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Drifting through the night in the royal constellation Cepheus. Of course, the shapes are cosmic dust clouds visible in dimly reflected starlight. Far from your own neighborhood, they lurk above the plane of the Milky Way at the edge of the Cepheus Flare molecular cloud complex some 1,200 light-years away. Over 2 light-years across and brighter than most of the other ghostly apparitions, vdB 141 or Sh2-136 is also known as the Ghost Nebula, seen at the right of the starry field of view. Inside the nebula are the telltale signs of dense cores collapsing in the early stages of star formation. With the eerie hue of dust reflecting bluish light from hot young stars of NGC 7023, the Iris Nebula stands out against the dark just left of center. In the broad telescopic frame, these fertile interstellar dust fields stretch almost seven full moons across the sky.
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Peter Allen Greenbaum (29 October 1946 – 25 July 2020), known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist.[3] As the founder of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Green’s songs, such as “Albatross“, “Black Magic Woman“, “Oh Well“, “The Green Manalishi (With the Two Prong Crown)” and “Man of the World“, appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.
Green was a major figure in the “second great epoch” of the British blues movement. Eric Clapton praised his guitar playing, and B.B. Kingcommented, “He has the sweetest tone I ever heard; he was the only one who gave me the cold sweats.” His trademark sound included string bending, vibrato, and economy of style.
In June 1996, Green was voted the third-best guitarist of all time in Mojo magazine. In 2015, Rolling Stone ranked him at number 58 in its list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time”. Green’s tone on the instrumental “The Super-Natural” was rated as one of the 50 greatest of all time by Guitar Player in 2004.
more...Willem Bernard “Pim” Jacobs (29 October 1934 – 3 July 1996) was a Dutch jazz pianist, composer and television presenter.
Jacobs was born on 29 October 1934 in Hilversum, the Netherlands. His parents were artistic. He started playing the piano at the age of six. His brother, Ruud, was born in 1938 and became a jazz bassist.
Pim and Ruud formed a trio with drummer Wessel Ilcken in 1954. The band grew with the addition of guitarist Wim Overgaauw and Ilcken’s wife, Rita Reys. The trio recorded with Herbie Mann in 1956. Following Ilcken’s death in 1957, Pim Jacobs and Reys performed as a duo or trio with Overgaauw, and married in 1960. They often recorded and played jazz festivals in Europe and New Orleans, “their typical program featuring arrangements of vocal music standards as well as bebop material”. He also composed film music.
more...John Haley “Zoot” Sims (October 29, 1925 – March 23, 1985) was an American jazz saxophonist, playing mainly tenor but also alto (and, later, soprano) saxophone. He first gained attention in the “Four Brothers” sax section of Woody Herman‘s big band, afterward enjoying a long solo career, often in partnership with fellow saxmen Gerry Mulligan and Al Cohn.
Sims was born in 1925 in Inglewood, California, United States, to vaudeville performers Kate Haley and John Sims. His father was a vaudeville hoofer, and Sims prided himself on remembering many of the steps his father taught him. Growing up in a performing family, he learned to play drums and clarinet at an early age. His brother was the trombonist Ray Sims.
Sims began on tenor saxophone at age 13. He initially modelled his playing on the work of Lester Young, Ben Webster, and Don Byas. By his late teens, having dropped out of high school, he was playing in big bands, starting with those of Kenny Baker and Bobby Sherwood. He joined Benny Goodman‘s band for the first time in 1943 (he was to rejoin in 1946, and continued to perform with Goodman on occasion through the early 1970s). Sims replaced Ben Webster in Sid Catlett‘s Quartet of 1944. In May of 1944, Sims made his recording debut for Commodore Records in a sextet led by pianist Joe Bushkin, who two months earlier had recorded for the same label as part of Lester Young’s Kansas City Six.
