NYS Music 20​16

Tag: Obituary

  • George Michael, Pop Icon, Dead at 53

    The year 2016 has been a particularly rough one in many respects. The music world has lost legends such as David Bowie, Prince, Leonard Cohen and Leon Russell. On Christmas Day, pop icon George Michael was found in his bed, a victim of heart failure at the age of 53.

    george michael

    Michael’s publicist, Connie Filipello issued a statement about his death Sunday:

    It is with great sadness that we can confirm our beloved son, brother and friend George passed away peacefully at home over the Christmas period. The family would ask that their privacy be respected at this difficult and emotional time. There will be no further comment at this stage.

    Michael was born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou in London in 1963. His rise to fame began in the mid-80s with the Brit-pop duo Wham!, formed with his school friend Andrew Ridgeley. Wham! had a hit in both England and the U.S. with “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” The video was in heavy rotation on MTV and was influential not only in the music world but the fashion world as well. The over-sized shirts with slogans such as “Choose Life” became ubiquitous around U.S. high schools in 1984.

    Michael and Ridgeley split in 1986 following a farewell concert at Wembley Stadium. His first solo album Faith was released in 1987 and launched Michael into superstar status. The lead single from the album, “I Want Your Sex” featured risqué lyrics that radio made radio leery. Despite this, the single rose to No. 2 on the Billboard charts that year. Faith went on to sell 10 million copies in the U.S. and spawned three No. 1 hits in “Father Figure,” “Monkey” and “One More Try.”

    In later years, Michael faced legal battles with his label as well as with law enforcement. He was arrested in the men’s room in Beverly Hills in 1998 on a charge of lewd behavior. Following that arrest, he came out as gay. The struggles with his sexuality and the efforts in hiding it led to bouts of depression for Michael. He became a vocal advocate for AIDS causes and gay rights.

    While his musical output waned in the 2000s, he was still able to sell tickets to stadium shows. He performed with Paul McCartney at the Live 8 show in 2005 and released his final album, Symphonica, a set of standards and originals performed with an orchestra.

    Michael was an uncomfortable star. His public persona exuded a confident performer but his inner feelings were a complex mix of doubt and struggle. Through it all, his musicianship radiated among many.

    His friend, Elton John provided the following expression of sadness alongside a picture of the two together on Instagram:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BOdVz_XFmD-/?hl=en

  • Greg Lake, Prog Pioneer, Dies at 69

    Greg Lake, founder of progressive rock pioneers King Crimson and founding member of Emerson, Lake and Palmer has died at the age of 69.

    greg lakeLake, a founding member of both King Crimson and Emerson, Lake and Palmer, was one of the progenitors of the progressive rock movement in the late 1960s through the mid 1970s. His vocal style propelled ELP to FM radio stardom in the U.S. on songs such as “Lucky Man” and his solo Christmas song “I Believe in Father Christmas,” a constant on FM radio this time of year.

    Bandmate, and lone surviving member of ELP (Keith Emerson passed earlier this year.), drummer Carl Palmer told the Los Angeles Times:

    We have a lot to thank him for. If you look at the musical landscape of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, he wrote most of the songs that got played on American radio. What he brought was a uniqueness that the music business didn’t have at that time. We weren’t an out-and-out rock band, and we didn’t play the blues. He was a choir-boy kind of singer, a very angelic sounding voice.

    ELP carried popular rock music beyond the blues-based sounds that had been coming from British bands such as the Rolling Stones and the Faces, creating a more theatrical and symphonic style of rock music based in the sounds of classical musicians such as Mussorgsky, Bach, Copland and Bartok.

    Lake balanced the bombastic keyboard work of Emerson with acoustic songs such as “Lucky Man,” a song he wrote at the age of 12, and “From the Beginning.” He recorded his first solo piece in 1975, the perennial Christmas favorite, “I Believe in Father Christmas,” but continued recording with ELP until their break up in 1979.

    greg lakeLake’s career began in 1965 as a member of Unit Four and Time Checks, cover bands that gave him exposure in the Dorset, UK scene. His time in Unit Four led to a relationship with Robert Fripp, who recruited Lake to sing and play bass for his new band, King Crimson.

