Organist Garth Hudson was the ‘soul and presiding genius’ of the Band

Garth Hudson, the brainy, bush-bearded organist and saxophonist whose inimitable skills and endearing eccentricities displayed as a member of the pioneering Canadian-American roots-rock icons the Band made him an almost mythical figure since the late 1960s, died Tuesday morning. He was 87.Toronto music producer Jan Haust, a long-time friend and colleague of Mr. Hudson, confirmed that the unassuming musician and one of rock music’s great organists died “peacefully” at the Ten Broeck Center for Rehabilitation and Nursing in Lake Katrine, in upstate New York. No cause of death was revealed.