Goodbye to Dick Parry, Pink Floyd’s saxophonist

Dick Parrysaxophonist in some of the most famous songs and tours of Pink Floyddied of undisclosed causes at the age of 83. The guitarist of Pink Floyd, David Gilmourshared the sad news by posting a message on social media.

This is how Gilmour remembered him: “My dear friend Dick Parry died this morning. Since I was seventeen, I have played in bands with Dick on saxophone, including Pink Floyd. His feel and timbre make his saxophone playing unmistakable, a timbre of immense beauty known to millions and an integral part of songs like ‘Shine On You Crazy Diamond’, ‘Wish You Were Here’, ‘Us and Them’ and ‘Money'”.

As he pointed out
David Gilmour
Parry played on some of the most famous songs of
“The Dark Side of the Moon”
(
read the review here
) of 1973 and
“Wish You Were Here”
of 1975. He also participated in
“The Division Bell”
of 1994 and toured with i
Pink Floyd
between 1973 and 1977, then again in 1994 and at the charity concert

Live 8
in 2005.

Dick Parry
he also toured with
Who
and with Gilmour’s solo bands of the early 2000s. His studio collaborations include those with
Rory Gallagher, Bloodstone, John Entwistle, JJ Jackson
and the
Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
.

In a 1994 interview, Gilmour revealed how he had reconnected with Parry after a period of inactivity, which led to his participation on the song
“Wearing the Inside Out”
in
“The Division Bell”
. “Curiously, at Christmas I got a card from Dick, who I hadn’t seen for years, and who had given up the saxophone completely and was I think unemployed, living in a village near Cambridge, doing nothing. …I asked him if he’d like to audition for the tour, to see if he was still fit, and he told me he thought he was playing better than ever. I took him out to the boat for a little audition. He played three phrases and me and Bob (Ezrin, ed) we said, ‘Well, he’s still got it. To hell with this audition thing.’ …Boom, he found that sound again. It’s fantastic. You recognize it immediately.”