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2010
MEMORIALS
" Let
us remember the great talent each possessed "
Billy
Taylor
July 24th 1921 ~ December 28th 2010
American jazz pianist, composer, and
champian of new talent, Billy Taylor, who
also introduced jazz to wider audiences as a Radio and TV broadcaster,
has tragically died in New York after suffering a heart attack, aged
89. Sadly he leaves behind by his wife of sixty-four years, Theodora,
and his daughter, Kim. Sadly Billy's son Duane, an artist, died in 1988.
Billy Taylor was born in Greenville, North Carolina but moved to Washington,
DC at the age of five. After graduating from Virginia State College
with a degree in music in 1942, he relacated to New York City, where
he started playing piano professionally in 1944 with Ben Webster's Quartet
at the Three Deuces on 52nd Street, the very epicentre of the jazz world
at the time. After an eight-month tour with the Don Redman Orchestra
in Europe, Billy stayed there working in Paris and Holland, returning
to New York later that year to work at the Royal Roost jazz club and
with Billie Holliday in a successful show called Holiday on Broadway.
The following year he became the house pianist at Birdland, performing
with the likes of Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis. He
went on to appeared on hundreds of albums and composed more than 300
songs during his career spanning nearly 70 years. Among his many notable
works is "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free", written
for his daughter Kim in 1954, dealt with civil rights issues and became
the unofficial anthem of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. It
was selected as "one of the greatest songs of the sixties"
by the New York Times and was the theme music of the 1996 film "Ghosts
of Mississippi". Also the song is widely known in the UK as the
piano instrumental, used for BBC1's Film programme, hosted by Barry
Norman, then Jonathan Ross. Among others Solomon Burke, Derek Trucks,
The Lighthouse Family, Levon Helm and Jools Holland have also recorded
versions. In 1958, he became the Musical Director of NBC's The Subject
is Jazz, the first ever television series focusing on jazz. The 13 part
series was produced by the new National Educational Television Network
and hosted guests including Duke Elington, Aaron Copeland, Bill Evans,
Cannonbal Adderly, Jimmy Rushing and Langston Hughes. Billy was host
of the Jazz Alive radio show throughout the 70s, and of Billy Taylor's
Jazz at the Kennedy Center in the 90s. Over his career Billy acheived
over twenty three honorary doctoral degrees, he was also the recipient
of two Peabody Awards, an NEA Jazz Masters Award, an Emmy Award for
"Outstanding Informational, Cultural or Historical Programming",
a Grammy Award and a host of prestigious and highly coveted prizes,
such as the National Medal of Arts, the Tiffany Award, and the Lifetime
Achievement Award from Down Beat Magazine. He was also honored in 2001
with the ASCAP Jazz Living Legend Award, and election to the Hall of
Fame for the International Association for Jazz Education. In addition,
he performed at the White House seven times and was one of only three
jazz musicians to be appointed to the National Council of the Arts.
From 1994 Billy served as the Artistic Director for jazz at the John
F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. He filled that role for 16
years; he also had a longstanding career with NPR where he hosted several
radio broadcasts including Jazz Alive! and Billy Taylor’s Jazz
at the Kennedy Center. Also in 1994 his career was celebrated at Carnegie
Hall, New York, in Billy Taylor: My First 50 Years in Jazz. For his
75th year in 1996, he played a solo session on Ten Fingers – One
Voice. Billy suffered a stroke in 2002, which affected his right hand,
but he continued to perform almost until his death.
Donald
Glen Vliet aka Captain Beefheart
January 15th 1941 ~ December 17th 2010
Don Van Vliet, aka the legendary Captain Beefheart, one
of the most influential and one of the most unique musicians in rock
history, has sadly
died at
the age of 69 due to complications from
multiple sclorosis. Don is survived by his loving wife of more than
40 years, Jan Van Vliet.