    Lake performed on King Crimson’s seminal debut In the Court of the Crimson King and the follow-up In the Wake of Poseidon before parting ways after striking up a friendship with The Nice’s Emerson in 1970. The two recruited drummer Palmer from The Crazy World of Arthur Brown to form what became the prog-rock supergroup ELP.

    Lake was born Nov. 10, 1947 in Bournemouth, England, to an engineer father and housewife mother. He is survived by his wife, Regina and their daughter, Natasha.

  • ‘Deep Listening’ Pioneer and Experimental Music Composer Pauline Oliveros Passes Away at 84

    Pauline Oliveros, experimental composer, electronic music innovator, accordionist, pioneer of the Deep Listening philosophy and Distinguished Research Professor of Music at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, passed away Thanksgiving Day at the age of 84.

    Pauline Oliveros composerDuring my own time as a student at RPI studying soil mechanics and structural analysis of steel and concrete I somehow found the time to add an electronic arts minor to my transcript. I had heard of a class called ‘Deep Listening’ and it seemed to this then-junior engineering student like a curious subject to help round out the arts minor. It wasn’t until my senior year – when it was too late to reconfigure course schedules – that I had a taste of this subject when my advanced computer music class sat in on a session happening two floors above in West Hall.

    Near one side of the room a dozen or so students was Pauline Oliveros, deeply immersed in the multi-channel surround soundscape created with her cherry red accordion and numerous effects processing. Seeing the focus of those students in a music setting unfamiliar to me was incredible and proved an importance to her course.

    Oliveros was interested in music from a young age, learning accordion from her mother in Texas at age nine and learning the French horn and tuba later on. Her education took her through music programs at the University of Houston and San Francisco State College where she obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in composition. She remained in academia for several years, teaching at Mills College and UCSD. In 1981 she left UCSD to come to the Hudson Valley, where a less restrictive creative environment allowed her to further explore performance and composition where she later founded the Deep Listening Institute.

    She introduced herself to the idea of deep listening in the early 1950s when she got her first tape recorder. “I immediately recorded from my apartment window in San Francisco,” she recalls in a 2012 interview on WRPI in Troy, NY. “I listened as I recorded but when I listened back to the tape I heard things that I hadn’t heard when I recorded. So, I realized that I hadn’t really been listening. Since then my mantra has been listen to everything all the time and remind yourself when you’re not.”

    The term “Deep Listening” hadn’t been coined for many years after her early experiments with tape recordings and work with the San Francisco Tape Music Center, though the ideas and teachings were there in Oliveros’ early academic career in experimental music and composition. “Deep Listening” as a term was a coincidence of pun associated with recordings made in the Dan Harpole underground cistern in Washington State in 1988 with two of her musical partners Stuart Dempster and Panaiotis who then donned the name for the group of Deep Listening Band.

    Deep listening, in brief, is about treating listening as an active rather than passive process, a process that takes some effort. “Deep Listening is listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what you are doing,” Oliveros described. “Such intense listening includes the sounds of daily life, of nature, or one’s own thoughts as well as musical sounds. Deep Listening represents a heightened state of awareness and connects to all that there is.” That philosophy has led her to have a profound influence on music through improvisation, meditation, and use of electronic music.

    Oliveros’ extensive fifty-year career as a leader in avante-garde and experimental music included numerous recordings under her own name and with the Deep Listening Band. Along with these recordings, Oliveros has many publications, videos and has given many lectures and workshops out of the classroom setting. She received several awards in her career, including the most recent biennial John Cage Award in 2012, given by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in New York City to individuals who have made outstanding achievements in contemporary performing arts.

    From 2001 until her passing, Oliveros had been teaching Deep Listening and conducting research at RPI in Troy. Her collaborative research at the university included the Adaptive Use Musical Instrument (AUMI) – a development of adaptive musical instruments through computer interfaces for those with mobility restrictions – and others including artificial intelligence programming for improvised music and data science research with the university’s School of Science.

