At a musician's funeral, memories and arpeggios

(John Tlumacki/Globe Staff)

Bluesman James Montgomery told a story about Willie Robinson at the funeral.

By Anna Badkhen, Globe Staff

Weepin' Willie Robinson, known as the elder statesman of the blues in Boston, was celebrated today in a funeral attended by more than 250 family members, friends, and fans.

Jazz piano arpeggios spilled from the fingertips of onetime Robinson band member David Maxwell and streamed through the packed pews of the Central Congregation Church in Jamaica Plain.

Willie L. Robinson, 81, died in a fire sparked by a cigarette last Sunday, when he lit up in his bed at the Mount Pleasant rest home in Jamaica Plain.

His funeral was a tribute to the bluesman’s life – first as a sharecropper in Georgia, then as an Army veteran, emcee and doorman in the blues clubs of Trenton, N.J., and, finally, as a legendary blues singer in Boston.

One of Robinson’s 10 children, Ray Robinson, cried openly by the side of his father’s casket, awed by the number of people who had come to the funeral to pay their respects.

"It touches me and my family deeply to see all of you," he said. His chin shook, and a female relative handed him a tissue.

"I needed my father often," he continued. His voice trailed off. "Thank you, thank you for caring for him."

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