Category Archives: classical

Goodbye 2023

classical, electroacoustic, electronic music, experimental music, Gone Gone Gone, improvisation, jazz, music, obituary, progessive rock, psychedelic music, vocal, , , , , ,
Jeff Beck

We lost another batch of big name musicians in 2023 including Jeff Beck, Burt Bacharach, Robbie Robertson, Gordon Lightfoot, Carla Bley, Charles Gayle, David Crosby, Ahmad Jamal, Tony McPhee, Shane MacGowan, Sinéad O’Connor, Tony Oxley, Kaija Saariaho and Tina Turner.

I was especially saddened to learn of the passing of a couple of people who used to send me their music to air on my radio programme over the course of my 25 years on the radio. Both Gloria Coates and Steve Roden have made their way onto the list this year.

Ed Ames (American actor and singer for Ames Brothers)
Katherine Anderson (American singer for The Marvelettes)
Stanley Appel (British television producer for Top of the Pops)
Kirk Arrington (American drummer for Metal Church)
Clarence Avant (American music executive and film producer, founder of Sussex Records)
Burt Bacharach (American Hall of Fame composer, six-time Grammy winner)
Robbie Bachman (Canadian hard rock drummer for Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
Tim Bachman (Canadian guitarist for Bachman-Turner Overdrive)
Ian Bairnson (Scottish musician for The Alan Parsons Project)
Philip Balsam (Canadian songwriter for Fraggle Rock)
Clarence Barlow (British composer)
Bruce Barthol (American bassist for Country Joe and the Fish)
Russell Batiste Jr (American drummer for The Meters)
Jeff Beck (British guitarist for The Yardbirds, The Jeff Beck Group)
Harry Belafonte (American Hall of Fame musician)
Tony Bennett (American singer)
Karl Berger (German jazz pianist, composer, and educator)
Jane Birkin (English-French singer and actress)
Jeff Blackburn (American songwriter and guitarist for Blackburn & Snow, Moby Grape)
Carla Bley (American jazz composer and musician for Jazz Composer’s Orchestra)
Peter Brötzmann (German jazz saxophonist)
Pete Brown (English poet, lyricist and singer)
Angelo Bruschini (English guitarist for Massive Attack)
Dennis Budimir (American jazz and rock guitarist for The Wrecking Crew)
Jimmy Buffett (American singer-songwriter)
Colin Burgess (Australian rock drummer The Masters Apprentices, AC/DC)
Bobby Caldwell (American singer and songwriter)
Ronnie Caryl (English guitarist for Flaming Youth, Phil Collins)
Paul Cattermole (English singer for S Club 7)
Monte Cazazza (American artist and composer)
Gloria Coates (American composer)
Tony Coe (English jazz musician)
Michael Cooper (Jamaican musician for Inner Circle)
David Crosby (American songwriter and singer for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young)
John Cutler (American record producer and audio engineer for Grateful Dead)
Dean Daughtry (American keyboard player for Atlanta Rhythm Section)
Richard Davis (American jazz bassist)
Charlie Dominici (American singer for Dream Theater)
Bobby Eli (American guitarist for MFSB)
Simon Emmerson (English record producer, DJ, and musician for Afro Celt Sound System)
José Evangelista (Spanish composer)
Johnny Fean (Irish guitarist for Horslips)
John Fitzpatrick (Irish violinist for Nightnoise and Jeff Johnson)
Jeffrey Foskett (American singer and songwriter for Beach Boys)
Pete Garner (British bassist for The Stone Roses)
Charles Gayle (American jazz saxophonist and pianist)
Renée Geyer (Australian singer)
John Giblin (Scottish bass player for Kate Bush)
Astrud Gilberto (Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer)
Brian Godding (Welsh jazz rock guitarist for Blossom Toes, Centipede)
Myles Goodwyn (Canadian singer for April Wine)
Jim Gordon (American convicted murderer and musician for Eric Clapton, Derek and the Dominos)
John Gosling (English keyboardist for The Kinks)
Bruce Guthro (Canadian singer-songwriter and musician for Runrig)
Dickie Harrell (American Hall of Fame drummer for Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps)
Wee Willie Harris (English rock and roll singer)
Steve Harwell (American singer for Smash Mouth)
Fuzzy Haskins (American singer for Parliament-Funkadelic)
Redd Holt (American jazz drummer)
Brad Houser (American musician for Edie Brickell & New Bohemians)
Ron Howden (English drummer for Nektar)
Ralph Humphrey (American rock drummer for The Mothers of Invention)
Rudolph Isley (American songwriter and singer for The Isley Brothers)
Chuck Jackson (American R&B singer)
Ahmad Jamal (American jazz pianist)
Stu James aka Slater (British music executive and singer for The Mojos)
Bob Johnson (British guitarist, singer and songwriter for Steeleye Span)
Scott Johnson (American composer)
Howie Kane (American pop singer for Jay and the Americans)
Seán Keane (Irish fiddler for The Chieftains)
Scott Kempner (American guitarist for The Dictators)
Terry Kirkman (American songwriter and musician for The Association)
