T Lavitz

The late Terry "T" Lavitz (b.April 16, 1956, in New Jersey) was perhaps best known as the keyboardist for the jazz rock band, the Dixie Dregs. He received two prestigious awards from Keyboard magazine - "Best New Talent" in 1981 and "Jazz Keyboard Player of the Year" in 1992.

He was a classically trained acoustic player, and collaborated with many great musicians including Widespread Panic (described by T as Miles Davis meets the Grateful Dead), Jefferson Starship, The Bluesbusters, Nils Lofgren, Billy Cobham, Jeff Berlin, Scott Henderson, Steve Smith and Danny Gottlieb. He was also the initial musical catalyst for the formation of the Grateful Dead cover band, Jazz Is Dead, arising from his experience opening for organist Melvin Seals' San Francisco Bay Area rock band JGB, formed to preserve the memory of Jerry Garcia and his music.