Mark Vann

One of the Founding members of Leftover Salmon, Banjo.

Vann grew up listening to straight bluegrass music, and won several competitions as a teenager for his prowess on the banjo. With Leftover Salmon, he played an electric banjo made from a tree stump, and a five-string dobro.

"If Earl Scruggs invented the bluegrass banjo, and Bela Fleck invented the jazz banjo, Mark was the guy who put them both together," said Chuck Morris, who managed Leftover Salmon for six years.

In November, Leftover Salmon and many musical friends - Bela Fleck,Peter Rowan, Pete Wernick, Bill Payne and Paul Barrere from Little Feat, Todd Park Mohr, Tony Furtado and String Cheese Incident guitarist Billy Nershi, among others - put on a series of benefit concerts for Vann who had been diagnosed with cancer earlier, culminating with a sold-out show at the Fillmore Auditorium. Vann got to watch at his home via cybercast, and the members of Salmon and all the guests came on stage to call him. As they got him on the phone, Nershi had the crowd scream, "We love you, Mark."

On March 05, 2002 - Mark Vann, banjo player, died at home. He was 38. He is survived by his wife, Jennifer, of Boulder.