Jean Knight (American singer)
David LaFlamme (American singer and violinist for It’s a Beautiful Day)
Denny Laine (English musician for Wings and singer for Moody Blues)
Bill Lee (American jazz musician and film composer)
Rita Lee (Brazilian singer for Os Mutantes)
Mylon LeFevre (American Christian rock singer)
Linda Lewis (English singer-songwriter)
Gordon Lightfoot (Canadian Hall of Fame singer-songwriter)
David Lindley (American musician)
Lord Creator (Trinidadian-born Jamaican singer-songwriter)
Robin Lumley (British jazz keyboardist for Brand X)
Ralph Lundsten (Swedish composer)
Laura Lynch (American musician for Dixie Chicks)
Shane MacGowan (Irish singer for The Pogues)
Steve Mackey (English record producer and bassist for Pulp)
Bernie Marsden (English rock guitarist for Whitesnake)
Manny Martínez (American drummer for The Misfits)
Brian McBride (American musician for Stars of the Lid)
Les McCann (American jazz musician)
Tony McPhee (English guitarist for The Groundhogs)
Randy Meisner (American musician for Eagles)
Mendelson Joe ( Canadian singer-songwriter)
Butch Miles (American jazz drummer)
Essra Mohawk (American singer-songwriter)
Francis Monkman (English musician for Curved Air)
Napoleon XIV (American singer)
Peter Nero (American pianist and conductor for Philly Pops)
Chas Newby (British early bassist for The Beatles)
Sinéad O’Connor (Irish singer)
Blackie Onassis (American rock drummer for Urge Overkill)
Tony Oxley (English free improvising drummer, co-founder of Incus Records)
Jon Povey (British musician for Pretty Things)
Lisa Marie Presley (American singer-songwriter)
Alberto Radius (Italian guitarist and singer-songwriter for Formula 3)
Alan Rankine (Scottish musician for The Associates)
Lee Rauch (American drummer for Megadeth)
Lance Reddick (American actor and musician)
Otis Redding III (American singer for The Reddings)
Sheldon Reynolds (American guitarist for Earth, Wind & Fire)
Robbie Robertson (Canadian musician for The Band and film composer)
Sixto Rodriguez (American singer-songwriter)
Steve Roden (American contemporary artist and musician for Forms of Paper)
Bernt Rosengren (Swedish jazz tenor saxophonist)
Gary Rossington (American Hall of Fame guitarist for Lynyrd Skynyrd)
Andy Rourke (English bassist for The Smiths)
Kaija Saariaho (Finnish composer)
Ryuichi Sakamoto (Japanese musician for Yellow Magic Orchestra)
Renata Scotto (Italian operatic soprano for La Scala)
Don Sebesky (American composer, arranger, and conductor)
Bob Segarini (American-Canadian radio presenter and musician for The Wackers)
Jah Shaka (Jamaican dub and reggae sound system operator)
Sweet Charles Sherrell (American bassist for James Brown)
Wayne Shorter (American jazz saxophonist)
Ray Shulman (English musician for Gentle Giant)
Mick Slattery (British guitarist for Hawkwind)
Huey “Piano” Smith (American R&B pianist and songwriter)
Tom Smothers (American comedian, musician for Smothers Brothers)
Floyd Sneed (Canadian drummer for Three Dog Night)
Jack Sonni (American musician for Dire Straits)
Seymour Stein (American Hall of Fame music executive, founder of Sire Records)
Lester Sterling (Jamaican saxophonist for The Skatalites)
April Stevens (American singer)
Mark Stewart (English musician for The Pop Group)
Chris Strachwitz (American record company founder and executive for Arhoolie Records)
Barrett Strong (American singer and songwriter)
Yukihiro Takahashi (Japanese drummer and singer for Yellow Magic Orchestra)
Ted “Kingsize” Taylor (British singer and guitarist for Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes)
Teresa Taylor (American drummer for Butthole Surfers)
Charlie Thomas (American Hall of Fame singer for The Drifters)
George Tickner (American rock guitarist for Journey)
Top Topham (English guitarist for The Yardbirds)
Ismaïla Touré (Senegalese musician for Touré Kunda)
Vivian Trimble (American musician for Luscious Jackson)
Trugoy the Dove (David Jude Jolicoeur) (American rapper for De La Soul)
Tina Turner (American-born Swiss Hall of Fame singer)
Dwight Twilley (American singer-songwriter)
Nancy Van de Vate (American composer)
Conny Van Dyke (American singer and actress)
Tom Verlaine (American musician for Television)
John Waddington (English guitarist for The Pop Group)
Geordie Walker (English guitarist for Killing Joke)
Lillian Walker (American singer for The Exciters)
Algy Ward (English heavy metal bassist for The Damned)
André Watts (American pianist and academic)
Cynthia Weil (American Hall of Fame songwriter)
Lasse Wellander (Swedish guitarist for ABBA)
George Winston (American pianist)
Fred White (American Hall of Fame drummer for Earth, Wind & Fire)
Roger Whittaker (British singer-songwriter)
Mars Williams (American saxophonist for The Waitresses, The Psychedelic Furs)
Gary Wright (American singer-songwriter and musician for Spooky Tooth)
Gary Young (American drummer for Pavement)

