SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Robert Ringwald, the pianist who promoted jazz in California for more than half a century, has died at 80. He died Aug. 3, his daughter, the actor and musician Molly Ringwald, writes in an obituary for the Sacramento Bee. Ringwald, who went blind as a child, began taking piano lessons at 5. By 17, his daughter says, he “was able to grow enough of a beard to be able to pass for an adult to play in nightclubs.” He co-organized the first Sacramento Jazz Festival in 1974. In 2012, Ringwald was honored by the festival as “The Emperor of Jazz.”
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