Nelson Ed Finney

Nelson Ed Finney, the jazz guitarist known as Jupiter Skyfish, passed away peacefully on August 24, 2025, at his home on the mesa outside Taos, New Mexico. He was 79. Ed Finney was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on September 17, 1945. Introduced to music by his father, who led the Harmonica Hotshots, Finney began performing in 1964 with a Black rhythm & blues band in Memphis. "If I traveled with a band," recalled Finney, "I had to play as an 'albino.' It was illegal for me to play in a white club with a Black band. At the Tiki Club, the owner found out I wasn't Black and said, 'Well, you've been faking it for a year. Just come in the back door. Finney soon discovered jazz, which became his lifelong passion. He recorded with legendary Stax artists such as Isaac Hayes, Carla Thomas, and David Porter, and toured with many of the greats of the rhythm and blues world, including Otis Redding, Soul Children, Lynn White, and Ebony Web. Following a year in the Navy, Finney moved to New York in the late 1960s, where he played with jazz greats in New York City such as Dave Liebman, Jack Dejonette, and the Jazz Composers Orchestra featuring Herbie Hancock, Bob Moses, Chick Corea, and Randy Brecker. There he joined the infamous avant garde band The Insect Trust, replacing original guitarist Bill Barth. Founding member Luke Faust recalled: "We got another guitar player from Memphis, Ed Finney, who was a great player. At the time, he would play in Black clubs in Memphis six months out of the year and then he'd go up to the mountains in Central America with a portable amp and play with the Indians. Getting him was the best." With Finney on board, the band toured with such notable acts as Frank Zappa, The Doors, Cream, and Yes. Of his time with the Insect Trust, Finney said, "We played rock, but we played it differently." Finney lived for a time in Los Angeles, where he composed musical scores for independent films, before settling in Taos, New Mexico, in 2020. He was beloved for his solo performances at the La Fonda Hotel, his duets with jazz vocalist Ruthie Fahrbach, and his Wednesday night sets with Jess Wayne at the Sagebrush Cantina. He taught guitar to many students in the Taos area, as part of his dream "for all beings to have access to creativity." Like many jazz musicians, Finney was notoriously absent-minded, with a big heart and a mischievous sense of humor that endeared him to his friends and to his often exasperated musical partners. Finney had a penchant to rename himself from time to time, becoming "Jupiter Skyfish" in the early '00s, then "Karma Shanpen" briefly in 2016 before switching back to Jupiter Skyfish. He played only one guitar for most of his career, a Gibson hollow-body electric guitar that he purchased new in 1966. The guitar, festooned with feathers and beads, looked like it had been through war, but it sounded wonderful in his hands. Ed Finney's playing can be heard on innumerable recordings, including a recent album by Taos singer-songwriter Jess Wayne, "The Ancient Door." Finney is survived by his brother George, sisters Pamela Carnes and Jerelynn Harper, his son Thomas, and an enormous collection of very stylish hats.

The family of Nelson Ed Finney has entrusted the care of their loved one to the caring staff of DeVargas Funeral Home of Taos. www.devargastaos.com 1-866-657-4019