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NGC 6744 (also known as Caldwell 101 or the Pavo Galaxy) is an intermediate spiral galaxy about 30 million light-years away in the constellation Pavo (Peacock). It is considered as a Milky Way mimic in the immediate vicinity, displaying flocculent (fluffy) arms and an elongated core. It also has at least one distorted companion galaxy (NGC 6744A) superficially similar to one of the Magellanic Clouds. It was discovered from Parramatta in Australia by Scottish astronomer James Dunlop on 30 June 1826.
more...Thomas Richard Bolin (August 1, 1951 – December 4, 1976) was an American guitarist and songwriter who played with Zephyr (from 1969 to 1971), the James Gang(from 1973 to 1974), and Deep Purple (from 1975 to 1976), in addition to maintaining a career as a solo artist and session musician.
Tommy Bolin was born in Sioux City, Iowa, and began playing with a band called the Miserlous before he was asked to join another band called Denny and the Triumphs in 1964 at age 13. Bolin died from an overdose of heroin and other substances, including alcohol, cocaine and barbiturates. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery in Sioux City, Iowa. Died at 25 years old.
more...Jerome John Garcia (August 1, 1942 – August 9, 1995 San Francisco, CA) was an American musician who was the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and a vocalist with the rock band Grateful Dead, which he co-founded and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader of the band. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a member of the Grateful Dead.
As one of its founders, Garcia performed with the Grateful Dead for the band’s entire 30-year career (1965–1995). Garcia also founded and participated in a variety of side projects, including the Saunders–Garcia Band (with longtime friend Merl Saunders), the Jerry Garcia Band, Old & In the Way, the Garcia/Grisman and Garcia/Kahnacoustic duos, Legion of Mary, and New Riders of the Purple Sage (which he co-founded with John Dawson and David Nelson). He also released several solo albums, and contributed to a number of albums by other artists over the years as a session musician. He was well known for his distinctive guitar playing, and was ranked 13th in Rolling Stone‘s “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” cover story in 2003. In the 2015 version of the list he was ranked at #46. In 2023, Garcia was ranked 34th by Rolling Stone.
Garcia was renowned for his musical and technical ability, particularly his ability to play a variety of instruments and sustain long improvisations. Garcia believed that improvisation took stress away from his playing and allowed him to make spur of the moment decisions that he would not have made intentionally. In a 1993 interview with Rolling Stone, Garcia noted that “my own preferences are for improvisation, for making it up as I go along. The idea of picking, of eliminating possibilities by deciding, that’s difficult for me”. Originating from the days of the “Acid Tests“, these improvisations were a form of exploration rather than playing a song already written.
Later in life, Garcia struggled with diabetes. In 1986, he went into a diabetic coma that nearly cost him his life. Although his overall health improved somewhat after the incident, he continued to struggle with obesity, smoking, and long-standing heroin and cocaine addictions. He was staying in a California drug rehabilitation facility when he died of a heart attack in August 1995, at age 53.
more...Paddy Moloney (Irish: Pádraig Ó Maoldomhnaigh; 1 August 1938 – 12 October 2021) was an Irish musician, composer, and record producer. He co-founded and led the Irish musical group the Chieftains, playing on all of their 44 albums. He was particularly associated with the revival of the uilleann pipes.
Moloney was born in the Donnycarney area of Dublin on 1 August 1938, the son of housewife Catherine (néeConroy) and Irish Glass Bottle Company accountant John Moloney. His mother bought him a tin whistle when he was six and he started to learn the uilleann pipes at the age of eight. Along with Sean Potts and Michael Tubridy, Moloney formed the traditional Irish band the Chieftains in Dublin in November 1962. As the band leader, he was the primary composer and arranger of much of the Chieftains’ music, and composed for films including Treasure Island, The Grey Fox, Braveheart, Gangs of New York, and Stanley Kubrick‘s Barry Lyndon
more...Ramblin’ Jack Elliott (born Elliott Charles Adnopoz; August 1, 1931) is an American folk singer and songwriter and musician. With banjo player Derroll Adams, he toured the United Kingdom and Europe. By 1960, he had recorded three folk albums for the UK record label Topic Records. In London, he played small clubs and pubs by day and West End cabaret nightclubs at night. When he returned to the States, Elliott found he had become renowned in American folk music circles.
more...Toumani Diabaté (10 August 1965 – 19 July 2024) was a Malian kora player. In addition to performing the traditional music of Mali, he was involved in cross-cultural collaborations with flamenco, blues, jazz, and other international styles of music. In 2006, the London-based newspaper The Independent named him one of the fifty best African artists. In its obituary, The Timesdescribed him as “a bold and innovative musical visionary”.