Kaija Saariaho

Goodbye 2022

avant-garde, classical, electroacoustic, electronic music, experimental music, folk / folk-rock, Gone Gone Gone, improvisation, jazz, Krautrock, music, obituary, progessive rock, psychedelic music
Klaus Schulze

Once again, many big names have left us. From Christine McVie to Angelo Badalamenti. As a fan of electronic music coming out of Germany since the 1970s, the deaths of both Klaus Schulze and Manuel Göttsching hit particularly hard. Also the deaths of Indian musicians Shivkumar Sharma and Lata Mangaeshkar.

The following list is just a small representation of some of the people that we have lost over the past year.

Jerry Allison (drummer for The Crickets)
Bruce Anderson (American guitarist for MX-80)
Jon Appleton (American composer and educator)
Angelo Badalamenti (American film and television composer for Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet)
Chris Bailey (Kenyan-born Australian musician and songwriter for The Saints)
John Beckwith (Canadian composer, writer and pianist)
Thom Bell (Jamaican-born American songwriter, arranger and record producer)
Sir Harrison Birtwistle (English composert)
Jet Black (English drummer for The Stranglers)
Gary Brooker (English singer-songwriter and pianist for Procol Harum)
Boris Brott (Canadian conductor)
Mira Calix (South African-born British visual artist and musician)
Irene Cara (American singer and actress)
Aaron Carter (American singer)
Steve Broughton (British rock musician for Edgar Broughton Band)
Manny Charlton (Scottish rock guitarist for Nazareth)
Coolio (American rapper)
Julee Cruise (American singer, musician and actress)
George Crumb (American composer)
Betty Davis (American funk and soul singer)
Jerry Doucette (Canadian musician)
Norman Dolph (American songwriter and record producer)
Lamont Dozier (American Hall of Fame songwriter, record producer and singer)
Martin Duffy (English keyboardist for Primal Scream)
Judith Durham (Australian singer for The Seekers)
Shirley Eikhard (Canadian singer-songwriter)
Ralph Emery (American disc jockey and television host)
Anton Fier (American composer, producer, and drummer for The Feelies, The Golden Palominos)
Andy Fletcher (English Hall of Fame keyboardist for Depeche Mode)
Ricky Gardiner (Scottish composer and guitarist Beggars Opera)
Mickey Gilley (American country singer)
Robert Gordon (American rockabilly singer)
Manuel Göttsching (German musician for Ash Ra Tempel)
Guitar Shorty (American blues musician)
Terry Hall (English singer for The Specials)
Ronnie Hawkins (American-Canadian rock and roll singer-songwriter)
Taylor Hawkins (American musician for Foo Fighters)
Paavo Heininen (Finnish composer and pianist)
Judy Henske (American folk singer)
Jeff Howell (American rock bassist for Foghat)
Toshi Ichiyanagi (Japanese composer and pianist)
Susan Jacks (Canadian singer-songwriter for The Poppy Family)
Philip Jeck (English composer)
James Johnson (American blues guitarist for Slim Harpo)
Jimmy Johnson (American blues guitarist and singer)
Wilko Johnson (English guitarist for Dr. Feelgood)
Syl Johnson (American blues singer)
Naomi Judd (American country singer for The Judds)
Danny Kalb (American blues guitarist for The Blues Project)
William Kraft (American composer and conductor)
Mark Lanegan (American singer-songwriter and musician for Screaming Trees)
Michael Lang (American concert producer, co-creator of Woodstock)
