Rodney K. Hardison 80 of Newburgh passed peacefully into the next chapter on Friday February 16Th 2024 at the Montgomery Nursing home.
Born August 8th 1943 to Jorge and Dorothy Hardison in Brooklyn N.Y. Rodni who embraced a unique spelling of his name as distinctive as he was developed a deep and abiding love for art from a young age thanks to the influence of his father , an illustrator and graphic artist, however his father’s lifelong friend and Rodni’s Godfather Jazz Drummer Max Roach after gifting him his first trumpet introduced him to the bustling Greenwich Village Jazz scene of the late fifties and early 1960s.
Rodni found himself designing flyers for the Venues such as The Village Gate, The Vanguard, Five Spot Café among others, along the way creating relationships with musicians such as John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, Eric Dolphy, Lee Morgan and in particular Miles Davis who took Rodni under his wing teaching him techniques in both trumpet and Flugel Horn.
His Education at Cooper Union in graphic design was interrupted by being drafted into the Army, serving 18 months in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne, earning the Purple Heart when seriously wounded in combat.
Returning home he became a road manager with the Cannonball Adderly Jazz group after touring with them eventually relocating to Los Angles then Tucson Arizona where he worked as a horse wrangler for the next 5 years. Through friends Rodni was introduced to Producer Peter Guber, who hired him to take care of his horses which eventually resulted in him slowly entering into the film business in numerous capacities; from script reading, art department, set design as well as acting until the early 1990s when he returned to New York and entered the Healthcare industry, eventually settling in Newburgh.
Retiring in 2008 Rodni remained a constant in the local Art and Jazz Scene holding court at the Wherehouse Restaurant; Sketchpad at his side his Congo Drums or Trumpet somewhere on the premises frequently sitting in with musicians from near and afar.
He is survived by his two sons Django of New York and Jade Hardison Evening Star of Colorado, several grandchildren and one great granddaughter and even more so the countless friends and extended family of The Wherehouse, Newburgh to the Hudson Valley and beyond who are all that are richer in spirit by simply knowing him.
A full military burial will be performed on Friday, March 8, 2024, at 10am at the Orange County Veterans Cemetery, 111 Craigville Road, Goshen.
A celebration of this Life will be held in the near future the date to be determined.
Arrangements were made by Millspaugh Funeral Directors.