From the web, Richie Havens’ iconic opening at Woodstock.

I remember Richie Havens’ voice booming over the phone.

The singer, songwriter and guitarist was scheduled to play the M&T Syracuse Jazz Fest in 2004, and glad to chat about his life and times.

I asked him what it felt like for an iconic folk singer to headline at a jazz fest.

Havens laughed. Loud. Long. Easy.

My Jazz Fest advance piece for the morning paper told of Havens’ recollection of his time spent playing clubs, in Greenwich Village and beyond. He never knew where he’d end up for one night, two nights, a bit longer.

Havens would show up and play. The sign on the place might have said “Johnny’s Jazz Joint,” he related. “I’d freak out. I don’t play jazz.”

Not true.

On the stage at Onondaga Community College, Havens proved otherwise. His was a music that came straight from his heart and soul, straightforward or intricate, smart and zealous. Havens’ legend covered all of American’s musical heritage, from folk to R&B to soul to rock to jazz.

I remember Richie Havens’ voice booming over our Jazz Fest.

The man who opened the Woodstock festival in Bethel in 1969 was a man who deserved your attention.

Havens returned to play the Syracuse fest in 2010, and I wrote how he still filled his performance of his legendary song “Freedom” with “anger, passion, and just the right amount of hope for better things to come.”

Havens died Monday, of a heart attack. He was 72.

Let us forever remember Richie Havens and his booming voice, of the Woodstock generation and beyond.