Keith Levene (English guitarist for Public Image Ltd., The Clash)
Gord Lewis (Canadian guitarist for Teenage Head)
Jerry Lee Lewis (American Hall of Fame singer and pianist)
Ramsey Lewis (American jazz pianist, composer)
Radu Lupu (Romanian pianist)
Loretta Lynn (country singer-songwriter)
Lata Mangeshkar (Indian playback singer and composer)
Ingram Marshall (American composer)
Dan McCafferty (Scottish songwriter and singer for Nazareth)
C. W. McCall (American country singer)
Ian McDonald (English musician for King Crimson)
Christine McVie (Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack)
Meat Loaf (American singer)
Charnett Moffett (American jazz bassist)
Grachan Moncur III (American jazz trombonist)
Massimo Morante (Italian guitarist for Goblin)
James Mtume (American percussionist for Mtume)
Rachel Nagy (American singer for The Detroit Cobras)
Sandy Nelson (American drummer)
Olivia Newton-John (British-Australian singer)
Nichelle Nichols (American actress on Star Trek and singer)
Mo Ostin (American record executive for Warner Bros. Records)
Mimi Parker (American singer and drummer for Low)
Ric Parnell (English drummer for Spinal Tap)
Kelly Joe Phelps (American blues musician)
Paul Plimley (Canadian free jazz pianist and vibraphonist)
Ned Rorem (American composer)
Badal Roy (American tabla player, percussionist and recording artist)
Bobby Rydell (American singer and actor)
Paul Ryder (English bassist for Happy Mondays)
Pharoah Sanders (American jazz saxophonist)
Klaus Schulze (German electronic musician and composer for Tangerine Dream, Ash Ra Tempel)
Jim Schwall (American blues musician for Siegel–Schwall Band)
Alexander Scriabin (Russian musicologist and composer)
Jim Seals (American songwriter and musician for Seals and Crofts)
Burke Shelley (Welsh bassist and vocalist for Budgie)
Paul Siebel (American singer-songwriter)
Shivkumar Sharma (Indian composer and santoor player for Shiv–Hari)
Mark Shreeve (British electronic songwriter and composer)
Kim Simmonds (British rock guitarist for Savoy Brown)
Lucy Simon (American composer and folk singer for The Simon Sisters)
Ronnie Spector (American Hall of Fame singer for The Ronette
Fredy Studer (Swiss drummer)
Creed Taylor (American jazz trumpeter and record producer, founder of Impulse! Records and CTI Records)
R. Dean Taylor (Canadian singer-songwriter)
Nicky Tesco (British singer for The Members)
Barbara Thompson (English jazz saxophonist for Colosseum)
Nik Turner (English musician for Hawkwind)
Ian Tyson (Canadian singer for Ian & Sylvia)
Vangelis (Greek film composer and musician for Aphrodite’s Child)
Fred Van Hove (Belgian jazz musician)
Natty Wailer (Jamaican musician)
Norma Waterson (English musician for The Watersons)
Alan White (drummer for Yes)
Roland White (American bluegrass music artist)
Don Wilson (American guitarist for The Ventures)
Drummie Zeb (English reggae record producer and musician for Aswad)

Christine McVie

Goodbye 2021 (another year to forget)

2021, avant-garde, classical, electroacoustic, electronic music, experimental music, folk / folk-rock, improvisation, jazz, music, obituary, progessive rock, psychedelic music
Jon Hassell

2021 was yet another year when Covid-19 dominated the news. I’m sure that we’re all glad to see the end of it. Let’s all hope for a better 2022.

The following list is just a small representation of some of the people that we have lost over the past year.

