Influenced Other Musicians : Noted San Diego Jazz Saxophonist Theodore Oliver Picou Dead at 53

Saxophonist Theodore Oliver Picou, a mainstay of the local jazz scene, has died of lung cancer.

Picou, 53, who died Sunday at his San Diego home, had played steadily during the past two decades, despite the effects of crippling arthritis.

“He was a miracle is what he was,” said San Diego vocalist Peggy Claire. “He was a magnificent player even though his fingers were so twisted you couldn’t believe he could hit the keys.”

Fellow sax man Frank Lamarca described him as an infectious stylist, “a throwback, one of the great old-time tenor (saxophone) players. He played a very happy saxophone. He would get the joint rocking, people clapping, foot tapping.”

Known as Ted or Deuce to his family and musical associates, Picou had played concerts with Miles Davis, James Brown and once with Stevie Wonder. He was born in Calexico and came from a long line of New Orleans musicians, including the seminal turn-of-the century jazz clarinetist, Alfonse Picou.

Picou played most of his life in San Diego, with the exception of a few years in the 1960s when he performed in Los Angeles clubs.

He was known as a multitalented musician. The tenor saxophone, with a trademark rabbit’s foot attached, was Picou’s main instrument, but he also played soprano and alto sax and jazz flute. He was equally at home with traditional jazz, be-bop, rhythm-and-blues or ballads. As both band leader and sideman, he influenced a number of local musicians.

“He was very important to my career from the point of inspiration,” flutist Holly Hofmann said. “He lived in intense pain. He didn’t get involved in petty backbiting. He was about playing from the heart and playing from the soul.”

Picou, who also worked for 20 years as a draftsman for Burroughs Machine Co., is survived by his mother, Lillian DeShazo of San Diego; two sons, Stanley, of Little Rock, Ark., and Oliver, of Portland, Ore., and three daughters, Cecile Picou, Markay McKinney and Marie Dailey, all of San Diego.

A Rosary will be said at 7:30 p.m. today at the Anderson-Ragsdale Mortuary. Mass will be celebrated at 9 a.m. Thursday at Christ the King Catholic Church with burial at Greenwood Cemetery.