Tribute to Ali Chaudhary, friend and musician

Greetings music lovers.
We sadly lost a friend, father, husband, brother, teacher, musician, and all around great man earlier this month.
Ali Chaudhary was one of my closest musical brothers in the 2000's up in Humboldt. We played , studied, and hung out all the time - holding down regular gigs and forming combos - and learned much from each other. We helped each other move. I was honored to play piano for his wedding ceremony. He was a good friend.
He was earning his bachelor's in sociology at the time while also maintaining a collective of players to book several jazz gigs around the area. He brought a level of class and professionalism to the community that inspired all of us to bring our better selves to the table in music as well as life. He was very intelligent, well-read, disciplined, hard-working, streetsmart, fashionable, funny...
He was passionate about sociology, jazz guitar, his girlfriend Rebecca, and the Lakers.
He went on to raise and support a family, earn his doctorate and become a professor at Rutgers, and make significant contributions to his field as an academic writer.
He also continued to play jazz guitar and bring the great tradition to the people.
I was shocked and saddened to hear of his sudden death from a heart attack earlier this month. He was only 48 and leaves behind two beautiful children.
We fortunately reconnected during the pandemic after several years. The music here is the result of our final attempt to collaborate. I sent him some acoustic guitar picking, and he played the mellow lead above it and sent it back. It sat for the last few years, but upon hearing of his death, I sent it to my buddy Mike who added the piano and bass, and this is our humble tribute to him. Enjoy! You can hear more of his recent playing here:

   / @draali-fj5ue  

Thank you Ali!