more...Fandangos De Huelva
The city of Huelva on the coast of Spain between Portugal and Cádiz is closely identified with the Fandangos. There are 32 types of Fandangos de Huelva, each associated with a different part of the city, the nearby mountains or coast, or with individual artists. The underlying form for all these Fandangos is the same, and the variations are in the melodies, lyrics, and the supporting harmony. The most frequently performed version of the Fandangos de Huelva is the Fandangos de Alosno, named for a village north of Huelva. The most common setting for Fandangos de Huelva is a group of friends gathered around a table after a meal or drinks. The guitarist provides constant accompaniment while individual singers provide letras or the group sings in chorus. The dance is popular during the annual pilgrimage to Rocio – the Romería del Rocio. Participants in this event dress in traditional costume and travel on foot, by car or in brightly decorated horse- or ox-drawn wagons. All converge in the city of Rocio to participate in a weekend of religious ritual and fun. Today, the dances and songs are also popular in Spanish dance companies and in smaller flamenco performances, and are mostly accompanied by the guitar, cante, and castanets.The copla consists of five eight syllable lines. One line of the verse is usually repeated, making a six line verse. The underlying form of Fandangos de Huelva is the underlying form for all Fandangos Comarcales. Some artists have modified this form slightly. For example, cantaor Paco Toronjo, a singer closely associated with Fandangos, would often begin a Fandangos by singing por Siguiriyas.
NGC 4216 is a metal-rich intermediate spiral galaxy located not far from the center of the Virgo Cluster of galaxies, roughly 55 million light-years away. It is seen nearly edge-on.
NGC 4216 is one of the largest and brightest spiral galaxies of the Virgo Cluster, with an absolute magnitude that has been estimated to be −22 (i.e.: brighter than the Andromeda Galaxy), and like most spiral galaxies of this cluster shows a deficiency of neutral hydrogen that’s concentrated within the galaxy’s optical disk and has a low surface density for a galaxy of its type. This explains why NGC 4216 is considered an anemic galaxy by some authors, also with a low star formation activity for a galaxy of its type. In fact, the galaxy’s disk shows pillar-like structures that may have been caused by interactions with the intracluster medium of Virgo and/or with nearby galaxies.
In NGC 4216’s halo, besides a rich system of globular clusters with a number of them estimated in around 700 (nearly five times more than the Milky Way), two stellar streams that are interpreted as two satellite galaxies being disrupted and absorbed by this galaxy are present.
NGC 4216 seems to be in a place of the Virgo cluster where dwarf galaxies are being destroyed/accreted at a high rate, with it suffering many interactions with these type of galaxies.
more...Benjamin Charles Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism. He has released twelve regular studio albums, mostly through Virgin Records and has toured internationally.
Harper is a three-time Grammy Award winner and seven-time nominee, with awards for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album in 2004 and Best Blues Album in 2013.
At the 40th Blues Music Awards ceremony, Harper’s joint composition with Charlie Musselwhite, “No Mercy in This Land”, was named Song of the Year.
Harper was born in Pomona, California. His late father, Leonard Harper, was of African-American and Cherokee ancestry, and his mother, Ellen Verdries Chase Harper, is Jewish. His maternal great-grandmother was a Russian–Lithuanian Jew. His parents divorced when he was five years old, and he grew up with his mother’s family. Harper has two brothers, Joel Harper and Peter Harper.
Harper began playing guitar as a child.His maternal grandparents’ music store, the Folk Music Center and Museum, laid a foundation of folk and blues for the artist, complemented by regular patrons Leonard Cohen, Taj Mahal, John Darnielle, and David Lindley and quotes of William Shakespeare and Robert Frost made often by his grandfather.
In 1978, at the age of 9, Harper attended Bob Marley‘s performance in Burbank, California, where Marley was joined by former bandmate Peter Toshfor the encore. It was, according to Harper, an important influence.
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Richard Bona (born 28 October 1967) is a Cameroon-born American musician, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist.
