'A beautiful life well lived': Renowned composer and Montana native Philip Aaberg dies at 77

According to his Sweetgrass Music Facebook page, Aaberg died “peacefully (May 23) surrounded by Patty, his sons Jake and Michael and his brother Steve.”

“A beautiful life well lived through family, friends and music. And of course fly fishing,” the post states.

A celebration of life will be held in August in Helena, said Patty Aaberg.

Sweetgrass posted earlier that Aaberg was hospitalized in Minneapolis in mid-May and had “pneumonia in both lungs and a host of other issues.”

A GoFundMe page for him started on May 16 stated he had been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of intraductal prostate cancer. The page had raised $53,714 of its $60,000 goal.

Havre Democratic state Rep. Paul Tuss wrote on Facebook he was friends with Aaberg for years.

“While the music will be softer now, the sounds of Montana's high plains will always best be represented by the magic that flowed from any keyboard he touched,” Tuss said. “The genuineness and authenticity of this Hi-Line native will live on forever through the beautiful music he produced, his welcoming spirit and his fundamental goodness. Rest in peace, friend.”

Aaberg produced music that consistently translated Montana's farms, ranches and native cultures into "musical concepts" and has "forged a unique keyboard style that paints an audible portrait of his home state," Sweetgrass Music said on its website.

Aaberg told the University of Montana in a feature story that he tried to “capture things that are important to me such as the quality of the sound.”

“On the prairie, sound carries a long way. The sense of vision is important, too," he said. "On a clear day, you can see the Rockies a hundred miles away. I try to communicate that sense of distance and loneliness."

He received several honors, including the Montana Governor's Award for the Arts, Montana Arts Council Artists Innovation Award, an honorary doctorate in music from Montana State University in 2013, the Montana Governor's Humanities Award, and he was named Montana's Treasured Artist in 2016. Aaberg's radio program, "Of the West: Creativity & Sense of Place," can be heard at www.ofthewest.net.

Aaberg was born April 8, 1949, in Havre, but was raised in Chester, according to social media.

His mother first noticed his musical talent early on, Sweetgrass Music noted. He began playing music at age 4. By the time he was 15, he traveled on the train 12 hours one way every two weeks from Chester to Spokane, Washington, to study with Margaret Saunders Ott, a Julliard-trained pianist and teacher who was chair of the piano department at Whitworth College.

Along with the piano, he played drums and organ in a garage rock band that he and his brother started while in high school. He also played in symphonies across Montana before heading off to college, Sweetgrass Music stated.

Aaberg earned a Leonard Bernstein Scholarship and Harvard National Scholarship at Harvard College, where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in music.

He moved to San Francisco to make pop and rock records. He played solo and in small combos in blues clubs until joining the Elvin Bishop Group in 1973. He first appeared on the national scene as keyboardist with The Elvin Bishop Band. He toured with the band for four years and played on several of their albums, Sweetgrass stated.

Aaberg also toured with Peter Gabriel and recorded with the Doobie Brothers, Kenny Rogers and Vince Gill.

He began composing his own music seriously in 1985. Shortly after, he signed with Windham Hill Records and released the solo album "High Plains," which garnered him international acclaim, according to Sweetgrass Music. It was a solo piano suite that brought elements of blues, bluegrass, rock and new age music to his meditative compositions.

His second album, “Live from Montana,” earned Aaberg a Grammy nomination for Best New Age Album in 2002. It was recorded in the Chester High School gymnasium, where Aaberg played basketball years earlier.

Aaberg founded Sweetgrass Music in 1974 in Oakland, California. He named it after the hills north of his Montana hometown. In 2002, he moved back to Chester with his family.

A 2014 article in the Great Falls Tribune by Marc Stergionis noted he composed his music in a converted grain bin attached to his house.

Aaberg lived in Helena since 2016.

Aaberg had played with the Boston Pops, participated in the Marlboro Chamber Music Festival, premiered contemporary compositions with the Paul Dresher Ensemble, and performed on more than 200 albums and on PBS' "All-American Jazz," which also earned him an Emmy nomination.

Another Emmy nomination followed in 2008 for his soundtrack for "Class C: The Only Game in Town," produced by Montana PBS.

More than 400 comments on the Sweetgrass Music Facebook page praised Aaberg.

“A Montana Treasure gone but not forgotten,” Eddy White posted.

“His soul is as alive as his music,” R. Kevin McGuire said. “Prayers for all his family and friends.”