    In 2012 a celebration of Oliveros’ 80th birthday was held at the university’s Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC). Oliveros, along with the Deep Listening Band, gave a performance utilizing computer simulations, developed by architecture acoustics professor Jonas Braasch, of the acoustics of the cistern in which the band recorded in 1988, implemented using technology within the theater.

    While Oliveros had an extensive career as a composer and performer, many people who have worked with her have been remembering her as a compassionate mentor, brilliant until her passing. Former student Blair Neal recalls of her impact, “Technology was never at the core of [class] discussions though, it was always the power of the human and how we communicated and listened to each other. That kind of teaching is something I try to carry with me always.” Another former student, Alex Bulazel shares simple words of gratitude, “Pauline was always an inspiration to her students, reminding them of the importance of creativity, artistic self-expression, humor, and most importantly, listening.”

  • Leon Russell, ‘Master of Space and Time,’ Dies at 74

    Leon Russell, the long-haired, top-hatted, mystical Oklahoman who rose to fame as the bandleader for Joe Cocker’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen touring band, died quietly in his sleep Sunday. He was 74. His wife, Jan Bridges released the following statement:

    We thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this very, very difficult time. My husband passed in his sleep in our Nashville home. He was recovering from heart surgery in July and looked forward to getting back on the road in January. We appreciate everyone’s love and support.

    Russell, born Claude Russell Bridges, was known as a “musician’s musician,” having performed among rock royalty for decades, often anonymously as an in-demand studio pianist. Elton John, whose 2010 collaboration with Russell, The Union, kicked off a comeback for Russell, mourned his mentor on Instagram.

    leon russellRussell had been suffering from a variety of ailments over the past few years. In 2010, he was hospitalized for a brain fluid leak and heart failure. He suffered a heart attack in July of this year, causing the cancellation of several tour dates. Russell’s last performance was in Nashville July 10.

    In an era of flamboyant musicianship, Leon Russell was king. For a period in the early ’70s, he was a dynamo. He put together a band for Joe Cocker, performed as part of the Delaney and Bonnie and Friends touring band and played a major role in George Harrison’s 1971 benefit Concert for Bangladesh in 1971.

    Russell took an interest in music at a early age. Born in Lawton, OK April 2, 1942, he began playing the piano by the age of four. He began playing nightclubs around Tulsa by the age of 14, able to do so because of Oklahoma’s status as a dry state, forming the band the Starlighters, which also included J.J. Cale.

    leon russellHe moved to Los Angeles at the age of 17, where he became a member of Phil Spector’s infamous “Wrecking Crew,” a loose-knit group of studio musicians responsible for the backing music for Jan and Dean, Sonny and Cher, the Mamas and the Papas, Frank Sinatra, the Monkees and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.

    Ever modest, Russell once described himself as a “jobber,” likening himself to an air conditioner installer in a Rolling Stone interview, “You need air conditioning? You call this guy. People called me to do what I did.” And what he did was legendary. Russell played many instruments with aplomb. Russell meandered among genres like a master.

    In 1975 Bob Dylan had requested Russell to play bass, an instrument he wasn’t particularly deft at playing, on the recording of “Hurricane,” or as Russell described it, “that song about the boxer.” Russell recalls of that session:

    “We did a take — just running it down, I thought. I said, ‘Are you going to do the real thing now?’ Bob said, ‘Why? We’re just going to make the same mis­takes.’”

    Just another ho-hum story in the life of a storied musician.

    Russell’s signature song, “A Song for You” has been recorded by more than 40 artists over the years, including the Carpenters, Willie Nelson, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse and Ray Charles, whose performance earned him a Grammy in 1993 for Best Male R&B Performance.

    Russell was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by his friend, Elton John in 2011.

    And when my life is over
    Remember when we were together
    We were alone and I was singing this song for you
    – Leon Russell, “A Song for You”

  • Influential Poet, Musician, Leonard Cohen Dead at 82

    “If someone could guarantee me that the preliminaries will not be too disagreeable, I look forward to…”  This was Leonard Cohen’s response to a question asked of him in a 2009 interview with the CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi. What he was looking forward to is what ultimately happened Thursday. Poet, novelist, songwriter, Leonard Cohen has died at the age of 82. His death was confirmed on his Facebook page.

