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.

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.

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.

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”.

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.