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SYRACUSE -- Hundreds turned out Thursday night on Syracuse's south side for the first Jazz in the City concert of the season. The concert began as a tribute to Donald Ransom, a well known local musician who was tragically killed last year.
Ransom was an employee of the Department of Public Works in Syracuse when an asphalt truck backed over him in July of 2007. The City of Syracuse has now made safety changes since his death. The DPW has now removed trucks from its fleet where asphalt was melting the backup alarms on the trucks. The city is working on changing traffic patterns around their new building, and a safety training center has been developed to train employees in a classroom setting.
At Thursday's concert, Ransom's jazz group "The Blacklights" took to the stage to entertain the crowd with pictures of Ransom surrounding the main stage. Ransom was the keyboard player for The Blacklights for years, and was a fixture on the city's music scene most of his adult life.
Ransom's son Kenji was at the concert greeting many of the guests.. He told Action News that "it's a lonely thing dealing with death, and to have as many people out tonight that loved my dad, to put on something like this, it means a lot."
