s founder.
Berndt also founded High Zero, a massive experimental music festival. Dierker was “a central person in that scene,” he said.
Berndt described Dierker as a reliable and unpretentious person who treated everyone with respect. Dierker had “a great capacity for pleasure that was at odds with his level,” he said.
Dierker also inspired Berndt to take up the saxophone, which became a central part of his life over the following decades. They were looking forward to lunch next week at Andy Nelson’s Barbecue Restaurant, Berndt said.
“He never overplayed the cards of his extreme talent, of his extreme breadth, of his ability to bring such rare intensity,” Berndt said. “Those who know know how lost we are right now. We are all in the shadow of this grotesque injustice. Irreplaceable.”
The Banner publishes stories about people who have recently died in Maryland. OUR weekly obituary bulletin shares these stories and obituaries with you every Friday.
If your loved one has died and you would like an obituary, please complete this form or contact obituary@thebanner.com. If you would like to file a paid obituary, please contact groupsales@thebanner.com or visit this website.
Gn usa