Bona Penda Nya Yuma Elolo was born in Minta, Cameroon, into a family of musicians, which enabled him to start learning music from a young age. His grandfather was a griot – a West African singer of praise and storyteller – and percussionist, as his mother was a singer. When he was four years old, Bona started to play the balafon. At the age of five, he began performing at his village church. Not being wealthy, Bona made many of his own instruments: including flutes and guitars (with cords strung over an old motorcycle tank).
His talent was quickly noticed, and he was often invited to perform at festivals and ceremonies. Bona began learning to play the guitar at the age of 11, and in 1980, aged just 13, he assembled his first ensemble for a French jazz club in Douala. The owner befriended him and helped him discover jazz music, in particular that of Jaco Pastorius, which inspired Bona to switch his focus to the electric bass.
more...October 28th 1952 After 20 years of making music together as husband-and-wife jazz duo Tuck & Patti, Tuck Andress’s guitar and Patti Cathcart’s vocals blend smoothly into a honed sound all their own. They perform both their own compositions, such as “High Heel Blues,” and standards like “One Hand, One Heart” from West Side Story and Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.” Each concert ends with their signature closer, “You Take My Breath Away.”
Andress was raised in Oklahoma. He studied piano and took up guitar as a young teenager, when he was eager to play in a neighborhood garage band. He studied for a few months with Tommy Crook, but was primarily a self-taught artist who learned by playing with other musicians, listening to records, and experimenting. He enrolled in Stanford University in 1970, but dropped out after the first quarter to join members of his high school band in Los Angeles. Andress found a session gig on his first day in town, and was later offered work on the popular Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour. Soon, however, he found Los Angeles too commercial, and he went back to Stanford, where he majored in music, studying classical guitar and playing with the Gap Band, Chaka Kahn, and Leon Russell.
Meanwhile, Cathcart, who was born and raised in San Francisco, spent eleven years studying the violin. She also sang in and directed choirs, but learned about phrasing and scatting by listening to Sammy Davis, Jr. She studied opera in college, then began singing with rock ‘n’ rollers in her twenties, including Bob Weir’s Kingfish band, Shaky Ground, and Occam’s Razor.
more...Glen Moore (born October 28, 1941) is an American jazz bassist, who occasionally performs on piano, flute and violin.
Moore was born in Portland, Oregon, United States. His performing career began at age 14 with the Young Oregonians in Portland, where he met and played with Native American saxophonist, Jim Pepper. He graduated with a degree in History and Literature from the University of Oregon. His formal bass instruction started after college with Jerome Magil in Portland, James Harnett in Seattle, Gary Karr in New York, Plough Christenson in Copenhagen, Ludwig Streicher in Vienna and Francois Rabbath in Hawaii. His main instrument is an upright bass which was made by Klotz in Tyrol around 1715. He mostly plays it in a personal unique tuning, using a low and a high C string.
Moore is a founding member of Oregon, but worked also regularly with Rabih Abou-Khalil, Vasant Rai, Nancy King and Larry Karush.
more...This cosmic close-up of the eastern Veil Nebula. The Veil Nebula itself is a large supernova remnant, the expanding debris cloud from the death explosion of a massive star. While the Veil is roughly circular in shape and covers nearly 3 degrees on the sky toward the constellation of the Swan (Cygnus), NGC 6995, known informally as the Bat Nebula, spans only 1/2 degree, about the apparent size of the Moon. That translates to 12 light-years at the Veil’s estimated distance, a reassuring 1,400 light-years from planet Earth. In the composite of image data recorded through narrow band filters, emission from hydrogenatoms in the remnant is shown in red with strong emission from oxygen atoms shown in hues of blue. Of course, in the western part of the Veil lies another seasonal apparition: the Witch’s Broom Nebula.
