New Orleans lost a great guy and great musician night before last. You may or may not have heard his music, but you've probably seen his picture -- Fats may have been the world's most photographed street musician.

As a protege of Danny Barker and Clyde Kerr, he was a living link to the history of traditional and modern New Orleans jazz, and as a groundbreaking technician on the sousaphone, he played an important role in reviving a once-dying tradition and updating it for the contemporary scene.

Most importantly for this forum, Fats was a true folk musician because of his commitment to bring his music to the folks on the street. He could have settled into a career of club dates, recording sessions, and occasional tours, but he never quit playing out in the public square, almost every day he was in town.

The funeral -- yet to be scheduled -- is sure to be quite an event.

Here's the link to today's obituary in the Times-Picayune:

http://www.nola.com/obituaries/t-p/index.ssf?/base/obits-14/107397703183050.xml

For when the link expires, here's the text

'Tuba Fats' Lacen, musical pioneer, 53

Tuesday January 13, 2004
By Keith Spera
Music writer

Anthony "Tuba Fats" Lacen, the popular brass band tuba player and stalwart of the Jackson Square musicians' community, died late Sunday at his home of an apparent heart attack. He was 53.

Mr. Lacen was born in New Orleans. As a youngster at McDonogh 36 grade school, he aspired to play the trumpet. But band director Clyde Kerr Sr. reportedly steered Mr. Lacen instead toward the tuba, an instrument better served by a stout musician.

After that introduction, the tuba became Mr. Lacen's ticket to the world. He was among the young performers recruited for the Fairview Baptist Church Band in the 1960s by jazz banjoist Danny Barker. The schooling Mr. Lacen and his peers received from Barker helped rekindle interest in traditional New Orleans brass band jazz and its historic role in jazz funerals, second-line parades and other cultural traditions.

Mr. Lacen honed his traditional jazz chops working with Sweet Emma, Kid Thomas and other bandleaders at Preservation Hall. He later served in the Gibson, Olympia, Doc Paulin, Onward and Tuxedo brass bands, among others.

Despite his tutelage in tradition, Mr. Lacen also helped usher in the modern era of brass band music by developing the tuba's role as an instrument for soloing, not just rhythmic accompaniment.
"One of his licks was a main ingredient in changing the direction of brass bands," said clarinetist and jazz historian Michael White. "He was part of the spirit of turning the music toward a more modern sound."

Mr. Lacen's own band, Tuba Fats & the Chosen Few, could be found many afternoons entertaining crowds outside the Cabildo at Jackson Square. A photogenic, animated performer, Mr. Lacen often appeared in movies, commercials and advertisements.

"He was very appealing to people, and had a very warm personality," said singer-songwriter Jeremy Lyons, who met Mr. Lacen while performing on Jackson Square a decade ago.

Mr. Lacen often acted as the street musicians' unofficial representative in dealings with the City Council, the police and the Jackson Square visual artists. Lee Tucker, who has painted at Jackson Square since 1972, often interacted with Mr. Lacen in that capacity.

"He was such an anchor out here," Tucker said. "He was the cement that held it all together. He was well-respected and had open lines of communication with everybody. And he insisted on traditional New Orleans music being played on the square."

The Chosen Few often gigged at Donna's and other nightclubs, but Mr. Lacen staunchly defended the integrity of performing on the streets of the French Quarter.

Though not fond of traveling, Mr. Lacen nonetheless logged many miles of globetrotting. As either a bandleader or sideman, he toured Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. While touring Europe in 1996, Mr. Lacen's wife, Linda, a gospel and blues singer whom Mr. Lacen met when she asked to sit in with his band on Jackson Square, fell ill. Diagnosed with cancer, she died in March 1997. Friends say Mr. Lacen never fully recovered from her death.
Funeral arrangements are incomplete.