more...Sh2-129 (R.A.: 21h 12m 20.24s, Dec: +60º 02’ 15.1”) is a Bright Nebula of Visual Magnitude 10 in the constellation Cepheus at a distance of 9318 lightyears from Earth. It is one of the many beautiful H-alpha emitting objects that can be found in the Sharpless catalogue. The nebula is also known as Flying Bat Nebula. Interestingly, at the heart of the nebula, there is another nebula located, often referred to as Flying Squid Nebula (Ou4). This OIII emitting nebula was only recently discovered by the French amateur astrophotographer Nicolas Outters in 2011. Recent research seems to indicate that Ou4 is indeed located within Sh2-129. It is assumed that the nebula is getting it’s energy from a strong outflow from HR8119, a triple star system right in the middle of the Flying Squid Nebula.
more...Saskia Laroo (born 31 July 1959 in Amsterdam), is a Dutch jazz musician who has been dubbed the “Lady Miles Davis“. Her music style can be described as a combination of jazz, pop, electronic dance music, Latin and world music.
more...Stanley Jordan (born July 31, 1959) is an American jazz guitarist noted for his playing technique, which involves tapping his fingers on the fretboard of the guitar with both hands.
Jordan was born in Chicago, Illinois, United States. When he was six, he started on piano, then at eleven switched to guitar. He later began playing in rock and soul bands. In 1976, he won an award at the Reno Jazz Festival. At Princeton University, he studied music theory and composition with Milton Babbitt and computer music with Paul Lansky. He also took freshman calculus with Edward Nelson. While at Princeton he played with Benny Carter and Dizzy Gillespie.
more...Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931 Detroit, MI) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige, Blue Note, Verve, CTI, Muse, and Concord. His collaborations with Jimmy Smith were notable, and produced the 1965 Billboard Top Twenty hit Verve album Organ Grinder Swing. He has cited jazz guitarists Charlie Christian, Oscar Moore, and Django Reinhardt as influences, along with blues guitarists T-Bone Walker and Muddy Waters.
Burrell is a professor and Director of Jazz Studies at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.
more...Henry Jones Jr. (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010 Vicksburg, MS) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Artshonored him with the NEA Jazz Masters Award. He was also honored in 2003 with the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) Jazz Living Legend Award. In 2008, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts. On April 13, 2009, the University of Hartford presented Jones with an honorary Doctorate of Music for his musical accomplishments.
Jones recorded more than 60 albums under his own name, and countless others as a sideman, including Cannonball Adderley‘s celebrated album Somethin’ Else. On May 19, 1962, he played piano as actress Marilyn Monroe sang her famous “Happy Birthday, Mr. President” song to then U.S. president John F. Kennedy
more...Susana Maria Alfonso de Aguiar (18 June 1955 – 27 July 2024), known mononymously as Mísia, was a Portuguese fado singer. She was a polyglot, singing some of her songs in Spanish, French, Catalan, English, and Japanese.
Mísia’s mother was Catalan and used to be a cabaret dancer, which accounts for many of the influences that shaped her music: tango, bolero, the use of Portuguese guitar with accordion, violin and the piano.
Mísia died from cancer at a hospital in Lisbon, on 27 July 2024, at the age of 69.
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Two big galaxies interacting. Just a few hundred million years ago, the upper NGC 2936 was likely a normal spiral galaxy: spinning, creating stars, and minding its own business. Then it got too close to the massive elliptical galaxy NGC 2937, below, and took a dive. Together known as Arp 142, they are featured in this new Webb infrared image, while a visible light Hubble image appears in comparison. NGC 2936 is not only being deflected, but distorted, by this close gravitational interaction. When massive galaxies pass near each other, gas is typically condensed from which new stars form. A young group of stars appears as the nose of the penguin toward the right of the upper galaxy, while in the center of the spiral, bright stars together appear as an eye. Before a billion years, the two galaxies will likely merge into one larger galaxy. 326mly.
more...David William Sanborn (July 30, 1945 – May 12, 2024 Tampa, FL) was an American alto saxophonist. Sanborn worked in many musical genres; his solo recordings typically blended jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He began playing the saxophone at the age of 11 and released his first solo album, Taking Off, in 1975. He was active as a session musician, and played on numerous albums by artists including Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Sting, the Eagles, Rickie Lee Jones, James Brown, George Benson, Carly Simon, Elton John, Bryan Ferry and the Rolling Stones. He released more than 20 albums and won six Grammy awards.
Sanborn was one of the most commercially successful American saxophonists to earn prominence since the 1980s. He was described by critic Scott Yanow as “the most influential saxophonist on pop, R&B and crossover players of the past 20 years.” He became identified with radio-friendly smooth jazz, although he disliked the term and said he was not a jazz musician.
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