    In a statement to Rolling Stone, Adam Cohen, his son and producer issued the following:

    My father passed away peacefully at his home in Los Angeles with the knowledge that he had completed what he felt was one of his greatest records. He was writing up until his last moments with his unique brand of humor.

    The record his son is referring to is the recently released You Want it Darker, an album hailed by the magazine as a “late career triumph.” The album was recorded as Cohen was suffering from back issues that kept him confined to the house. His son created a recording studio in the house the elder Cohen had been sharing with his daughter Lorca. The resulting album is nothing short of a beautiful goodbye.

    leonard cohenCohen’s most famous composition, “Hallelujah,” has been performed by everyone from Bob Dylan to high school choirs. The most renowned version was done by Jeff Buckley nearly a decade after it was first recorded.  The song was recorded for his 1984 album Various Positions, an album seen as not commercial enough by his label. The spiritual ballad has been so ubiquitous since Buckley brought it to the forefront that Cohen himself indicated that maybe there should be a moratorium on performing it. In the coming days, however, it is sure to appear many times over in tribute to its creator.

    Cohen began his career as a musician later in life than most of his contemporaries. He was a highly regarded poet and novelist, but was unable to parlay that into a career. So he turned to music in an attempt to make a living through his writing.  His first album, Songs of Leonard Cohen was released in 1967, when he was 33 years old. His song “Suzanne” from his debut, was recorded by Judy Collins as well as many other artists, launching his musical career.

    Known among his fans as “The Godfather of Gloom,” Cohen still possessed a sardonic wit, once suggesting that perhaps his label should give away razor blades with his albums. Despite the grim and somber tone of his work, he influenced not only his contemporaries but a generation of pop musicians to follow. According to the New York Times, his work has been recorded over 2,000 times by everyone from the aforementioned Dylan, Collins and Buckley to Elton John, U2 and R.E.M.

    Cohen was born in Montreal on Sept. 21, 1934 to Nathan and Masha Klonitzky, his father a Polish emigre, his mother the daughter of a Lithuanian Rabbi. His father, a clothier, died when Cohen was nine years old, leaving a trust fund that allowed Cohen to pursue his writing interests.

    He enrolled at McGill University, studying English. Upon graduation, he spent time pursuing a graduate degree with little satisfaction, likening it to “passion without flesh, love without climax.”

    Cohen’s eventual move to the U.S. fostered the musical career he sought. He became a member of Andy Warhol’s inner circle and began to achieve success as a touring musician throughout the ’70s and early ’80s. Always a spiritual, if not necessarily religious man, Cohen chose to retreat to the Mt. Baldy Zen Center in the Los Angeles area in 1994, becoming an ordained Zen Buddhist monk in 1996.

    leonard cohenFollowing his five year retreat, Cohen again returned to the studio in 1999. The result was the 2001 album Ten New Songs. He continued writing, recording and touring through the early years of the 21st century. A bitter legal dispute with his former manager Kelley Lynch, however, left him financially strapped.

    In 2008, he embarked on an extensive tour, mainly out of financial necessity. Between 2008 and 2010, Cohen performed all over the world without rest. Stops on his tour included New Zealand, Canada, Europe and performances at the Glastonbury and Coachella Festivals.

    Cohen often referred to his career as a three-act play. Thursday night, the curtain was drawn on the final act of this legendary career. His final album was released in October and is a fitting cap on the life of a true Renaissance man.

    “He said all men will be sailors then until the sea shall free them”

  • Bernie Worrell Passes Away at 72

    Bernie Worrell, keyboardist for Parliament/Funkadelic and the Talking Heads, passed away yesterday at the age of 72.

    Bernie Worrell
    Bernie Worrell at Backwoods Pondfest, 2013. Photo by Pete Mason

    In a post on Facebook, Worrell’s wife, Judie, posted “Bernie transitioned Home to The Great Spirit. Rest in peace, my love — you definitely made the world a better place. Till we meet again, vaya con Dios.” This news came nearly six months following her announcement of his stage 4 lung cancer diagnosis.

