Nearly 1,000 people celebrate the life of LeRoi Moore

By Bryan McKenzie

Published: August 27, 2008

With music, praise and anecdotes, friends and family celebrated the life and mourned the death of LeRoi Moore in a two-hour memorial service and communion this morning at First Baptist Church on Park Street.

Nearly 1,000 people attended the service, held by Trinity Episcopal Church at the larger First Baptist location.

Moore, 46, saxophonist and arranger for the Dave Matthews Band, died last week in Los Angeles from an embolism, a complication from injuries he sustained in an all-terrain vehicle accident June 30 on property he owns near Madison County.

The accident reportedly left Moore with internal injuries, including broken ribs and a punctured lung. He had been released from the hospital and was going through physical therapy in Los Angeles, to be near the band, when he became ill again July 17.

He died Aug. 19.

From the hymns to the liturgy, the funeral service focused on life, both here and hereafter.

As congregants gathered before the service, the Trinity Episcopal choir performed songs that offered hope of reuniting in the sweet bye and bye. Jazz musicians John D’earth, J.C. Kuhl and Wells Hanley offered a soulful, tasty tribute of “Over the Rainbow,” a song for which Moore was famous among friends.

The Rev. Dr. William A. Guthrie, in his homily, said Moore always had a passion for music and that both passion and talent were God-given.

“I often met with LeRoi and had many conversations with him,” he said. “More often than not, Roi felt the music in the Episcopal church left a lot to be desired. Roi knew where his heart was, and it was on the score that was written for him by his God.”

Guthrie told the congregants that Moore still lives.

“We believe death is not the end,” he consoled. “Death is just the beginning, the beginning of life in Christ.”

Dave Matthews said Moore’s knowledge of music was inspiring.

“He’d be sitting in this chair, sleeping - it must have been a comfortable chair - while were discussing something and he’d wake up and say, ‘I think that …’ and explain what he thought,” Matthews recalled. “Most of the time, he was right, too.”

Matthews also recalled Moore’s sense of humor and infectious laugh.

“He was so good at telling stories, he could have made a living at it, although it would have been less lucrative,” he joked. “He had this sort of explosive laugh that would just come out of him and it came from deep inside and you couldn’t help but laugh along with him.”

Moore was born in Durham, N.C., and his family moved to Charlottesville when he was young. He started playing saxophone at Henley Middle School under the tutelage of Sonny Sampson and Calvin Cage.

He continued to study music through high school, playing in bands and jazz combos and playing football. He graduated from Western Albemarle High School.

He played with several local groups, including groups put together by D’earth, before joining Dave Matthews, Boyd Tinsley, Stefan Lessard and Carter Beauford in the Dave Matthews band.

Matthews said the band spent years together and traveled all over the world. They were planning on touring Africa for the first time.

“He always said, ‘Let’s go to Africa. We’ve got to go to Africa.’ We we’re making plans for that,” Matthews said. “We should never wait to do things; death teaches us that.”