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Keith Stout, long a prominent figure in Vacaville’s cultural life as a key founder of the Vacaville Jazz Festival and a music educator, died April 11 in San Antonio, Texas.
He was 62, and was surrounded by family and friends who gathered at St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital, his twin brother, Ken Stout, told The Reporter on Saturday.
The time, date and location of Vacaville memorial services, expected to be in mid-May, are pending, Ken said. Another memorial service for Keith will be at 11 a.m. May 9 in New Braufnels, Texas.
By day an architect, Keith co-founded the annual citywide jazz festival 25 years ago. A well-known trumpet player in Solano County, he also founded and served as president of the Vacaville Jazz Society and was founder and, for 35 years, music director of the Alive Music Orchestra, which performed not only during the festival but also during the Christmas season and at other times at other county venues throughout the years.
Keith also found time to be a “huge advocate” for jazz music arts education, holding workshops and staging concerts for and with young area musicans, his brother noted.
There was a time some 10 or more years ago when internationally known American jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, seeing a sign along Interstate 80 announcing the Vacaville Jazz Festival, stopped off to perform with high school students in a Nut Tree Plaza bookstore.
Area residents who today may be in their 30s or 40s will remember his “dedication to being one of the professional architects to help design and develop the first skateboard parks for young skateboarders” in the Vacaville, Ken wrote in an email.
Keith Stout was born April 26, 1962, in Fort Lee, Virginia. He graduated from Vacaville High School in 1981. He attended Solano Community College and graduated from the University of California, Davis.
Through the decades, he supported music ministries in several Solano County churches.
As an architect, he worked on some designs for San Francisco International Airport and, for a time, worked as a project planner at Travis Air Force Base. At the time of his death, he served at Randolph Air Force Base near San Antonio.
Keith is survived by his wife, Martha, an adult son, and two stepdaughters.
