When news came last week that jazz bagpiper Rufus Harley had passed away at the age of 70 after a battle with prostate cancer, I instantly pulled out the recently released Transparency DVD, the fourth in a series of Sun Ra performance videos, which co-features a Harley quintet gig. The video, culled from a 1987 D.C. jazz festival at which both Germantown legends appeared, showcases Harley in fine form, blowing a vigorous Trane-inspired solo that belies the bagpipes' reputation as obnoxious room-clearers before launching into a vigorous "Scotland the Brave." Still, something seemed off in memorializing Harley this way. It wasn't the fact that he was nearly 20 years younger and fuller in face; what was wrong was the setting: He was up on stage, rather than on the ground, milling among the crowds. Of course, Harley never stopped playing on stage, but in recent years he became more than a performer. He was a constant presence on the local jazz scene, living his nickname as the "Pied Piper of Jazz." He cut an undeniably strange figure, a black man playing jazz in kilt and beret, but it's doubtful Harley would have blinked at the suggestion that he was a novelty. His playing, after all, easily withstood that charge and besides, Harley was such a booster for the music that any attention was certainly welcome. So it is in the crowds, at festivals and outdoor concerts across the city, that Rufus Harley will most be missed. Philadelphia jazz just became a lot less colorful.