In Memoriam: Lenny Stallworth

David “Lenny” Stallworth, who anchored Roy Hargrove’s RH Factor and toured with Maceo Parker, has passed away.

Raised in Moss Point, Mississippi, Stallworth started playing bass at 11 years old and one year later joined his first band: The Super Soul Movement. At eighteen he joined the show band Poo Nanny and toured the Chitlin’ Circuit where he got the nickname “Liquicklenny The Groove Master”.

He eventually moved to Boston to study at Berklee College of Music, where he would later become an associate professor after touring with the likes of Parker, Hargrove, and jazz saxophonists Kenny Garrett and Najee. Stallworth loomed large as a figure in the Boston music scene and was renowned for his teaching and guidance. Among an outpouring on social media, the funk/jam band Lettuce was one of many who wrote on Facebook to express the impact he had on them.

“Lenny Stallworth created the funk night at Wally’s Cafe in Boston where we spent countless hours playing music with him and many other phenomenal musicians,” they wrote. “Lenny not only taught us ON the stage, he hung with us after the gigs and dropped a lifetime of gems about the music and culture that has had long-lasting effects on all of us. He will be greatly missed.”

Check out Stallworth laying down with Hargrove on the song “Common Freestyle” in 2005:

Our thoughts are with the family and friends of David “Lenny” Stallworth.