{"id":17523,"date":"2026-10-21T09:41:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T14:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=17523"},"modified":"2026-10-21T09:44:40","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T14:44:40","slug":"jack-grassel-lives-again-in-our-spirits-just-listen-to-the-guitar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=17523","title":{"rendered":"Jack Grassel lives again, in our spirits. Just listen to the guitar"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Singer Jill Jensen, the longtime spouse of the late guitarist Jack Grassel, remembers him in eloquent and tender words Sunday at a memorial event. Grassel’s three-necked guitar is on display at right. Photo by Kevin Lynch<\/em><\/p>\n

Some people rise from the dead in their own unique way. That\u2019s what the late guitarist Jack Grassel did Sunday. Several hundred people were there to witness it. So don\u2019t tell me I\u2019m talking through my hat.<\/p>\n

Okay, he didn\u2019t get up and walk among us. But the emotional and spiritual weight of the event held Jack aloft as a quivering presence across the room and in the hearts of these people, even more than the quiet resonance of his recorded guitar music that filtered through the hall as the guests filed in for condolences to Grassel\u2019s wife and artistic partner, singer Jill Jensen, and her daughter Beth.<\/p>\n

The potency of the event had to do with the mementoes, including photos and videos of Grassel, that put his presence virtually there, right there.<\/p>\n

But more than anything what brought Jack to poignant life was the extraordinarily eloquent and moving extended tribute given to him by Jill Jensen.<\/p>\n

She resurrected the brilliance of this kind, sweet and gloriously virtuosic and adventurous musician and educator. For all his musical mastery, Grassel retained an ever-boyish way about him. One can vividly imagine, as Jensen related, toddler Jack reaching up to play piano keys each up to the piano keys to copy the music on the radio, and his mother, quickly realizing his musicality, soon buying and placing an accordion in his arms. The instrument virtually swallowed up the small boy, as a delightful photo on display showed. Jack would go on to become a state champion accordionist.<\/p>\n

Jill Jensen commented that their stage name was really \u201ctoo corny.\u201d But it was also charmed, by the way Jack first wooed her, many years ago. It came about this way. \u00a0A friend had alerted Jack to her presence and he was immediately smitten. When he first walked up to her, his first words to her were \u201cHi, I\u2019m Jack and you\u2019re Jill. Let\u2019s go find a hill.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat a line,\u201d Jill said to the crowd, still in slightly amazed bemusement after the couple\u2019s 40 years together. Tempering Jack\u2019s bold stroke, you also can picture his slightly shy, crinkly-eyed smile, there in the moment.<\/p>\n

Corny or not, Jack and Jill\u2019s duo name was inevitable from that point, and they ultimately lent great musical heft to the nursery rhyme moniker, a musical match of two attractive and gifted people, now assuredly \u201cmade in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Singer Jill Jensen and guitarist Jack Grassel at their last concert at Villa Terrace 10 days before Grassel’s death. Photo by Stuart Hoffman\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

They recorded a handful of albums, the last of which, It\u2019s About the Music<\/em>, was ambitiously realized and featured nearly 30 musicians, including Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra principal players. Grassel, arguably the region\u2019s most accomplished guitarist, had a long-time working relationship with the orchestra, playing in scores that called for a guitar.<\/p>\n

From his obit: “His first paid concert was at age 6. His extraordinary musical abilities, especially on guitar, and perfect pitch, enabled him to forge new paths as a genre-bending multi-instrumentalist, mastering seven instruments. In 1983, as Chairman, he designed the Music Occupations Department at Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) spawning a legion of successful students through his passion, humor and example. He\u2019s known for his 21 CDs (including a duet album with jazz guitar giant Tal Farlow), 70 compositions, 12 Industry awards, and 23 Instruction books. After 20 years and a major illness in 2004, he retired from MATC but never retired from music.”<\/p>\n

Yet, let us not dwell too much on nostalgia, or past glories. It\u2019s worth recalling Jill\u2019s tender announcement of his passing:<\/p>\n