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Gary Chester (born Cesario Gurciullo) was born into a poor Italian family on Oct. 27, 1924-August 17, 1987. His parents hailed from Saracusa, Italy, and Gary was the youngest of three siblings, which included two sisters and a brother. While growing up in Harlem, New York City, he would stand outside the local clubs and listen to the jazz bands play. He would constantly bang on cans and boxes in the back of his fathers barbershop, imitating the sounds of groups such as Count Basie, Oscar Peterson, and Chick Webb. He eventually left school in the 8th grade to play with a touring band.
His start as a studio musician was the result of good timing. He had just completed laying down tracks for a demo, and was leaving the studio when the A&R man in the next room stopped him. He told him that Panama Francis, the drummer on the song being recorded, had become sick and couldn’t do the session. He asked Gary to step in for him, and the song turned out to be the hit “Every Little Breath You Take” by Gene Pitney. After that, the phone never stopped ringing, and he was doing three sessions a day, usually 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM, 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM, and 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM.
Gary quickly became the top East Coast session drummer, and together with his West Coast counterpart, Hal Blaine, they played on a majority of the hits of the late fifties and early and mid-’60s. Gary once estimated the number of sessions he played to be over 15,000. Just a few of the records to benefit from Gary’s drum parts were classics by groups such as the Angels (“My Boyfriend’s Back”), the Archies (“Sugar, Sugar”), Burt Bacharach (“Promises, Promises”), the Chiffons (“He’s So Fine”), Petula Clark (“Downtown”), Jim Croce (“Time in a Bottle,” “Bad Bad Leroy Brown”), Jackie DeShannon (“What the World Needs Now”), the Drifters (“Up on the Roof,” “Under the Boardwalk”), the Isley Brothers (“Twist and Shout”), Ben E. King (“Spanish Harlem,” “Stand By Me”), Curtis Lee (“Angel Eyes”), Little Eva (“Locomotion”), Neil Sedaka (“Calendar Girl,” “Breaking Up is Hard to Do”), the Shirelles (“Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”), Dionne Warwick (“Walk On By,” “Do You Know the Way to San Jose,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Say a Little Prayer”), and Van Morrison (“Brown Eyed Girl”). Artists ranging from The Monkees, The Lovin’ Spoonful, and The Mamas & The Papas, to Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, all called upon Gary at various times.
As part of his dedication to the art of playing drums, Gary would catalog the parts he used on particular recordings. Always extremely sensitive to the idea of playing for the song, rather than showing off personal technical prowess, he would pull out his files when he thought something that worked in the past was right for a particular piece of music. He often came up with innovations to enhance a song, such as breaking a pane of glass to get the right sound, or attaching a tambourine to the hi-hat, which is something still widely used by drummers today.
As his reputation grew, Gary became a respected teacher, with drummers searching out his expertise and demanding techniques. He often dropped students who weren’t dedicated enough to satisfy him, but those that met his approval became trusted confidantes as well as students. Many of those who studied with Gary went on to highly successful careers themselves, including Kenny Aronoff, Danny Gottlieb, Dave Weckl, Tico Torres, and Max Weinberg. In order to reach more people, and spread the word of his innovative techniques, Gary authored the book that has become the benchmark against which drummers measure their technique. He called it “The New Breed,” hoping it would inspire a “new breed” of drummer who could handle the demands of the modern studio setting. Published by Modern Drummer Magazine, it continues to be widely utilized by the worlds best drummers.
Gary passed away on August 17, 1987. In a fitting tribute, protege, Chrissy Adams completed the work he had started on “The New Breed II,” which contained advanced techniques for developing total independence and creativity. Gary Chester’s influence continues to live on, both as someone who set a high standard from which modern drummers learn, and as a personal influence on the lives of his students.
more...Philip Catherine (born 27 October 1942) is a Belgian jazz guitarist.
