Tom's father, James T. West, known to all as "Jim West" (like the guy with the horse from Wild, Wild West) passed away on Sunday, August 11, 2024 at the age of 84 after a long decline from chronic kidney disease. He passed quietly and painlessly surrounded by his wife of 53 years, Liz West, his children, Tom and Kat West, and his daughter-in-law, Amy West. 

Jim played accordion in a polka band in Pittsburgh, PA in his youth to help pay the family bills, performed with the Pittsburgh Savoyards, The ALCOA Singers, and he joined SPEBSQSA (now the Barbershop Harmony Society) in his twenties. Jim was a long-time member of the Greater Pittsburgh Chapter in the Johnny Appleseed District, and later was a member of the Chorus of the Potomac in the Mid-Atlantic District. He was inducted into the Delasusquhudmac Honors Society of the Mid-Atlantic District in 2007. He taught barbershop music theory classes at JAD's Apple Corps summer convention for decades. He was Music and Arrangement Judge for SPEBSQSA in the 1990's and won an International Silver Medal in Seniors Quartet competition as the baritone of The Alumni quartet in 1999. He sang in many other quartets, including The Penn Men, Memories of Yesterday, Ringside, and Twang. His last barbershop endeavor was serving as the director of The Ladybirds Barbershop Chorus of Cumberland, Maryland, in which his wife, Liz, sang Tenor.

Jim also famously took credit for getting the incomparable Dick Van Dyke hooked on Barbershop! Mr. Van Dyke was attending another event in the same convention center where a SPEBSQSA convention was taking place. He stuck his head into a conference room when an after-glo was in full swing, attracted to the room by the tag singing. Dad saw him there and insisted that he join the men in singing some tags, and the rest is history!

In addition to being a quartet singer, chorus singer, teacher, coach, and adjudicator, Jim was a prolific arranger of barbershop harmony for both men's and women's quartets and choruses. He has over 100 arrangements in his library, many of which were hand-crafted with his precise hand from his days as an electrical draftsman. He eventually began to use Finale notation software as well.

As part of an ongoing project, his son, Thomas J. West, will be scanning and converting all of Jim's arrangements to digital, creating multi-track recordings of them, and acquiring the necessary licensing to sell them online on Sheet Music Direct and Sheet Music Plus. Proceeds from the sale of Jim's arrangements will directly support his wife of 53 years, Elizabeth (Liz) West, who resides near her son in Allentown, PA.

Arrangement Library 

🎵 If (as performed by Bread): Sheet Music Plus | Sheet Music Direct

🎵 The Way We Were (as performed by Barbra Streisand): Sheet Music Plus | Sheet Music Direct