Alvin Maurice Gotlieb

1940 - 2025

Alvin Maurice Gotlieb
December 28, 1940 - April 6, 2025
Alvin Maurice (Morris) Gotlieb was born in Minnesota on December 28, 1940. He passed away peacefully and pain free on April 6th, 2025 at Kaiser hospital after an accelerated battle with cancer as well as pneumonia. He was 84 and is survived by his son Greg, sister Eve, and brother Jay. He was preceded by his brother Daniel and Alan.

The Gotlieb family all played musical instruments; they had an informal family band which inspired Al's career as a musician. While in high school, Al was named the top high school trumpet player in LA County. That honor led to the US Air Force recruiting him to play in their music bands, including playing "Taps" at services for their fallen heroes.

Al attended the University of Nevada at Reno in the early 1960s while playing in the Reno and Lake Tahoe club bands backing up stars, such as Dizzy Gillespie, Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Harry Belafonte, and Johnny Mathis. Harry James, the jazz trumpeter, always requested Al to be his "high note" trumpet player. It was also here where he met his first wife Kathryn and had his only son Greg.

In the 1980s, Al moved from Burbank, CA to Marin County to be nearer to his son and escape the congestion. Here Al continued with music, forming the Vintage Brass Quintet band. Until last year, Al was still playing occasional gigs and always played for Midnight Mass in Sonoma. Around 2003, he met his long-term partner, Tula Jaffe. Al and Tula enjoyed hiking, and many vacations together and eventually adopted their beloved dog Handsome. Tula passed in 2018 and Al adopted Handsome, who was everything to him. Handsome has now been adopted by Tula's daughter.

Al was a very loving person and everyone appreciated him for his mellow and warm attitude. He knew how to enjoy what he had and was always making jokes between playing his trumpet. In his last years he would hike daily to Taylor Mountain with Handsome as well as playing pickle ball. He was blessed to continue this active lifestyle until weeks before his death.

There is an ongoing online celebration and memorial of Alvin's life where people can post or view memories and photos of Al. Here is the link: https://www.forevermissed.com/algotlieb.