Philip Catherine was born in London, England, to an English mother and Belgian father, and was raised in Brussels, Belgium. His grandfather was a violinist in the London Symphony Orchestra. Catherine started on guitar in his teens, and by seventeen he was performing professionally at local venues. He released his debut album, Stream, in 1972. During the next few years, he studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and with Mick Goodrickand George Russell. In 1976, he and guitarist Larry Coryell recorded and toured as an acoustic duo. The same year, when Jan Akkerman abruptly left Focus, Catherine replaced him in the band. The following year, he recorded with Charles Mingus, who dubbed him “Young Django”. In the early 1980s, he toured briefly with Benny Goodman. He was in trio with Didier Lockwood and Christian Escoudé, then in a trio with Chet Baker. During the 1990s, he recorded three albums with trumpeter Tom Harrell.
Catherine has also worked with Lou Bennett, Kenny Drew, Dexter Gordon, Stéphane Grappelli, Karin Krog, Paul Kuhn, Sylvain Luc, Michael Mantler, Charlie Mariano, Palle Mikkelborg, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Enrico Rava, Toots Thielemans, and Miroslav Vitous.
more...Babs Gonzales (October 27, 1919 – January 23, 1980), born Lee Brown, was an American bebop vocalist, poet, and self-published author. His books portrayed the jazz world that many black musicians struggled in, portraying disk jockeys, club owners, liquor, drugs, and racism. “There are jazz people whose influence can be described as minor,” wrote Val Wilmer, “yet who are well-known to musicians and listeners alike … You’d have to be hard-pressed to ignore the wealth of legend that surrounds Babs Gonzales.” Jazz writer Jack Cooke explained that Gonzales “assumed the role of spokesman for the whole hipster world… [becoming] something more than just a good and original jazz entertainer: the incarnation of a whole social group.”
Gonzales was born Lee Brown in Newark, New Jersey, United States. He was raised solely by his mother Lottie Brown alongside two brothers. Of his nickname, Gonzales explained, “my brothers are basketball players… there was a basketball star in America named Big Babbiad, and so they were called Big Babs, Middle Babs, and I’m Little Babs.” As a young man, Gonzales worked as band boy for swing bandleader Jimmie Lunceford, after which he relocated to Los Angeles. To circumvent racial segregation, Gonzales wore a turban and used the pseudonym Ram Singh, passing as an Indian national. Using this identity, Gonzales worked at the Los Angeles Country Club until becoming a private chauffeur to movie star Errol Flynn. Whilst hospitalized for appendicitis in 1944, he assumed the Spanish surname Gonzales as he “didn’t want to be treated as a Negro,” later explaining that “they was Jim Crowing me in ofay hotels and so I said if it’s just simple enough to change my last name, why not?” After the outbreak of World War II, Gonzales was forced to return home to Newark to report for military duty, but was declared unfit for service after arriving to his inspection dressed as a woman.
more...Sten Folke Emelin Eriksberg , actually Eriksberger , originally Eriksson , born October 27, 1910 in Stockholm , died June 11, 1976 in the same place, was a Swedish guitarist and composer .
Folke Eriksberg made his debut in 1927 and was later found in the Swedish Paramount Orchestra and Gösta Törner’s Orchestra. He belonged to Frank Vernon’s orchestra in Stockholm 1928 – 1933and then played with, among others, Seymour Österwall , Thore Ehrling and the Swedish Hot Quintet . The years 1933–1935 Folke Eriksberg spent in Barcelona . He was one of the first in Sweden to play electric guitar and made his first recordings in 1936. He was in demand as a studio musician and participated in about 3,500 record recordings with artists such as Povel Ramel , Lapp-Lisa , Rosita Serrano and Sven-Olof Sandberg . Together with Sven Stiberg gave Folke Eriksberg in the 1940s out of a guitar school, which includes single string technology (the single-note style) extensively treated and which became the basis for many young guitarists development. Together with Ramonafabriken , Folke Eriksberg also developed his so-called signature guitar, “Eriksbergsgitarren”.
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