Can't really say it's a 'sad day', more like a life well lived and a lot of people would say dying before your 80's can be a blessing (I got into that discussion when Chick Corea died at the same age a few years back).
Stuff he wrote back in the early 80's is still fresh to my ears, in a similar way to Pat Metheny.
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"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. To be your own man is a hard business. If you try it, you'll be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privelege of owning yourself" - Rudyard Kipling