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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”.
more...Does the road to our galaxy’s center go through Monument Valley? It doesn’t have to, but if your road does — take a picture. In this case, the road is US Route 163 and iconic buttes on the Navajo National Reservation populate the horizon. The band of Milky Way Galaxy stretches down from the sky and appears to be a continuation of the road on Earth. Filaments of dust darken the Milky Way, in contrast to billions of bright stars and several colorful glowing gas clouds including the Lagoon and Trifid nebulas. The featured picture is a composite of images taken with the same camera and from the same location — Forest Gump Point in Utah, USA. The foreground was taken just after sunset in early September during the blue hour, while the background is a mosaic of four exposures captured a few hours later.
William Earl “Bootsy” Collins (born October 26, 1951 Cincinnati, OH) is an American musician, singer and songwriter.
Rising to prominence with James Brown in the early 1970s, and later with Parliament-Funkadelic, Collins’s driving basslines and humorous vocals established him as one of the leading names in funk. He later formed his own P-Funk side project known as Bootsy’s Rubber Band. He was a frequent collaborator with other musicians from a variety of genres, including dance music (Deee-Lite‘s “Groove Is in the Heart“), electronic big beat(Fatboy Slim‘s “Weapon of Choice“), and alternative metal (Praxis‘s Transmutation (Mutatis Mutandis)), among others. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted in 1997 with 15 other members of Parliament-Funkadelic.
more...Milton Nascimento (Portuguese pronunciation: [‘miwtõ nasiˈmẽtu]; born October 26, 1942) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known globally as one of the most influential and talented Brazilian musicians. Elis Regina once stated that “if God had a voice, it would be Milton’s.”
A unique and baroque voice combined with poetic lyrics, his music mesmerizes people all over the world. He has toured in North America, South America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. Nascimento is also highly praised in the music industry, having won five Grammy Awards, including Best World Music Album in 1997.
Milton Nascimento was born in Rio de Janeiro. His mother, Maria Nascimento, was a maid. As a baby, Nascimento was adopted by a couple who were his mother’s former employers; Josino Brito Campos, a bank employee, mathematics teacher and electronic technician and Lília Silva Campos, a music teacher and choir singer. When he was 18 months old, Nascimento’s biological mother died, and he moved with his adoptive parents to the city of Três Pontas, in the state of Minas Gerais.
more...Eddie Henderson (born October 26, 1940) is an American jazz trumpet and flugelhorn player. He came to prominence in the early 1970s as a member of pianist Herbie Hancock‘s Mwandishi band, going on to lead his own electric/fusion groups through the decade. Henderson earned his medical degree and worked a parallel career as a psychiatrist and musician, turning back to acoustic jazz by the 1990s.
Henderson was born in New York City on October 26, 1940. At the age of nine he was given an informal lesson by Louis Armstrong, and he continued to study the instrument as a teenager in San Francisco, where he grew up, after his family moved there in 1954, at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Henderson was influenced by the early fusion work of jazz musician Miles Davis, who was a friend of his parents. They met in 1957 when Henderson was aged seventeen.
more...Phil Leadbetter, an acclaimed American resonator guitar player died on October 14, 2021. Phil Leadbetter was born in Knoxville (Tennessee, USA) on October 14, 2021. He was one of the finest dobro players in the bluegrass scene and was voted Dobro Player Of The Year twice by the International Bluegrass Music Association. Leadbetter released many albums as a solo artist and as member of various well known bluegrass acts, including The New South and Grasstowne. Phil Leadbetter curated and appeared on Masters of Slide: The Spider Sessions, a collection of master slide guitar players.
Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Leadbetter began playing the resonator guitar at age 12. He was a 1980 graduate of Gibbs High School in Corryton, Tennessee.
In April 2011, Leadbetter was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma, a form of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes. After return of cancer two more times, Leadbetter was diagnosed for a fifth time in June 2019, and in September 2019 became a five-time survivor on the new drug Opdivo. This is the same drug that Leadbetter had been given during clinical trials.
Leadbetter died in October 2021, after having contracted COVID-19
more...This jewel-bright Picture of the Week features the spiral galaxy NGC 2903. This image was captured using Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), which were installed on Hubble in 2002 and 2009 respectively. Interestingly, Hubble has observed this particular galaxy before, in 2001, when neither the ACS or the WFC3 had yet been installed. The 2021 image boasts higher resolution, which means that NGC 2903 is more finely detailed than in the 2001 image. The ACS and WFC2 collectively cover a wide range of ultraviolet, optical and infrared wavelengths, which means that the 2021 image also has superior wavelength coverage to that of its 20-year-old predecessor. The 2001 image was taken using the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2), which was Hubble’s workhorse instrument from 1993 until 2009 when it was replaced by the WFC3. Hubble has a long and fascinating history of crewed service missions, which were performed in order to correct for imperfections in Hubble’s mirror, to update Hubble’s technical systems, and to remove old instruments and install new ones. One of Hubble’s most remarkable features is it’s incredible longevity, and this would not have been possible with the great success of the servicing missions. The juxtaposition of the 2001 and 2021 images of NGC 2903 — both remarkable images for their time — highlights the value of a stable, accessible platform in space that can reliably collect data, not only year after year, but decade after decade.
Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer and one of the inventors of Rock and Roll. He is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of all time and played on thousands of recordings, including nearly all of Little Richard‘s hits, all of Fats Domino‘s hits, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’” by The Righteous Brothers, and a long list of classic TV and film soundtracks. According to one obituary, “his list of credits read like a Who’s Who of American popular music of the last 60 years”.
Born into a show-business family in New Orleans and raised in the Tremé district, Palmer started his career at five as a tap dancer, joining his mother and aunt on the black vaudeville circuit in its twilight and touring the country extensively with Ida Cox‘s Darktown Scandals Review. His father is thought to have been the local pianist and bandleader Walter “Fats” Pichon.
more...James Edward Heath (October 25, 1926 – January 19, 2020), nicknamed Little Bird, was an American jazz saxophonist, composer, arranger, and big band leader. He was the brother of bassist Percy Heath and drummer Albert Heath.
Heath was born in Philadelphia on October 25, 1926. His father, an auto mechanic, played the clarinet, performing on the weekends. His mother sang in a church choir. The family frequently played recordings of big band jazz groups around the house. Heath’s sister was a pianist, while his brothers were bassist Percy Heath (older) and drummer Albert Heath (his youngest sibling).
During World War II, Heath was rejected for the draft for being below the minimum weight.
Heath originally played alto saxophone. He earned the nickname “Little Bird” after his work for Howard McGhee and Dizzy Gillespie in the late 1940s, during which his playing displayed influences from Charlie Parker (Parker’s nickname was “Bird”). He then switched to tenor saxophone.
more...Eddie Lang (born Salvatore Massaro, October 25, 1902 – March 26, 1933) is known as the father of jazz guitar. During the 1920s, he gave the guitar a prominence it previously lacked as a solo instrument, as part of a band or orchestra, and as accompaniment for vocalists. He recorded duets with guitarists Lonnie Johnson and Carl Kress and jazz violinist Joe Venuti, and played rhythm guitar in the Paul Whiteman Orchestra and was the favoured accompanist of Bing Crosby.
The son of an Italian-American instrument maker, Lang was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and grew up with violinist Joe Venuti. His first instrument was violin when he was seven. He performed on violin in 1917 and became a member of a trio. In 1920, he dropped the violin for banjo and worked with Charlie Kerr, then Bert Estlow, Vic D’Ippolito, and Billy Lustig‘s Scranton Siren Orchestra. A few years later, he dropped the banjo for guitar when he became a member of the Mound City Blue Blowers led by Red McKenzie. He recorded one of the first solos in 1924 on “Deep 2nd Street Blues”. His performances with McKenzie’s band drew attention, and he found many jobs as a freelance guitarist. Before Lang, the guitar hadn’t been a prominent instrument in jazz bands and dance orchestras.
more...Georges Bizet (25 October 1838 – 3 June 1875), registered at birth as Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire.
During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others. Restless for success, he began many theatrical projects during the 1860s, most of which were abandoned. Neither of his two operas that reached the stage in this time—Les pêcheurs de perles and La jolie fille de Perth—were immediately successful.
After the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, during which Bizet served in the National Guard, he had little success with his one-act opera Djamileh, though an orchestral suite derived from his incidental music to Alphonse Daudet‘s play L’Arlésienne was instantly popular. The production of Bizet’s final opera, Carmen, was delayed because of fears that its themes of betrayal and murder would offend audiences. After its premiere on 3 March 1875, Bizet was convinced that the work was a failure; he died of a heart attack three months later, unaware that it would prove a spectacular and enduring success.
Bizet’s marriage to Geneviève Halévy was intermittently happy and produced one son. After his death, his work, apart from Carmen, was generally neglected. Manuscripts were given away or lost, and published versions of his works were frequently revised and adapted by other hands. He founded no school and had no obvious disciples or successors. After years of neglect, his works began to be performed more frequently in the 20th century. Later commentators have acclaimed him as a composer of brilliance and originality whose premature death was a significant loss to French musical theatre.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wM8Ttz10TY
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