A Celebration of Life: Caffe Lena Fixture Honored with Marching and Music
A New Orleans-style “second line” celebratory funeral procession streams through Congress Park in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday afternoon, honoring the life of Joel Moss.
The procession gathers in front of Caffe Lena on Phila Street prior to several hours of performances and tributes to Moss.
Photos by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It was a rare, perhaps unprecedented sight in the City of Saratoga Springs: A New Orleans-style jazz funeral procession winding through the lovely Congress Park, marching, twirling, and clapping in rhythm towards Caffe Lena.
Tuesday’s celebratory spectacle was in honor of Joel Moss, a six-time Grammy Award winner who served as the famed venue’s broadcast and sound technician. Moss passed away last month at the age of 79.
“That was so beautiful,” said Sarah Craig, Lena’s executive director, once the second line had reached the caffe. “This is a snapshot of what could’ve been one of a thousand celebrations for Joel in so many different communities that he’s touched. But since he got here to Saratoga, these are the friends that he’s made,” Craig said, gesturing towards the large gathering on Phila Street, “which is just mind blowing.”
For hours, a seemingly endless lineup of musicians and artists then performed both inside and outside of Lena, with many offering odes to Moss.
“Joel Moss was indeed a giant,” said his friend James Mastrianni. “Not in a loud or self-important way and not in the trophies. But in the generous way he lived. How he embodied the very best qualities of friendship, which is the very best that humanity has to offer.”
“Joel was literally incapable of phoning it in,” said John Wager, who shared a studio space with Moss for a decade. “He could never go halfway with anything. It was either all-in or not at all. That’s how I knew Joel was doing exactly what he wanted to do. One of the many things Joel inspired in me and taught me was to live a full life and do what you love and keep finding ways to stretch yourself.”
“When my dad left Los Angeles officially and fully, and moved to Saratoga, he was so excited,” said Rachael Moss, Joel’s daughter. “He wanted us to move here so badly. He said, ‘I have found the best place with the best people,’ and I think he was right. It took us a little longer to get here. We’ve only been here for five years, but we got five years with him in Saratoga. Growing up, I was either in a recording studio or a sound truck or backstage somewhere. I didn’t know where I was half the time, but I knew I was with my dad, so I was safe… Now, I think about the fact that papa’s not going to make any more music and so all of those moments are going to be memories. I’m so proud of all of you and all of the people that he’s met here, and all of the musicians who are going to carry on his legacy and the music that he loves and his memory.”
Moss had a long and celebrated career in the music world, recording albums for artists such as Ray Charles, The Beach Boys, Little Richard, and Joe Cocker. For his efforts, he was awarded multiple Grammys, an Academy Award, and two Emmy nominations. His life and career began in Detroit, where he led a Hebrew folk quintet called The Hi-Liters that played at Lena in 1963. In the Saratoga area, he recorded and produced several albums for charity, including “A Saratoga Christmas Wish,” which raised $70,000 for Make-A-Wish Northeast New York.
“It never failed to amaze us that a man who produced records for Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, The Talking Heads, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and hundreds of others, believed so much in the community of Saratoga Springs and the value of Caffe Lena, that he spent his evenings running our livestream cameras and recording our shows,” the venue said in a statement shortly after Moss’ passing. “He was passionately committed to recording every show that happened at Caffe Lena because he felt that Lena’s stage is a national treasure and what happens on it is important. You never know when you’ll capture lightning in a bottle. When he saw that special spark in an artist, he told everyone–whether the artist was 10 years old, was playing their first show, or was an under-appreciated treasure who had put in decades on the road. Joel’s presence and faith elevated the Caffe in the eyes of many, and we are forever richer because of our time with him.”
