Garth Hudson was the classically trained muso of The Band, giving gravitas to the group that arguably invented the Americana genre.

He was restrained in his virtuosity but here he is channelling JS Bach into his organ solo at the start of Chest Fever – always a highlight of live shows.

Sadly I never caught them in the flesh, only on film in Scorsese’s The Last Waltz, and I was a very late adopter when it came to their repertoire of great albums.

I missed their partnership with Bob Dylan that produced The Basement Tapes – and that infamous Manchester Free Trade Hall gig where someone shouted “Judas” – because I had yet to discover Dylan himself.

When I did belatedly catch up with them, I discovered them throuh their debut Music From Big Pink and its self-titled follow-up, and realised I already knew some of their songs, particularly after Joan Baez had a hit single with The Night They Drove Old Dixie down.

I was also familiar with some of the other songs, like The Weight and Up On Cripple Creek.

Hudson was a huge talent; as well as his trusty Lowrey organ (which he preferred to the more popular Hammond), he also played the sax, violin, French horn and accordion.

Robbie Robertson called him “far and away the most advanced musician in rock’n’roll… who could just as easily have played with John Coltrane or the New York Symphony Orchestra as with us”.

It’s ironic that Hudson, the oldest member of The Band by several years, was the last to die, following Richard Manuel, Rick Danko, Levon Helm and Robbie Robertson. He was 87.