RIP- musicians

[Andy Tuck]

His performance at the Monterey Pop Festival was definitely one of the highlights. You just had to see the look on the faces of some of the other acts watching him to confirm just how good he was.

RIP

[hendo (Dave)]

Ravi Shankar, aged 92. RIP  

Blimey, the big legends are fading fast this month.  

Jules

World music, before the phrase existed. His influence on western music is immeasurable.

[David (terrrrrrrr)]

A man, a musician, one of the few who it could genuinely be said to have brought a form of music to the masses. RIP.

[Mr Cat (Lewis)]

His performance at the Monterey Pop Festival was definitely one of the highlights. You just had to see the look on the faces of some of the other acts watching him to confirm just how good he was.

RIP

I love the bit in the film where after playing some scales and getting ready the crowd starts applauding wildly, to which Ravi Shankar responds to the effect that if they enjoyed the tuning up so much they will love the actual set.

[Paul]

Fontella Bass of rescue me fame.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20855193

Paul

[Mr Cat (Lewis)]

Ray Collins of Mothers of Invention fame:

http://www.pollstar.com/news_article.aspx?ID=803736

[Harbottle (Martin)]

Fontella Bass of rescue me fame.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-20855193

Paul

I didn't know she sang that song, but I knew her from 'Theme De YoYo' by the Art Ensemble of Chicago. She was married to the band's trumpet player, the late Lester Bowie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PppJOrnVtkg

[northseajoe]

Jimmy McCracklin, extraordinary bluesman, passed away just before Christmas at the ripe old age of 91. Enjoy this jam with Ry Cooder and others.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GLQ2MMiKDc

[Alan2]

Ray Collins of Mothers of Invention fame:

http://www.pollstar.com/news_article.aspx?ID=803736

I was reading with interest an obit on the Times. Seems he was one of those rare peole who seem happy without the slightest ambition.

[PeteD]

Claude Nobs. Legendary promoter and founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival.

[Mr Cat (Lewis)]

Nic Potter of Van Der Graaf/Hammill/Steve Swindells etc fame - brief announcement on the Sofa Sound site with no details..

[Nigel no longer of Lysander]

From todays online Guardian:-

Nic Potter obituary

My younger brother, the musician and composer Nic Potter, who has died of pneumonia aged 61, was best known as a member of the rock group Van der Graaf Generator. As a bass guitarist, he provided inventive harmonies and rhythms, created swiftly and instinctively, for the frontline musicians he worked with, such as Peter Hammill and Duncan Browne. A generous collaborator, he offered up his exquisite riffs with a quiet passion.

Nic was born in a former army hut in the grounds of the Beltane school, Wiltshire, where our father, Norman Potter, was teaching carpentry. He was a boy of great sensitivity. At the age of two, he saw a chicken being killed and said he would never eat meat in his life. He never did. His awareness of the suffering of others was always apparent.

He was a self-taught musician who played by ear. One of my enduring memories of Nic is the image of him in his bedroom playing his unamplified bass for hour upon hour, conjuring a world of music around him that was inaudible to anyone else.

His early years as a rock musician – at 16 playing with the Misunderstood, at 18 supporting Chuck Berry in concert at the Royal Albert Hall – were exhilarating, packed with adventure as he toured the world, the start of a lifelong love of travel. With Van der Graaf Generator he recorded two albums, The Least We Can Do Is Wave to Each Other and H to He, Who Am the Only One (both released in 1970), and toured the UK, Europe, Scandinavia, the US and South America.

After joining the Tigers and touring the US, he worked as a session musician with the Beach Boys and Jeff Beck before concentrating on his own compositions. His label, Zomart, produced 11 albums, including The Blue Zone, New Europe and The Long Hello: Volume 2, Nic often collaborating with his great friend Guy Evans, the drummer with Van der Graaf Generator.

Nic painted beautiful miniatures, including limited-edition handpainted covers for his CDs.

Two years ago, Nic was diagnosed with Pick's disease but, despite his increasing disability, he blossomed and his gentle, ironic wit, affection for his friends and appreciation of his family and of every aspect of being alive made him a joy to be with. During the last year we visited two of his favourite islands with Charlotte, our younger sister, and my husband, Christopher. Nic loved camping in a small tent in howling wind on St Agnes in the Isles of Scilly and strolling by the quayside in Hydra, Greece.

He is survived by me and Charlotte, and his uncle Nicholas.


Sally Potter

[mickf]

Claude Nobs. Legendary promoter and founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Was that the same 'funky Claude' that Deep Purple sang about in 'Smoke on the Water'?

[Jim]

Claude Nobs. Legendary promoter and founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Was that the same 'funky Claude' that Deep Purple sang about in 'Smoke on the Water'?

one  and the very same, he who was "running in and out".

[mickf]

Claude Nobs. Legendary promoter and founder of the Montreux Jazz Festival.

Was that the same 'funky Claude' that Deep Purple sang about in 'Smoke on the Water'?

one  and the very same, he who was "running in and out".

"pulling kids out the ground"...

[tullist/raymond]

Likely Mrs Goodman would prefer that I put this under recent gigs, but this Sunday past a memorial/life celebration at Space, in Evanston just north of Chicago, for the Mother of legendary Chicago folkie Steve Goodman with 100 or so of her and her son's closest friends. Usually people were both, I knew neither, though I had met Mrs Goodman a couple of times in the past calendar year, and though well into her 80's her demise did not seem imminent. I know her last comment was a request for a cigarette and a Pinot Grigio.
Entertainment was provided by a litany of Steve's closest living friends, most notably Corky Siegal and Bonnie Koloc, though extreme illness prevented the appearance of the Godfather's of that whole scene, Earl Pionke from the longtime Chicago folkie hub the Earl of Old Town, and Steve's closest friend John Prine.
Going to post a couple from her son that remain endearing to me, the second his cover of The Dutchman, one of the more moving pieces I have heard from anyone, would have little inclination to hear any other version, I know when I am hearing the best, something that cannot be improved. First Election Year Rag. Very cool to know Steve and his Mom are together again...And still the Cubs have not won. (I think Steve's last song was A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request)
http://youtu.be/-y7xgc38tW4
http://youtu.be/SOx0ywp25Qk

[Henry Tompkins (Pete)]

Thanks Raymond.  Wonderful stuff from a much missed artist.  

[David (terrrrrrrr)]

Thanks Ray. I was lucky enough to have seen the Earl Pionke tribute concert on-line, where Minnette stood up and said her piece about Earl. Well into her 80s she may have been, waif-like she looked, but no-one who saw her could doubt her spirit. She was a true force that night.

[giottoscircle (Robert)]

Going to post a couple from her son that remain endearing to me, the second his cover of The Dutchman, one of the more moving pieces I have heard from anyone, would have little inclination to hear any other version, I know when I am hearing the best, something that cannot be improved. First Election Year Rag. Very cool to know Steve and his Mom are together again...And still the Cubs have not won. (I think Steve's last song was A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request)
http://youtu.be/-y7xgc38tW4
http://youtu.be/SOx0ywp25Qk

Steves version of "The Dutchman" is one of the most beautiful pieces of art that I know and becomes more evocative the older I get

[Rory.]

Thanks for the post, Raymond, the "click through" from one song to another taught me something, namely that "City of New Orleans" is a Steve Goodman song.

I've been listening to that for nearly thirty years, not on repeat, obviously, but I always assumed it was Arlo's own.

Well, well.