Garth Hudson, who played organ, accordion, saxophone, and more as a member of the Band—perhaps still the group that best embodies the glorious, lawless amalgamation of styles at the very heart of rock and roll—died at the age of eighty-seven,

Hudson’s keyboard was an essential element of the Band's sound on roots-rock classics such as 'The Weight' and 'The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down.'

Garth Hudson, the multi-instrumentalist who served as the principal architect of the Band's sound, has died at 87.