Passing along a few moving grafs from New Orleans musician-presenter Rob Cambre, who also wrote that he hopes to get an obit/tribute into an upcoming issue of Offbeat:

Peter was much loved and respected by so many musicians and listeners around the globe...including New Orleans....Peter made two visits to New Orleans (performing a total of 7 times), first in April 2000 for his landmark USA car tour documented in Laurence Petit-Jouvet's film "Off the Road" (which contains significant footage of his time here). He very much wanted to return, so I organized another visit for him during Jazz Fest this year and we once again had a great time hanging out, enjoying the food/drink/music of our city, and he played brilliantly as usual (and he finally got to see Irma Thomas!).

In addition to being a great player, PK was a lovely guy - possessed of a big heart, curious mind, and quick wit....i'll miss that low rasp of a voice, his funny face-making, and those big bear hugs that would totally envelop you! I'll also remember him coining a funny phrase: "Very spicy of you" after an intense plate of Volcano Shrimp at Uglesich's...(and then there was his hilarious dancing at a Wolfman Washington gig at Tip's! ahhh)

For those interested in reading more about this master musician, check out his personal site = http://www.kowald.de/indexe.htm or his page on the European Improvisors site = http://www.shef.ac.uk/misc/rec/ps/efi/mkowald.html (which contains some video footage).