Louis Andriessen (Dutch composer for La Commedia)
Astro (British singer and musician for UB40)
Chris Barber (English jazz bandleader and trombonist)
Andy Barker (British musician for 808 State)
Byron Berline (American fiddler)
Jay Black (American singer for Jay and the Americans)
Tim Bogert (American rock bassist for Bogert & Appice)
Juini Booth (American jazz double-bassist for Sun Ra Arkestra)
Leslie Bricusse (British composer)
Gil Bridges (American musician for Rare Earth)
Ron Bushy (American drummer for Iron Butterfly)
Sylvano Bussotti (Italian composer, poet, and artistic director for Puccini Festival)
Alan Cartwright (English rock bassist for Procol Harum)
Malcolm Cecil (British musician for Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, Blues Incorporated and record producer for Stevie Wonder)
Joel Chadabe (American electronic music pioneer)
Emmett Chapman (American jazz musician, inventor of the Chapman Stick)
Michael Chapman (English singer-songwriter and guitarist)
Richard Cole (English music manager for Led Zeppelin)
Charles Connor (American drummer for Little Richard)
Billy Conway (American drummer for Morphine)
Gary Corbett (American rock keyboardist for KISS, Cinderella)
Chick Corea (American jazz keyboardist)
Paul Cotton (American musician for Poco)
DMX (American rapper)
John Drake (American singer for The Amboy Dukes)
Graeme Edge (English drummer for The Moody Blues)
Les Emmerson (Canadian singer for Five Man Electrical Band)
Sergio Esquivel (Mexican singer-songwriter)
Don Everly (American Hall of Fame singer for The Everly Brothers)
Bobby Few (American jazz pianist)
Pat Fish (English musician for The Jazz Butcher)
George Frayne IV (American country singer and keyboardist for Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen)
Denny Freeman (American blues guitarist and keyboardist)
Curtis Fuller (American jazz trombonist)
Djivan Gasparyan (Armenian musician and composer)
James Mac Gaw (French guitarist for Magma)
John Goodsall (American-British rock guitarist for Atomic Rooster, Brand X)
Milford Graves (American jazz drummer for New York Art Quartet)
Burton Greene (American jazz pianist)
Nanci Griffith (American singer-songwriter)
Tom T. Hall (American singer-songwriter)
Jon Hassell (American trumpeter and composer)
Roger Hawkins (American drummer and recording studio owner for Muscle Shoals Sound Studio)
Dusty Hill (American songwriter and musician for ZZ Top)
John Hinch (British drummer for Judas Priest)
John Dee Holeman (American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer and songwriter)
Paul Humphrey (Canadian musician for Blue Peter)
Paul Jackson (American jazz bassist for The Headhunters)
Stonewall Jackson (American country singer)
Bob James (American rock singer-songwriter for Montrose)
Joey Jordison (American musician for Slipknot)
Richard H. Kirk (English electronic musician for Cabaret Voltaire)
Bob Koester (American music executive, founder of Delmark Records)
Alexi Laiho (Finnish death metal singer-songwriter and guitarist for Children of Bodom)
Rick Laird (Irish jazz fusion bassist for Mahavishnu Orchestra)
Alan Lancaster (English rock bassist for Status Quo)
Anita Lane (Australian singer-songwriter for Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds)
Bob Lanois (Canadian record producer and recording engineer)
David Lasley (American singer-songwriter)
John Lawton (English hard rock singer for Uriah Heep)
James Levine (American conductor and pianist for Metropolitan Opera)
Janice Long (English disc jockey for BBC Radio 1)
Alvin Lucier (American composer)
Kenny Malone (American drummer)
Junior Mance (American jazz pianist and educator)
Carlos Marín (Spanish singer for Il Divo)
Jon Mark (English singer-songwriter and guitarist)
Pat Martino (American jazz guitarist and composer)
Nobesuthu Mbadu (South African mbaqanga singer for Mahotella Queens)
Count M’Butu (American percussionist for The Derek Trucks Band)
Biz Markie (American rapper and actor)
Gerry Marsden (English musician for Gerry and the Pacemakers)
Barry Mason (English songwriter)
Marilyn McLeod (American singer-songwriter)
Les McKeown (Scottish singer for Bay City Rollers)
Mensi (English punk rock singer for Angelic Upstarts)
John Miles (British singer-songwriter and musician)
Mike Mitchell (American musician for The Kingsmen)
Paddy Moloney (Irish musician for The Chieftains)
Everett Morton (Kittitian-born British drummer for The Beat / The English Beat)
Juan Nelson (American bassist for Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals)
Michael Nesmith (American musician for The Monkees)
Melvin Parker (American drummer for James Brown)
Anthony Payne (English composer)
Lee “Scratch” Perry (Jamaican reggae songwriter and musician for The Upsetters)
Ralph Peterson Jr (American jazz drummer for The Jazz Messengers)
Christopher Plummer (Canadian actor for The Sound of Music)
Dee Pop (American drummer for Bush Tetras, The Gun Club)
Lloyd Price (American R&B singer)
Peter Rehberg (Austrian-British electronic musician for KTL)
Mike Renzi (American composer and music director for Sesame Street)
Jimmie Rodgers (American pop singer)
Frederic Rzewski (American composer and pianist for The People United Will Never Be Defeated!)
Phil Schaap (American disc jockey and jazz historian)
Al Schmitt (American recording engineer)
Robbie Shakespeare (Jamaican bassist for Sly and Robbie)
Sonny Simmons (American jazz saxophonist)
Joe Simon (American soul and R&B singer)
Johnny Solinger (American singer-songwriter for Skid Row)
Stephen Sondheim (American composer and lyricist for West Side Story)
Phil Spector (American record producer)
Michael Stanley (American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter)
Pervis Staples (American Hall of Fame gospel singer for The Staple Singers)
Robby Steinhardt (American singer and violinist for Kansas)
Jim Steinman (American musician, composer and lyricist)
Dean Stockwell (American actor and recording artist)
Sylvain Sylvain (American guitarist for New York Dolls)
Gene Taylor (American pianist for Canned Heat, The Fabulous Thunderbirds)
B. J. Thomas (American singer)
Mikis Theodorakis (Greek composer)
Rosalie Trombley (Canadian music director for CKLW)
U-Roy (Jamaican reggae singer)
Hilton Valentine (English Hall of Fame guitarist for The Animals)
Leo van de Ketterij (Dutch guitarist for Shocking Blue)
Yoshi Wada (Japanese sound installation artist and musician)
Bunny Wailer (Jamaican reggae singer for Bob Marley and the Wailers)
Rusty Warren (American singer for Knockers Up!)
Charlie Watts (English drummer for The Rolling Stones)
George Wein (American festival promoter and jazz pianist for Newport Jazz Festival)
Chuck E. Weiss (American songwriter and vocalist)
Mary Wilson (American singer for The Supremes)
Rusty Young (American musician for Poco)
Wanda Young (American singer for The Marvelettes)