\u201cMy shining star, light of my life, is extinguished. My beloved husband and partner in music and life, Jack Grassel died on August 26, 2026. His closest family were there to say their loving goodbyes. I held him, stroked his hair, and whispered “I love you Jack” as he took his last breath. My wonderful, strong, daughter Beth was beside me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

His death still pangs our heavy hearts, and walking into the hall with the photographic \u201cbiography\u201d of his musical life, and Jack\u2019s triple-necked, self-invented \u201cSuper Axe\u201d bass\/ guitar\/mandolin on silent display was a deep, long breath, a load to absorb. One sat and waited for the owner to arise and start playing the instrument.<\/p>\n

There at Four Acres Restaurant in Racine, the beautifully organized event teemed with celebrants of Jack\u2019s 77-year life. It was the largest gathering for a memorial for a musician that I\u2019ve attended, testifying to the man\u2019s importance to this music community. Among the great musicians gracing the event: Kaye Berigan, Hal Miller and Tom McGirr, Jack\u2019s former bandmates in the sui generis<\/em> Milwaukee avant-jazz band What On Earth. Other musicians present included Warren Weigratz (of Streetlife, the Milwaukee Bucks band, Sweetbottom, Oceans, VIVO), Curt Hanrahan and Steve Lewandowski (of Opus and The Milwaukee Jazz Orchestra), Kim Zick and Connie Grauer (of Mrs. Fun), Sam Belton, Neal Davis,\u00a0Jerry Grillo, Steve Nelson-Raney, Rick Ollman, Steve Peplin, Carol Trout, John Zaffiro.<\/p>\n

Those were just people I saw or spoke with. My apologies to those unmentioned musicians, honored guests and family, as I didn\u2019t go around taking notes.<\/p>\n

The theme and spirit of this event is summed up best by the wondrous quote from Wendell Berry\u2019s poem \u201cThe Loved Ones,\u201d which adorns the Jack Grassel remembrance cards:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe loved ones we call the dead depart from us and for a while are absent. And then as if called back by our love, they come near us again. They enter our dreams. We feel they have been near us when we have not thought of them. They are simply here, simply waiting while we are distracted among our obligations. At last it comes to us: They live now in the permanent world. We are the absent ones.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the absent ones.\u201d Whew.<\/p>\n

_________<\/p>\n

I wrote my own memorial article on Jack Grassel for The<\/em> Shepherd Express<\/em> and my blog Culture Currents (Vernaculars Speak),<\/em> here: https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/?p=17486<\/a><\/p>\n

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Singer Jill Jensen, the longtime spouse of the late guitarist Jack Grassel, remembers him in eloquent and tender words Sunday at a memorial event. Grassel’s three-necked guitar is on display at right. Photo by Kevin Lynch Some people rise from … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[2950,2947,377,1507,918,2939,1600,1153,1611,2951,2942,141,2946,2941,2937,1505,1158,2948,2952,2945,433,2953,2949,520,1519,2954,1834,1977,2940,2931,2943,2944,666],"class_list":["post-17523","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-www-kevernacular-com","tag-carol-trout","tag-connie-grauer","tag-culture-currents","tag-curt-hanrahan","tag-hal-miller","tag-jack-and-jill","tag-jack-grassel","tag-jerry-grillo","tag-jill-jensen","tag-john-zaffiro","tag-kaye-berigan","tag-kevin-lynch","tag-kim-zick","tag-matc","tag-milwaukee-area-technical-college","tag-milwaukee-jazz-orchestra","tag-milwaukee-symphony-orchestra","tag-mrs-fun","tag-neal-davis","tag-oceans","tag-opus","tag-rick-ollman","tag-sam-belton","tag-shepherd-express","tag-steve-lewandowski","tag-steve-nelson-raney","tag-steve-peplin","tag-streetlife","tag-stuart-hoffman","tag-tal-farlow","tag-tom-mcgirr","tag-warren-weigratz","tag-wendell-berry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2hJWE-4yD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17523","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17523"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17523\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17531,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17523\/revisions\/17531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17523"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17523"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kevernacular.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17523"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}