    Born G. Bernard Worrell, Jr. in Long Branch, New Jersey in 1944 and raised in Plainfield, New Jersey, Worrell began taking piano lessons at age three and wrote his first concerto at eight. He studied at the Juilliard School and went on to receive a degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in 1967. The school awarded him an honorary Doctor of Music degree in May.

    Worrell, also known as the “Wizard of Woo,” was best known for his work with Parliament/Funkadelic, to which he is credited with giving the futuristic sound through the expert use of the Moog synthesizer. As one of the longest standing members of the band, he was among the 15 members inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He became a de facto member of the Talking Heads through much of the ’80s, appearing on their studio album Speaking in Tongues and the much-heralded live album and concert film Stop Making Sense. More recently, he had formed the Bernie Worrell Orchestra, which featured a rotating lineup of musicians performing originals and songs from his past work with Parliament/Funkadelic and the Talking Heads.

    [embedyt] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=puDTZAlCv4A[/embedyt]

  • Bluegrass Legend, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Dies at the Age of 89

    Bluegrass singer and legend, Ralph Stanley, died peacefully in his sleep on Thursday at 89 years old, after a long battle with skin cancer. Stanley is credited with being the patriarch of Bluegrass  for boosting the genre throughout his musical career which spanned seven decades.

    ralph stanleyRalph Stanley was born in Big Spaddle, Virginia, and was raised there in Southwest Virginia with his brother and first music partner, Carter. The Stanley Brothers were heavily influenced by their parents, who first introduced them to traditional songs. Their mother, Lucy Ann Smith, would play on the banjo, while Lee Stanley sang classic songs to the boys like “Man of Constant Sorrow.”

    In 1946 they formed their band, the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys, with Carter on guitar and lead vocals, Ralph on banjo and vocals, adding an element of deep tenor, Pee Wee Lambert on mandolin, and Bobby Summer on fiddle. While this is not the first band that the brothers formed, it is the Clinch Mountain Boys that would become a lifelong affair for Ralph.

    Besides the influence from their parents, which not only taught the brothers tradition, but old-time clawhammer style where the fingers slap down the strings in a rhythmic style, the boys were influenced by listening to the Grand Ole Opry radio station. They especially found inspiration from star Bill Monroe, and were considered one of the first bands to copy the “Monroe Sound,” or “Nashville Sound,” which comprised of less ragged rhythm and more melodic vocals and smooth strings.

    Right before Carter’s death in 1966 from a battle with liver disease, the group found themselves amid the budding folk movement, and toured the country hitting Bluegrass festivals. After the loss of his brother, sources say Ralph was not sure he would continue his music career, because Carter was always the front-man of the group, the lead singer, and Ralph was accustomed to being behind his brother.

    However, in an interview that Ralph gave for the Associated Press in 2006, he said that ultimately, he decided to continue with music after an out pour of calls, telegrams and letters that urged him not to quit. In 1967, he reformed the Clinch Mountain Boys to include icons Ray Cline, or “Curly Ray,” Larry Sparks and Melvin Goin.

    Curly Ray was a Bluegrass fiddler, who like Ralph, was very influenced by listening to the Grand Ole Opry, and would go on to appear on every succeeding Clinch Mountain Boys record until he retired in 1993. Ralph was quoted at Cline’s funeral saying, “He plays the fiddle sort of the way I play the banjo; he plays it the way he feels it.” Larry Sparks played the guitar and did vocals, recording songs like “I Only Exist,” during his time with the band, which was only two years. Bassist Melvin Goins has said in an interview that Ralph Stanley called him up for two weeks of work, but he ended up staying to play alongside Ralph for four years.

    The Clinch Mountain Boys at this point adapted much deeper Appalachian roots. The lineup would later change quite a bit, and at times featured artists like Jack Cooke, Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs.

    In 1992, Ralph Stanley was added to the Bluegrass Hall of Fame, and he became a member of Opry in 2000, which was the start of a slew of recognition for him. His fan-base was fierce in their love of his unique voice, which stands out because it is in minor key against the happier major keys of his colleagues, and later coined as “high lonesome” mountain sound.

