At a Glance
- Max Zape, 62, a fixture in San Diego’s music scene, died after a kitchen fire erupted in his Chula Vista home.
- His 96-year-old mother, Chris, survived but remains in the ICU; she has not been told her only son and caregiver is gone.
- Friends remember Zape as “the Wikipedia of music” who could name every player on any album.
- Why it matters: The tragedy leaves an elderly widow without a caregiver and a tight-knit musical community mourning a legend.
San Diego’s music community is reeling after Chula Vista’s Max Zape, 62, died in a Monday-morning house fire that also critically injured his 96-year-old mother.
A Musician’s Musician
Long before the fire, Zape’s reputation spanned genres and generations.
“There’s very few musicians I’ve met in San Diego County where I’d say his name, and they wouldn’t know who I was talking about,” fellow musician Eric Mabrey said. “I don’t even have to say his last name.”
Bandmate Patrick Yandall spent years sharing stages across Southern California with Zape.
“We performed pretty much all over Southern California together,” Yandall said. “He became a good friend, good confidant and good sounding board for when I was trying to do different things.”
Friends crowned him “the Wikipedia of music.”
- Keyboard
- Flute
- Saxophone
- Drums
Hand Zape any album and he could rattle off every credited musician without hesitation.
Childhood best friend Ricky Feria, now in Arizona, keeps a keyboard in his living room because of Zape’s influence.
“I kind of drifted from all of that, but he kept steering me back into music,” Feria said. “And so that’s just kind of the relationship we had.”
The Fire
Monday morning, Zape was home with his mother when flames erupted in the kitchen.
“They were both pulled out through a window by the firefighters,” Mabrey said.
Chris survived with critical injuries and remains in the ICU at Hillcrest Medical Center at UC San Diego Health. Relatives say her condition could change at any moment; they are unsure if anyone has told her that her only child is dead.
Zape was her sole caregiver.
“Now that Max is gone, there is no permanent caregiver,” neighbor Gina Welker said. “And then, with the house having been damaged by fire, who knows what’s going to be here.”
A Community Responds
His instruments still sit inside the scorched home. Musicians still gather outside it.
“Brother Max, I miss you, terribly,” Feria said. “I’m just still trying to get through the shock.”
A memorial will be held Feb. 1, 2-5 p.m. at Humphreys Backstage on Shelter Island.
Friends have also launched a fundraiser to cover funeral costs and Chris’s recovery once she leaves the hospital.
The loss reverberates far beyond one house in Chula Vista; it silences a walking encyclopedia of music who could-and gladly would-tell you who played triangle on a 1974 Steely Dan track without pausing for breath.
