Posts Tagged Eulogy
Archive
December 9, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Harold Budd
Harold Budd has died. The composer and pianist was 84. It’s said he died due to complications from coronavirus. Budd was a poet, an avant-garde composer, a musician for hire and someone who released solo albums and collaborated – including John Foxx of Ultravox and a long-running partnership with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. He […]Archive
November 30, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Ryan Brady (Take It Away Podcast)
There’s a special bond that develops with radio hosts – and now podcast hosts – and their long-time listeners. Usually we don’t meet, we often have no idea what the person looks like. But we carry their voice in our head. We listen to them for hours and hours and we form a picture in […]Archive
October 26, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Diane di Prima
The poet Diane di Prima has died. She had suffered a long illness and was 86. She was a force. Feminist writer and activist, memoirist, a poet from her teen years – she was known not just for her own brilliant work but as a teacher and for her friendships with other important writers, among […]Archive
October 9, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Eddie Van Halen
Eddie Van Halen has died. He was 65. Cancer finally took him after 15-20 years of on/off battling. He had recovered. He was back. And then he wasn’t. In recent times it’s clear he was ‘hidden’ from public, the band’s run over. Their final album arriving some years ago now. It was Wednesday morning, NZ […]Archive
September 21, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Stanley Crouch
The jazz critic and writer Stanley Crouch has died. He was 74. He published widely, including essays, novels, plays and poetry – but he is best known for his music criticism. And within that jazz. He was a rigid purist. He hated hip-hop, he was in vocal opposition to rap and its tendencies to lead […]Archive
September 8, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Gary Peacock
Gary Peacock has died. Aged 85. The great bass player was everywhere in jazz, all over the great albums. He made several as a leader and even more as a sideman, including close to two-dozen with pianist Keith Jarrett – bassist for his Standards Trio (Jack DeJohnette on the drums. But that was not his […]Archive
August 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Charli Persip
Charli Persip the legendary jazz drummer and teacher has died. He was 91. Hell of an innings. And what a player. Persip, born Charles, called “Charlie” but he changed the spelling in the 1980s to “Charli”, was a bandleader and educator. He was also on some of the greatest jazz albums you now and love […]Archive
August 11, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Trini Lopez
Trini Lopez has died of complications from Covid-19. He was 83. His debut album Live at PJ’s is one of my all-time favourites; one of my most-played records. And it is without a doubt the album I would recommend as music’s equivalent of a Happy Pill. I find it impossible to hear this album without […]Archive
July 25, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Peter Green
Peter Green has died. He was 73. The creator of Fleetwood Mac. One of the fathers of the British blues boom – and sound – a tormented soul, a talented player, by default a brilliant bandleader, it wasn’t an easy road at all for Green and he was one of the first prominent “casualties” of […]Archive
July 17, 2020 by Simon Sweetman
R.I.P. Jamie Oldaker
Jamie Oldaker has died. He was 68. The Tulsa drummer is perhaps best-known for his long and crucial associations with Peter Frampton and particularly Eric Clapton. That’s where I first learned of his work, read the name, then saw him in some of the video footage. Ahead of appearing on a string of mid-70s Clapton […]Archive
July 9, 2020 by Simon Sweetman