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Alvin Lucier
Richard H. Kirk

Goodbye 2016 (we will not miss you)

avant-garde, classical, experimental music, Gone Gone Gone, jazz, music, progessive rock, vocal, , , , , , , , , , , ,

I have been dreading having to write a wrap-up piece about the year 2016. The last post that I made was in November when Leonard Cohen died. Since then, it seems to have been difficult to write anything. It has never been my intention to have my blog look like an obituary column but, it quite often feels like that.

In recent years, I have been reminding people that the musicians whose music we have enjoyed since the ’60s and ’70s are now mainly in their 60s and 70s. That means that the inevitable signs of mortality will surely take hold. This has certainly been the case in 2016.

The year seemed to start off on a high note with a brilliant new release (Blackstar) by David Bowie. However, this event seemed to quickly get overshadowed when Bowie died a couple of days after its release.

The death of Bowie seemed to resonate hard and deep within both the music industry and among his long-time fans. As someone who had been a fan for 45 years, I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. This seemed to be a shared experience as many people that I talked to or exchanged messages with appeared to be doing their best to hold back a wellspring of tears. Many tried but did not succeed. The last time that I can honestly recall such a reaction was when John Lennon was brutally gunned down.

But, that was just the start of a year that appeared to be voracious in its appetite to take away so many musicians and music related personalities away from us. It didn’t matter which genre of music was your favourite, the losses touched all aspects of music from rock, pop, R&B, jazz, classical and avant-garde.

Bowie, Cohen and Prince were among the biggest or most influential names for most of the year and then word of the death of George Michael slipped in on Christmas day.

I’ve owned records by many of the people who have passed this year. I’ve seen some of them in concert. I’ve even had the pleasure to meet a couple of them. The sad fact is that as time marches on, more of these people will make the headlines as they continue to leave us. So, let’s enjoy their music while they are still here and continue to honour their memory after they are gone.

