On January 2, 1926, first issue of “Melody Maker”, British weekly magazine was published. “Melody Maker” was probably the earliest world music magazine and at its beginnings it was magazine for jazz, dance bands and musicians. Publisher was Lawrence Wright and the first editor was Edgar Jackson. In 2000 “Melody Maker’ was merged into “New Musical Express”.
On December 15, 1975, “Casablanca” released “Mothership Connection”, the fourth Parliament album. It was recorded March – October 1975, at “United Sound” in Detroit and in “Hollywood Sound” in Hollywood, and was produced by George Clinton. In 2011, the “Library of Congress” added “Mothership Connection” to the “National Recording Registry”, declaring that “the album had an enormous influence on jazz, rock and dance music”.
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On December 5, 2012, David Warren “Dave” Brubeck died aged 91. He was musician (piano), bandleader and composer, regarded as one of the great post-bop jazz innovators and one of the most influential and popular artists in the jazz history. Brubeck was author of numerous jazz standards, including “In Your Own Sweet Way”, “The Duke”. “Pick Up Sticks”, “Unsquare Dance” and “Blue Rondo à la Turk”. “The Dave Brubeck Quartet” album “Time Out” released in 1959, was based upon the use of time signatures that were unusual for jazz such as 9/8 and 5/4. The album featured Paul Desmond’s track “Take Five”, peaked at #2 on the “Billboard” pop albums chart, has been certified platinum by the “RIAA”, and became one of the best selling jazz albums of all time. As a recognition for his work, Brubeck received many awards, including:
Additionally, the main-belt asteroid “5079 Brubeck” was named after Brubeck.
On November 10, 1978, “EMI” label released “Jazz”, the seventh Queen studio album. It was recorded July – October 1978, at the “Mountain Studios” in Montreux and “Super Bear Studios” in Berre-les-Alpes, and was produced by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, John Deacon and Roy Thomas Baker.
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On September 29, 2015, Philip Wells Woods died aged 83. He was a musician (alto saxophone, clarinet) composer, bandleader, in his almost 60 years long career, he has performed with some of the biggest names of jazz and popular music, including Billy Joel, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Donald Byrd, Gene Quill, Hal Stein, Sahib Shihab, Michel Legrand, Lew Tabackin, Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Carter, Gordon Beck, Benjamin Koppel, Alex Riel, Grace Kelly, Monty Alexander, Evan Gregor, Bill Goodwin, and Jordan Perlson.
On July 4, 1971, Louis Armstrong died aged 69. He was musician (trumpet) and singer, brought various inventions in jazz music, including shifting the focus from collective improvisation to solo performance, bringing improvisation to singing (scat singing) and “reviving” the stage performance with charismatic and expressive stage presence. Armstrong became one of the first African-American artists that were popular among wide “white” audience. His influence extended far beyond jazz music and he is regarded as one of the most influential artists in the history of the 20th Century popular music.
On June 6, 1991, Stanley Getz, died aged 64. He wasmusician (primarily tenor saxophone), came to prominence in the late 40’s playing with Woody Herman’s big band, and went on performing bebop and cool jazz. He became world known with his bossa nova period, in which he recorded few albums that promoted bossa nova worldwide, including “Jazz Samba (1962)”; “Big Band Bossa Nova (1962)”; “Jazz Samba Encore! (1963)” and “Getz/Gilberto (1963)”. In his career he performed with some of the most important jazz artists, including Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Chet Baker, Gerry Mulligan, Joao Gilberto, Laurindo Almeida, Herb Alpert, Benny Goodman, Al Haig and Abbey Lincoln. Getz achieved big number of awards including five “Grammy Awards”:
On April 26, 1984, William James “Count” Basie died aged 80. He was musician (piano, organ), band leader and composer, together with Duke Ellington he was outstanding representative of big bands style and a leading figure of the swing era in jazz music.
On March 12, 1955, Charles Parker, Jr. died aged 35. He was musician (alt and tenor saxophone) and composer, regarded the leading figure in the development of bebop and inventor of revolutionary harmonic ideas including rapid passing chords, new variants of altered chords and chord substitutions, “Yardbird” or “Bird” gained the status of one of the most influential and important musicians in the history of jazz. Parker became an icon for the hipster subculture and the Beat Generation, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer.
On March 2, 2008 Norman Jeffrey “Jeff” Healey died aged 42. He was musician (guitar), singer and songwriter, worked with number of artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy, BB King, ZZ Top and Eric Clapton. As leader Healey released 12 albums and presented a long running radio show.
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