Matt Miller | 2 APR 2025
Hundreds of well-wishers packed into a conference hall at the Loudermilk Conference Center in Downtown Atlanta on Saturday, March 15, to celebrate the life of Sam Yi, a tireless advocate of jazz music in Atlanta and a central figure and instigator on the jazz scene. Mr. Yi passed away on February 3 from complications related to cancer, leaving a legacy of curating great music since the 1990s at his club, Churchill Grounds, later at the restaurant he owned with his wife, Brew and Bird, and a host of other venues throughout Atlanta.
Born in South Korea, Yi emigrated to the United States, living in a number of cities before settling in Atlanta in the 1990s. In 1997, he opened Churchill Grounds in the same building as the Fox Theatre in Midtown. For nearly 20 years, the jazz club hosted both local and international jazz artists, including such notables as pianist Cedar Walton and trumpeter Wynton Marsalis.
“We gather not in sorrow, but in celebration,” host Reisha Lauren intoned at the opening of Yi’s celebration of life gathering before reflecting on his great love of jazz and his devotion to promoting the music throughout his life.
The event lasted more than three hours and featured a wide range of speakers and performers. Although many tears were shed throughout the afternoon, the gathering did indeed feel more celebratory than somber, especially once the music started.
Following an official proclamation from State Representative Long Tran recognizing Yi’s contributions to jazz in Atlanta, pianist Kenny Banks Jr. and Ms. Lauren performed a stirring rendition of the Lord’s Prayer before turning it over to drummer, keyboardist, and vocalist Larry Wilson and his band featuring trumpeter Joe Gransden, Kenny Banks Jr. on piano, Tommy Sauter on bass, and John Roberts on drums. Wilson sang an original composition he penned after visiting Mr. Yi in the hospital in the weeks prior to his death.
Throughout the event, speakers were interspersed with the musical performers, perfectly blending reminiscences and tributes in words with the powerful jazz music that Yi loved so dearly.
Following a moving tribute by Apollo Gunn, the son of trumpeter Russell Gunn, saxophonist Mike Walton performed John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” with the band that Yi had booked and enthusiastically promoted a number of times at his restaurant Brew and Bird in Decatur.
Additional musical performances by artists ranging from vocalist Julie Dexter to trumpeter Gordon Vernick, bassist Kevin Smith, and saxophonist Kebbi Williams reflected the range of emotions in the room from despondent to joyous and the diverse array of musicians championed by Yi during his life.
Following one of the musical performances, Yi’s wife, Nina, stepped to the microphone and tearfully thanked the crowd for being there to pay tribute to her husband. Her words were difficult to hear at times as the emotion welled in her voice, but her message of love mixed with grief came across clearly to the audience, who, judging by their applause, felt the same way. ■
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