An attraction to music that drew Dexter Bailey as a toddler to teach himself music by ear on his family piano grew into a long career as a highly respected Chicago organist.
Known for his prowess during solo church performances and as a choral accompanist, he also delighted in playing the organ in a manner that made it sound like an orchestra.
Mr. Bailey, 58, of Chicago, former longtime organist at St. Pauls United Church of Christ, 2335 N. Orchard St., Chicago, and associate conductor and accompanist for the former Choral Ensemble of Chicago, died of complications of gastric distress Monday, April 11, in Swedish Covenant Hospital in Chicago.
“There are so many things that made Dexter stand out,” said Kurt Hansen, his friend and St. Pauls music director for 14 years. “First of all he had an amazing facility with the instrument. … Music would just flow out of him, and he was really at the top of his game.
“His most unusual talent was as a superb accompanist–he loved accompanying singers on the organ.
“He also was ahead of his time in that he loved orchestra reductions–making his organ sound like an orchestra–especially for choral groups who couldn’t afford an orchestra. It really was an amazing ability of his and a lot of work.”
Mr. Bailey appeared in recitals in churches and concert halls throughout the U.S., Canada and Europe. He had been a featured soloist with the Evanston Symphony and Chicago Symphony Orchestras.
In 1972, he won the first place prize in the Young Artists competition sponsored by the American Guild of Organists in Chicago.
Seven years later, he appeared in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 25th Anniversary Gala Concert, performing organ passages with soloists, chorus and orchestra in excerpts from “Paradise Lost.”
In 1988 and 1990, renowned French organist Marie-Claire Alain invited him to study with her at the Academy for Organists in St. Donat, France. He also studied organ performances with renowned teacher Marie-Claire Alain in California. He played in the 1996 World’s Largest Organ Recital, held for the 100th birthday of the American Guild of Organists.
“His playing was lyrical, musical,” said his longtime friend Jon Callahan. “For an instrument that normally doesn’t sing, he made it sing, much like the human voice.”
Mr. Bailey was born and raised in Michigan, where he took piano lessons for 10 years, starting at age 5. His interest then turned to the organ, and he began studying with Janice Beck at First Baptist Church in Ann Arbor, Mich. In 1966, he entered the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.
About two years later, he joined St. Pauls while also becoming an accompanist for the Choral Ensemble of Chicago, originally known as the Chicago Chamber Choir.
“He was a very excellent musician,” said George Estevez, the ensemble’s music director from its inception in 1965 until he handed over his baton in 1996. The ensemble moved its performances from a smaller church into St. Pauls in 1976, where Mr. Bailey accompanied the singers on the church’s 92-rank Aeolian Skinner organ.
“He did not restrict himself to any particular period of music,” said Estevez. “He did contemporary music, Bach cantatas, classics for the organ, folk music and grand opera chorus.”
The Choral Ensemble closed in 2002, and a different group has adopted its original name.
In the early 1970s, Mr. Bailey moved to Bethany Lutheran Church in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood as principal musician before returning in 1991 to St. Pauls, where he remained until last year.
Although his favorite topic of conversation was music, friends also recalled his sense of humor and voracious reading of mystery novels.
Survivors include his mother, Eunice Bailey.
Services at St. Pauls are pending, as are services in Michigan.