    Stanley acquired a whole new fanbase after the debut of the chilling “O Death” on the “O, Brother Where Art Thou?” movie soundtrack album. The album, produced by T. Bone Burnett, would go on to win a Grammy Award for Album of the Year; and in 2002 Ralph would go on to win a Grammy Award for Best Male Voice, beating out other big names like Tim McGraw.

    Stanley also won another Grammy Award in 2002 for his collaboration with Jim Lauderdale on the album Lost in the Lonesome Pines. Dr. Ralph Stanley received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Lincoln Memorial University in Tenn., in 1976. He then went on to perform at the inaugurations of former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Additionally, he was awarded the coveted “Living Legends” award by The National Endowment for the Arts and President George W. Bush.

    This past year, the Ralph Stanley festival celebrated its 46th anniversary. Despite his age and his battle with health, Stanley continued to tour and record well into his 80s, performing with his son, Ralph Stanley II and grandson Nathan.

    In an interview for the AP, Stanley said that he liked seeing younger people at his shows, and that he enjoyed the belated recognition, but he said, “I wish it had come 25 years sooner” so that he could have enjoyed it longer.

    Dr. Ralph Stanley is survived by his wife, Jimmie Stanley, of 47  years; they would have celebrated their 48th anniversary on July 2. He is also survived by his children: Lisa Stanley Marshall, Tonya Armes Stanley and Ralph Stanley II; His grandchildren: Nathan Stanley, Amber Meade Stanley, Evan Stout, Ashley Marshall, Alexis Marshall, Taylor Stanley, and Ralph Stanley III; and great grandchild Mckenzie Stanley. Memorial service details are yet to be announced.

  • Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine Remembers Former Drummer Nick Menza

    During Sunday night of the first-ever Rock ‘N Derby, Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine asked the crowd for a moment of silence for late drummer Nick Menza. “I don’t know if you know this or not, but Nick went to heavy metal heaven last night,” he said, before leading the group into “Trust.” Watch the homage to the former bandmate in the video below.

    On May 21, Menza, 51, died onstage during a performance with his current band, OHM, at the Baked Potato in Los Angeles. According to an official statement, Menza collapsed three songs into the set, and attempts to revive him were unsuccessful; it was later reported that he suffered a massive heart attack and was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.

    The late heavy metal drummer was with Megadeth during the group’s peak commercial success in the 1990s. Nick Menza contributed his signature drumming style to the albums Rust in Peace (1990), Countdown to Extinction (1992), Youthanasia (1994) and Cryptic Warnings (1997).

    After news of Menza’s passing became known, the Twittersphere and other social media channels were abuzz with expressions of sympathy from former bandmates Mustaine, David Ellefson, Marty Friedman and Chris Poland, among other rockers like Steve Lukather (Toto) and author J. Marshall Craig who was working with Menza on his memoir. In the excerpt below from Megadeth’s Facebook page (see the full post above), Mustaine explained his personal relationship with the former bandmate:

    …As a player, Nick had a very powerful jazzy flair, unpredictable and always entertaining. And as great a drummer as he was, the time spent with him as a person, a bandmate, and a friend was even more fun. There were several times we discussed him coming back to the band, but for various reasons it never came together. We’ve been in touch all along, he had come out to our shows recently, and he had remained a great friend, a true professional and a larger than life personality…”

    Before Megadeth played the May 22 show at the Schaghticoke Fairgrounds during Rock N’ Derby, Mustaine announced plans to honor Menza through an all-alumni benefit concert in California on the Albany rock station Q103, according to Loudwire. Stay tuned for updates on this Megadeth band members reunion show.

  • Beatles Producer George Martin Dies

    Sir George Martin, producer and “fifth member” of The Beatles, has died at the age of 90.

    martin_2202236b

    Late Tuesday night, Ringo Starr tweeted news of Martin’s death.

    Martin can be credited with much of the success of the Beatles throughout their career. While leading EMI’s Parlophone Records, he was looking for a rock act to sign and diversify the company’s offerings, which had previously consisted primarily of jazz and comedy. He signed the band when no other record company would and, even after finding them lacking in promise at first, he gave them a deal. He had suggested replacing Pete Best on drums, chose not to promote any of them as the frontman and allowed them to record their own songs.

