Tuesday, August 15th
passings
Glen Campbell, guitar player, singer, actor, TV host, April 22, 1936-August 8, 2017
“Wichita Lineman” (J. Webb), live (TV show), London, 2008
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Alice Cooper, talking about his friend
music clip of the day
jazz/blues/rock/classical/gospel/more
Category: passings
2017
Thursday, June 29th
passings
Geri Allen, pianist, June 12, 1957-June 27, 2017
With Kenny Davis (bass), Kassa Overall (drums), Maurice Chestnut (tap dance), live, South Korea, 2011
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With Charlie Haden (1937-2014, bass), Paul Motian (1931-2011, drums), “Lonely Woman” (O. Coleman), 1988
2017
Saturday, May 27th
I could listen to these two—he’s long been one of my favorite pianists—all day.
Sara Serpa (1979-, vocal), Ran Blake (1935-, piano), “Night and Day” (C. Porter),
live, New York (Kitano), 2016
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lagniappe
reading table
He thought his head would explode, if the forenoon kept burning into the jungle all around him and the gulls kept screaming and the monkey kept regarding its surroundings carefully, moving its head and black eyes from side to side like someone following the progress of some kind of conversation, some kind of debate, some kind of struggle that the jungle—the morning—the moment—was having with itself.
—Denis Johnson (July 1, 1979-May 24, 2017), Tree of Smoke (National Book Award for Fiction, 2007)
2017
Monday, May 22nd
what’s new
Novo Amor, “Carry You,” 2017
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lagniappe
art beat
Stanley Greene (February 14, 1949-May, 19, 2017), Chechnya (Grozny), April, 2001 (Zelina, after the death of her child)
2017
Monday, March 20th
passings
Chuck Berry, October 18, 1926-March 18, 2017, guitar player, singer, songwriter
“Roll Over Beethoven” (C. Berry), live (TV show), France, 1958
*****
the beat goes on
2,600 posts—and counting.
2017
Thursday, February 23rd
passings
Walter “Junie” Morrison, keyboard player, singer, songwriter, arranger, producer, etc., 1954-January 21, 2017
Keyboards and vocals, with Parliament-Funkadelic, “Into You,” live, Passaic, New Jersey, 1978
***
Questlove, Instagram post:
The Great Junie Morrison. So inspirational. All the #OhioPlayers westbound era funk that birthed #Voodoo & #BlackMessiah: #Junie. Those adlibs on Hov’s “#BrooklynsFinest & #Tribe‘s #ScenarioRemix is Junie. All the Warner Era #Funkadelic songwriting wizzardry #OneNationUnderAGroove & #UncleJamWantsYou (he co-wrote #NotJustKneeDeep) even #Parliament‘s #MotorBootyAffair & #Gloryhallastoopid. His ideas birthed and ushered in the G-Funk era (all that synthy #FunkyWorm synth yall associate w gangsta rap/Dre’s sound? That’s #JunieMorrison. Even his #SuzieThundertussy in its tales of “Lost Angeles” were the backdrop on Ye’s bright light for #TLOP‘s #NoMorePartiesInLA. Solange even gave him props on #Junie (“jump on it” for those that call it the “Jump on it song Dre3000 sings on)—this man was an uncelebrated unsung unchampioned whose ideas we just took and took and took. I regret so much not having a “proper” conversation about his journey. His songwriting. His technology innovations. Man. This STINGS. Rip #Junie.
2017
Tuesday, February 21st
passings
Clyde Stubblefield, drummer, April 18, 1943-February 18, 2017
“Funk Thing” (with Fred Wesley, trombone; John Scofield, guitar; John Medeski, organ; Fred Thomas, bass), 1999
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“Funky James Brown” (with John “Jabo” Starks, drums)
2017
Monday, February 13th
passings
Al Jarreau (aka Alwin Lopez Jarreau), March 12, 1940-February 12, 2017, singer
“Take Five” (P. Desmond), live (TV performance), Germany, 1976
(Taking a break—back in a while.)
2017
Saturday, January 21st
passings
Some drumming is solid. Some, like this, liquid.
Charles “Bobo” Shaw, drummer, September 15, 1947-January 16, 2017
With Lester Bowie (trumpet, MCOTD Hall of Fame), “Bugle Boy Bop” (Bugle Boy Bop, recorded 1977; released 1983)
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lagniappe
art beat: other day, Whitney Museum of American Art (New York)
Helen Levitt (MCOTD Hall of Fame), New York, c. 1940
2016
Friday, December 30th
only rock ‘n’ roll
What a way to close out a life—with some of the strongest work of your career.
David Bowie (January 8, 1947–January 10, 2016), Blackstar (January 8, 2016)
“Lazarus”
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“Blackstar”