Don Van Vliet, born Donald Glen Vliet but best known by the stage name
Captain Beefheart was born in Glendale, California. While attending
Antelope Valley High School in Lancaster, he became close friends with
fellow teenager Frank Zappa, bonding through their interest in Chicago
blues and R&B; they sporadically competed and collaborated throught
their lives. Don was noted for his powerful singing voice with its wide
range, and he also played the harmonica, saxophone and other wind instruments.
His music blended rock, blues and psychedelia with free jazz, avant-garde
and contemporary experimental composition. His musical work was conducted
with a rotating ensemble of musicians he called The Magic Band, active
between 1965 and 1982, with whom he recorded 12 studio albums. The name
of the band was an extension of the "Captain Beefheart" persona
that Frank Zappa, Vic Mortenson and others helped him create; the idea
being that Captain Beefheart was magic, and thus would have a "magic
band". He would simply drink a Pepsi, and the band would appear
behind him. The
original Magic Band was rhythm and blues guitarist Alex Snouffer, Doug
Moon on guitar, Jerry Handley on bass, and Mortenson on drums, the latter
soon replaced by Paul Blakely. Personnel of the Magic Band for Beefheart's
first album were John "Drumbo" French, Ry Cooder, Snouffer,
and Handley. For their album 'Trout Mask Replica' he locked the Magic
Band in a house in Woodland Hills for eight months, continually rehearsing
and reworking the songs. Virtually broke, they often had nothing but
bread to eat but when they finally got into the studio they recorded
the entire double album in four and a half hours. Their 1970's album
'Lick My Decals Off, Baby' was an album with "a very coherent structure"
in the Magic Band's "most experimental and visionary stage",
it was Don's most commercially successful in Britain, spending twenty
weeks on the UK Albums Chart and peaking at number 20. In the mid 1980s,
Donn became somewhat reclusive and abandoned music, stating he could
make far more money painting. Beefheart's actual first exhibition had
been at Liverpool's Bluecoat Gallery during the Magic Band's 1972 tour
of the UK, but his debut exhibition as a full time painter was at the
Mary Boone Gallery in New York in 1985 . After his retirement from music,
he was rarely seen in public and he lived near Trinidad, California
with his wife Janet "Jan" Van Vliet. So sadly by the early
1990s he had become wheelchair-bound, suffering from e multiple sclerosis.
One of his s last public appearances was in the 1993 short documentary
Some Yo Yo Stuff by filmmaker Anton Corbijn. Artists including Tom Waits,
Nick Cave, Franz Ferdinand, Oasis, Red Hot Chilli Peppers and The White
Stripes are among those who have cited Captain Beefheart as an influence.
Rubén
Basoalto
July 9th 1947 ~ November 3rd 2010
Argentine
rock
icon, Rubén Basoalto, Vox
Dei's one and only ever drummer has sadly died at the age of 63. He
passed away in the Argerich Hospital, where he had been hospitalized
for three weeks terminally ill with lung cancer.
He leaves behind a loving family.
Argentine drummer Rubén Basoalto who also became known as "The
Octopus", was born in Quilmes. He was a founder member of the legendary
rock band Vox Dei, formed in 1967 along with Ricardo Soulé and
Juan Carlos "Yody" Godoy both guitarists and vocals, and bassist
Willy Quiroga.
Vox Dei is the oldest band in Argentina, and over the last 43 years
in which Rubén has played in the band he recorded 17 albums,
including their 2nd album the legendary 1971s "The Bible"
album, which was the first Argentine concept album, and it became a
turning point in the history of Argentine rock. They had debuted a year
earlier in 1970 with the album ''Hot'' and their last album ''Live Vox
Dei'' was released in 2007. Between 1982 - 1985, Rubén also formed
the band "Break" with Raul Fernandez on guitar and Henry "Avellaneda"
Diaz on bass and vocals, and Rubén later played in parallel with
the Willy Quiroga Quiroga Trio.