    As a very active producer, Martin played a major role in formulating the Beatles’ sound. While recording their first U.S. single “Please Please Me,” he suggested they up the tempo. He added the string arrangements to “Yesterday,” which went on to become the most-covered song of all time. He was responsible for the orchestration in “A Day in the Life.” He personally played the piano part in “In My Life” and composed the harpsichord solo. He conducted the string arrangement in “Eleanor Rigby,” and he added the backwards tapes to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band for the psychedelic element.

    Martin was nominated for three Academy Awards for the musical arrangement in A Hard Day’s Night. He is responsible for a staggering 23 No. 1 hits in the U.S. and 30 in the U.K.

    In addition to the Beatles, Martin produced records for Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Mahavishnu Orchestra, America, Jeff Beck, Cheap Trick, Ella Fitzgerald, Stan Getz, Kenny Rogers, Neil Sedaka, Jimmy Webb, Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel, Sting, Meat Loaf, Carly Simon, Celine Dion, Kate Bush and many others.

    George Martin was born in London on Jan. 3, 1926. As a child, he took a few piano lessons but is mostly self-taught. After leaving the Royal Navy in 1947, he attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London on a government grant, where he learned composition, orchestration and how to play the oboe. He first started working for Parlophone as a producer of classical music. In 1955, he became the head of A&R and gained success producing comedy records. He left EMI in 1965 but continued to produce on a freelance basis, including the production of the Beatles’ Abbey Road. He later worked on a couple of Paul McCartney’s solo albums in the 1980s.

    McCartney posted a tribute to Martin on his Facebook page.

    Martin is survived by his four children, Giles, Alexis, Gregory and Lucy.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUDje4cTev0

  • Cannibal Corpse Returns Home to Buffalo

    DSC_1941-2The winter in Buffalo has been awfully nice to us this year. For those who know we are known for some of the worst snow conditions. This past Friday was quite the exception. We had a beautiful 45 degree day to welcome Buffalo native legends Cannibal Corpse back to the stage. Hundreds of death metal fans descended upon Town Ballroom, you could tell without a doubt just about everyone was there to see CB. From Denim Jackets with huge patches sown, to zip up hoodies with their name. Cannibal Corpse is currently on tour promoting their latest album from 2014 A Skeletal Domain and joining them on tour are death metal veterans, Cryptopsy, Abysmal Dawn and Obituary, also a heavy hitter in the death metal genre.

    The show opened with Abysmal Dawn.  They provided a high energy 40 minute set that brought a buzz to the already lively crowd. After a short 15 minute break, the road crew had the stage set for Crytopsy. The Canadian veterans brought the crowd to another level of excitement as singer, Matt McGachy, effortlessly took command of the stage and encouraged the rowdiness of the audience.  Midway through their set, a mosh pit formed in the middle of the crowd. Elbows and bodies met as those participating appeared to have a great time as they released a weeks worth of aggression in the pit.

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    Obituary quickly set up and the guys played a instrumental number before singer John Tardy ran onto stage got the crowd roaring. It would be easy and obvious to say turned the crowd into a giant circle pit. The sound was brilliant.  Loud but not too loud, and it was crisp so you could hear every note. Solos were incredible. Every pick, every bend, was clearly audible and in perfect unison.

    When the lights dimmed in anticipation of Cannibal Corpse taking the stage, the venue erupted in cheers and screams. After all some of these guys are Buffalo Natives. For a brief second, vocalist George Fisher could have been mistaken for the mass axe murderer in a horror movie. The  set began with “Evisceration Plague.” After the first song, they dug deep into their catalog, playing some of their best tracks from as far back as Tomb of the Mutilated. It wasn’t until the midpoint of the set that they played a few songs from their 2014 release, A Skeletal Domain, including “Kill or Become,” “Icepick Lobotomy,” and “Sadistic Embodiment.” Throughout their set, the crowd was worked into a hysteria state. This was the type of show that leaves you sweaty and exhausted, in a good way. The show was loud, brutal and electrifying. Cannibal Corpse did not disappoint with their flawless musicianship

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