Music can make us happy. Music can make us sad. Music can make us think. Music can make us feel how great it is to be alive. It doesn’t matter what kind of music you like, it just matters that it means something to you. Be grateful for that. It is rare.

Here is a very brief list of some of the musicians and music-related people we lost in 2016:

Signe Anderson (Jefferson Airplane)

Gato Barbieri

Paul Bley

Pierre Boulez

David Bowie

Leonard Cohen

Tony Conrad

Keith Emerson

Glenn Frey (Eagles)

Dale Griffin (Mott the Hoople)
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Merle Haggard

Sharon Jones

Paul Kantner (Jefferson Airplane)

Greg Lake

Neville Marriner

George Martin

George Michael

Scotty Moore

Alphonse Mouzon

Pauline Oliveros

Rick Parfitt (Status Quo)

Prince

Leon Russell

Dave Swarbrick (Fairport Convention)

Rudy Van Gelder

Alan Vega (Suicide)

Maurice White (Earth, Wind & Fire)

For a much more detailed (and depressing) list of the people that we lost this year, please visit Musicians Who Died in 2016.

Exposure for Canadian contemporary music (or lack thereof)

avant-garde, classical, electroacoustic, electronic music, experimental music, improvisation, jazz, music, , , , , ,

During my 25 years on the radio, I always took great pleasure in featuring the music of countless Canadian composers and musicians. These included works from the world of contemporary classical, electroacoustic and out jazz music. While it was great to share this material with the audience of a community radio station, it was not quite the audience that this music could have been receiving from a national broadcaster.

Over the years, the CBC (Canada’s national broadcasting service) has gone through many changes and these have often resulted in these types of music getting even more marginalized.

Canadian composer Paul Steenhuisen recently put together a letter to send to the Canadian League of Composer which addressed the situation of contemporary music and its status on the CBC. Paul has graciously given me permission to re-post his letter here.

Please read this letter in order to gain a greater understanding of the challenges that people like me (an electroacoustic composer) face when trying to get our music exposed to more people.

From Paul Steenhuisen to the Canadian League of Composers:
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Following up on my recent FB post, I’ve written a letter to the Canadian League of Composers. I include the letter here in order that others can read it, and perhaps add their comments. The letter was addressed to CLC President Brian Harman and the Head of the Advocacy Committee, Ian Crutchley. Others cited in my original FB post were Christien Ledroit, David Pay, and David Jaeger. Hopefully good things will happen.

“As a former longtime Canadian League of Composers Council Member, past ISCM Canadian Section President, composer, and contemporary music and public broadcasting advocate, I am requesting that the CLC, in its role as representative of Canadian composers, direct resources toward renewing its working relationship with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, for the benefit of the status of the artist in Canada.

The past decade has seen the removal of the CBC’s composer commissioning program, the demise of the CBC Vancouver Radio Orchestra, the cancellation of Two New Hours (the primary broadcast venue), the abandonment of recording of Canadian contemporary music, the end of the Young Composers Competition, and removal of other Classical Music radio programming. The accumulation of these actions amounts to the decimation of all resources previously, historically, and successfully devoted to Canadian contemporary music by the CBC, and the severance of the relationship between our flourishing field and the public broadcaster. While in some areas the CBC has diversified its programming, with the absence of Canadian composers and Classical music programming, it has moved toward significantly more commercial programming, at the expense of its responsibilities to the 1991 Broadcast Act. The Broadcast Act states that the CBC is mandated to provide programming that is “distinctively Canadian,” “actively contribute(s) to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,” to “make maximum use of Canadian creative and other resources in the creation and presentation of programming,” to “safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of Canada,” and serve as “a public service essential to the maintenance and enhancement of national identity and cultural sovereignty.” Over the course of just over a decade, the CBC has perpetrated significant, quantifiable cultural and economic damage to the fields of Contemporary and Classical music in Canada.

