Leslie Renken
PEORIA — A young Ed Kaizer had a chance to play professional baseball, but turned it down for music.
A person can only play baseball so long, while music is something you can do for a life-time, Kaizer once said. It was a decision that served him well – music was not only a profession for Kaizer, who was head of the piano department at Bradley University from 1970 to 2016, but also a truly enjoyable activity which held his attention for a lifetime.
Kaizer was 84 and still performing regularly in the Peoria area when he died April 9 of a massive heart attack. He was visiting one of his two daughters, Claire Kasamis, in the Chicago suburbs at the time.
"Every other time I talked to him, he would be excitedly explaining something he learned on new ways to voice jazz chords," his daughter Laraine Kaizer-Viazovtsev said Wednesday. “He was just always trying to get better and better at jazz. It just never got old for him.”
Kaizer was a prolific performer who was perhaps best known in the Peoria area for performing with his wife, Janet, who was also an accomplished musician. The pair developed a large following for their dynamic performances and unique programs, a combination of classical and jazz music. They wrote their own arrangements and played duets at two pianos set up on the stage. Programs often began with classical music, and ended with boogie-woogie, bebop improvisation and ragtime. The pair took the show on the road many times over the years, performing across the U.S., in Mexico and all over Europe.
“He was really a world-class virtuoso pianist who lived in Peoria and taught at Bradley University and, as a benefit, all of us in central Illinois were able to attend and enjoy live concerts and recitals by Ed and his equally talented wife and partner, Janet,” said Jeffrey Huberman, dean of the Slane College of Communications and Fine Arts at Bradley University. “His entire family, his children and even some of his grandchildren are wonderful musicians in their own right. They would often perform together as a family. It was really one of the great cultural features of Peoria, Illinois, to have Ed and his family of master musicians among us and playing for so many different occasions.”
In addition to concerts, the Kaizers also performed at countless community events, like weddings, and for many years they were a regular feature at the weekly Sunday brunch at Weaver Ridge Golf Course.
As a teacher, Ed was demanding but always gracious, said David Vroman, chairperson for the Department of Music at Bradley. Ed had a solid work ethic that provided a good example for students.
“Boy, he was relentless and tireless in his practicing,” said Vroman. “When he had a recital coming up, he was playing hours and hours on end both at school and at home. Everyone knew when it was coming up, because he was working really hard, which is great for young students to see. It’s not just based on talent – you have to have that work ethic. He really was a terrific example to students.”
Laraine recalls a house filled with music while growing up in the Kaizer household,
“We always had two pianos in the house, and at one point we had three, if you count the upright,” she said. “Mom and Dad were always either practicing or they always had students playing, so we constantly heard pianos going almost nonstop.”
Ed Kaizer’s passion didn’t stop with music, however. He loved life, and was quite passionate about a lot of things, said his daughter.
“He’s the kind of person who just loved to take the kids out, for whatever – golfing, bowling, ice cream. He really just loved to have fun with the family,” she said. “He really loved to go fishing, and he really, really loved ice cream – it was like a thing. He was crazy about it.”
Ed, who had five children from his two marriages, was devoted to his family. He would do anything for them, said Laraine. All through Janet’s long battle with Alzheimer’s disease, Ed was determined to keep her at home.
“We were so grateful. Thanks to him, she never had to go to a care facility where she would have been miserable," said Laraine. “They were very close, like soul mates. They were really great together. He just took such good care of her and everybody.”
Janet Kaizer died in 2018.
Since Ed’s death, his children, none of whom live in Peoria, have been working as a team to clean out the family home and put the estate in order. Laraine, who lives in Finland, has been working to sell the things no one has room for, including two pianos, one of them 1930s Steinway grand piano. The family is also in in the process of creating a memorial scholarship in Ed’s name to help music majors, particularly those who play piano, at Bradley University.
“That’s what we are doing instead of having any kind of flowers or anything like that,” said Laraine. “It would go to a student who has a financial need. It’s our hope that we could help a music student at Bradley.”
To learn more, visit www.edkaizer.com.
Dr. Edward Joseph Kaizer 1937 - 2021
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