RIP Tributes to my favourite recently deceased artists from many genres.
Enjoy musical (re)discoveries from around the world!
All curated by my eclectic taste for your listening pleasure!
Ginger Baker, one of the most innovative and influential drummers in rock music, has died at the age of 80 on Sunday 7/10/2019. Nicknamed Ginger for his flaming red hair, the musician was born Peter Edward Baker in Lewisham, south London, shortly before World War Two. A co-founder of Cream, he also played with Blind Faith, Hawkwind, Baker Gurvitz Army, Airforce, Fela Kuti and many renown Jazz musicians like Bill Frisell in a long and varied career over 60 years. Away from music, his other passion was initially cycling and later he took up rally driving and developed a love of polo, building up a sizeable collection of ponies, despite his tendency to get injured.
The musician fought osteoarthritis to record his final album, Why?, in 2014. Two years later, he underwent open heart surgery and announced his retirement from touring.
"Just seen doctor… big shock… no more gigs for this old drummer... everything is off," he wrote on his official blog in 2014. "Of all things I never thought it would be my heart."
CREAM - Spoonful (live 1968)
Cream - Ginger Baker Farewell Concert
(Royal Albert Hall, London.
November 26th, 1968)
Ginger Baker's Air Force Live 1970
Ginger Baker jams with Nigerian Afro-Rock artistes
in Lagos, Nigeria in 1971.
rare early footage (shot by Ginger Baker) featuring Fela & Afrika 70
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King (click here for his official youtube channel), was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, broadcaster and record producer. King introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending and shimmering vibrato that influenced many later electric blues guitarists. Here are some of his best live dates:
The Thrill Is Gone (Live at Montreux 1993)
BB King Gives Soul Music To Prison Inmates
BB King Called This His Best Live Performance
His best Blues solo?
Rock Me Baby
Live At The Royal Albert Hall 2011
This was the last time I saw him live!
First time I saw him at the Olympiahalle in Munich 1979!
The audience was joining in and dancing from the start!
Three-time Grammy Award-winner Angélique Kidjo makes her Proms debut 2019 together with her nine-piece band in a late-night tribute to salsa legend Celia Cruz. Clara Amfo explores the links between the music of Cuban diva, Cruz and the traditional Yoruba music that came to America during the slave trade, and how Kidjo has combined these influences with the west African Afrobeat and juju styles.
'Papa Funk' Art Neville, New Orleans soul & funk legend, keyboarder with The Meters and The Neville Brothers, died on July 22, 2019 aged 81. Listen to some of his best songs sand solos below!
"Please don't talk about me when I'm gone" was one of the many old time songs he presented in his initimable retro style when I saw him live at Pizza Express in Soho many Moons ago and this song ist great epitaph for this unique performer, singer and guitarist, who passed away on May 30th 2019 without great media attention almost unnoticed except by his die hard fans for decades.
"Please don't talk about me when I'm gone" is also the fitting title of a documentary short film featuring him and some of his early associates talking about his enigmatic persona. Watch here:
Not much is known about his personal life except he was born in Cyprus to parents of Armenian descent in and he immigrated in 1961 with his parents to Canada where he changed his name to Leon Redbone and started his career in the coffee house circuit of Toronto.
So here are some of my favourite interpretations of old time songs:
Mac Rebenack known to his fans as Dr. John (after his impersonation of the fictitious Dr John the Night Tripper persona ), a true New Orleans music legend, died aged 77 of a heart attack on 6 June 2019.
"À re'oir"(Goodbye) Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. and thanks for the music! You'll hopefully jamming with all the other greats up there in Nola heaven. RIP! Here are some of the so many great shows he performed over the years since I discovered Mac in the mid seventies.
Dr. John and Bobby Rush with Blinddog Smokin' -
Another Murder in New Orleans
Walk on Gilded Splinters (live jazzy version!)
Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time
Such a Night (from Last Waltz)
Live in Montreux 1995
Johnny Winter & Dr John In Session 1988
Two greats which are gone forever now!
Dr. John - Goin' Back To New Orleans 2005
Blind Boys of Alabama - What
A Wonderful World
Dr. John - Revolution
Dr. John feat. Arturo Sandoval & Sarah Morrow - Full Concert 2016
Dr. John live at Rockpalast in 1984
This was the first time I saw him perform a solo show on German TV!
Scott Walker, the boundary-pushing artist who made his name as a member of ‘60s pop stars The Walker Brothers, has died aged 76 of cancer. After going solo Walker became infamous for his love of Jacques Brel, the iconoclastic Belgian chanson singer. Long before Marc Almond he sang Brel songs in English. On the Scott solo albums, supposedly still aimed at his teen fan base, Walker sung Brel’s theatrical songs about venereal diseases, selling opium and laughing from the afterlife at his own funeral.
My Death (Jacques Brel)
Alone (Jacques Brel)
Amsterdam (Jacques Brel)
The impossible dream (Jacques Brel)
A short lived reunion of the Walker Brothers in 1975 yielded
No Regrets (UK hit 1976 peaked at No.7)
Influenced by Brel and film music his own compositions, became more and more cinematic.
Montague Terrace (in blue)
Scott Walker retells Ingmar Bergman's 1957 masterpiece in just under 5 minutes.
The Seventh Seal From "Scott 4" (1969)
His later work became bleaker and more challenging:
The guitarist Dick Dale, the pioneer of Surf Rock known for his 1962 hit Misirlou, has died aged 81 on March 16, 2019.He was treated for heart failure and kidney failure prior to his death. Another living legend surfed away last week.
Misirlou (A famous traditional song from the Easter Mediterranean,
which became famous through his use in Tarantino's movie Pulp Fiction)
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