In addition to developing and maintaining regular dialogue with the CBC to regenerate their investment in Canadian contemporary music through recordings, broadcasts, and commissions, etc., it would be prudent to determine the formal process for how new programs are proposed and developed, create a list of producers amenable to new programming initiatives, determine ways in which composers work could be included in current programming, and compile a set of resources that would assist CLC constituents in establishing meaningful communication with the CBC regarding our shared musical interests. More specifically, I am also requesting that the CLC, in combination with the organizers of the ISCM World New Music Days (Vancouver 2017), work towards securing national broadcast commitments by the CBC. The ISCM World New Music Days is an important international festival that will showcase top-level music, performers, and composers, and is an ideal opportunity for the CBC to be reminded of the quality, interest, and value of artists and individuals contributing to this wide-ranging field of creative music. While various other new media is available for making concerts available, nothing can currently match the awareness and exposure that can be obtained through the radio and television resources of Canada’s longstanding public broadcaster.

Please note that in discussion with the CBC, some individuals are inclined to distort and manipulate important terminology required for the presentation and understanding of accurate broadcast statistics. While demonizing art music as elitist, they have simultaneously sought to co-opt the term composer to apply to singer-songwriters and anyone who makes music. They have also attempted to transform the terms contemporary music and new music to mean anything recent, and inclusive of anything, such as commercial, pop, rock, hip-hop, electronica, and other forms of musical expression. By doing so, they will argue that they play more contemporary music by Canadian composers than they ever have, while knowing that this is untrue based on historically accepted definitions of the terms. Meanwhile, the CBC’s inclusion of composers associated with the Canadian Music Centre, including electroacoustic music, is near zero. The CBC is mandated to be an alternative to commercial interests, driven by cultural responsibilities rather than commercial ones.

With a new government that has stated its commitment to restoring the CBC, and new funds being promised to the public broadcaster, it is critical for the Canadian League of Composers to devote significant and ongoing resources to forging a meaningful role for Canadian art music at the CBC. There is a wealth of wonderful music being made and performed by artists of the highest level in Canada, and the field has expanded and changed – it is a cultural loss to Canadians that the CBC is currently not part of it. My hope is that with the advocacy of the CLC (perhaps in combination with the Canadian New Music Network), the current circumstance will change and our collective, active role in Canadian culture will once again be reflected by our public broadcaster.”

Recent Arrivals – Innova

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Innova Recording have been releasing a steady catalogue of innovative CDs for many years. Most of these feature the works of contemporary classical music composers but, also other genres. Here are a few which have arrived in the post recently.

Paula Matthusen – Pieces for People: Paula Matthusen is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Wesleyan University (experimental music, composition, music technology). This recent release focuses on a number of works in collaboration with other performers. Each piece presented here explores a different area of compositional styles.

Sparrows in Supermarkets is a piece for recorder (Terri Hron). It consists of various loops and drones and also explores the sounds of varying physical spaces. Limerence features the sound of the banjo (James Moore). Here, the instrument is used as a sound source to produce abstract manipulated sounds which float in an intriguing soundscape.

Two movements from AEG feature glitchy cut-up sounds including voice and real instruments. It was composed for dance. Of Architecture and Accumulation is a work for solo organ (Wil Smith) which examines the slowly increasing and decreasing dynamics of the instrument.

The CD also features works for large and small instrumental ensembles in the pieces corpo/Cage and In Absentia.

This discs presents a wide overview of the Matthusen’s compostional areas of exploration.

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Each of the four works included here possess their own quirky internal sonic engine. It is glitchy, funky, minimalist and dense with looping rhythms that ebb and flow but also jar and intrigue.

It is an odd blend of funky jazz meets minimalist composition. Think of Frank Zappa meeting up with Philip Glass at a strange late-night dance club where the music is not conducive to dancing. Pleasantly odd and inviting sounds abound. A challenging and rewarding listen.

Karen Gottlieb – Music for Harp: With her latest release, harpist Karen Gottlieb presents the works of four American composers. The disc is book-ended by pieces by Lou Harrison. Suite for Cello and Harp from 1949 presents a duet sound which reveals an optimistic melancholy which serves as an excellent starting point.

A series of seven other brief Harrison works dating from 1967 to 1977 conclude the disc. Music for Harp and Percussion presents a series of short works which explore the dialogue between the instruments. Each is like a vignette of sonic possibilities for duet.

John Cage’s 1949 composition In a Landscape is a solo work with a Satie-esque charm. The brief phrases loop and repeat in a hypnotic manner. This work was originally composed for dancer Louise Lippold.

The CD also contains two more recent compositions by Wayne Peterson and Dan Reiter and once again highlight Gottlieb’s feel for the works of these composers.

This is a well produced and varied selection of pieces which truly highlight her gift for interpretation of many different composers.