Passages

[hearthesilence]

First Quincy, then Lou Donaldson, now we've lost Roy Haynes.

Check out his solo during this London performance from November 14, 1966. (The quartet itself is pretty amazing - Stan Getz, Gary Burton and Steve Swallow.)

Another jazz great I deeply regret missing. Just last month, he was inducted into the Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame at Lincoln Center, but unlike fellow inductee Sheila Jordan (who performed a complete set at her induction despite a lingering flu), he was not present, which seemed like a possible sign that he wasn't doing too well. Still, at 99 years old, he went a lot further than most. Great on so many records, he didn't have that many under his own name until late in his career, and they were consistently good. (Praise is probably the best of them.)

[hearthesilence]

But Quincy's dry-run for WATW was Donna Summer's 'State of Independence', taking the Jon and Vangelis track and turning it into something euphoric. And Quincy compiled the greatest set of backing singers imaginable - Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick, Michael Jackson, Brenda Russell, Christopher Cross, Dyan Cannon, James Ingram, Kenny Loggins, Peggy Lipton, Patti Austin, Michael McDonald, and Stevie Wonder.

I love Donna Summer, but to be brutally honest, I think the album Quincy produced was possibly her worst one up to that point - they picked very weak material. I never liked "State of Independence," but I think the lead single, "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)," is a definite keeper. "Protection" isn't bad either, but I can see why Springsteen gave it away and held on to other songs like "Dancing in the Dark" and "Cover Me" instead.

[thirtyframesasecond]

But Quincy's dry-run for WATW was Donna Summer's 'State of Independence', taking the Jon and Vangelis track and turning it into something euphoric. And Quincy compiled the greatest set of backing singers imaginable - Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick, Michael Jackson, Brenda Russell, Christopher Cross, Dyan Cannon, James Ingram, Kenny Loggins, Peggy Lipton, Patti Austin, Michael McDonald, and Stevie Wonder.

I love Donna Summer, but to be brutally honest, I think the album Quincy produced was possibly her worst one up to that point - they picked very weak material. I never liked "State of Independence," but I think the lead single, "Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)," is a definite keeper. "Protection" isn't bad either, but I can see why Springsteen gave it away and held on to other songs like "Dancing in the Dark" and "Cover Me" instead.

Oh you can't compare this to the Moroder era (Bad Girls is a perfect double album), and in the post-Moroder era, Summer was more about great individual tracks ('This Time I Know It's For Real' is probably the best Stock Aitken Waterman production) than albums.

[JSC]

Timothy West. First saw him in Edward the King. Wonderful actor.

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2024/ ... es-aged-90

[hearthesilence]

Sheldon “Shel” Talmy. He arranged and produced the Kinks’ early run of hits, including "You Really Got Me” and “All Day and All of the Night," the Who's first landmark recordings including "My Generation," and “Friday on My Mind” by the Easybeats. He also produced hits by Manfred Mann, Amen Corner, Chad & Jeremy and others and worked extensively with artists like the Creation and Pentangle, as well as David Bowie’s early singles.

This was shared on his Facebook account:

FAREWELL FROM SHEL

(We are gutted to tell you that the great Shel Talmy has left the building. He passed away peacefully at home yesterday after suffering a stroke over the weekend. We will have more information, and links to obituaries, shortly, but most importantly we want you to know that Shel thought the world of you, his FB followers and supporters, and to that end, some time ago he prepared the following statement that he would like shared now - preferably with 'You Really Got Me', 'My Generation', 'Friday On My Mind' or your choice of favourite ST production cranked in the background).

"Hi to all, and many thanks to all of you who have been reading my rock stories for all this time, it has been greatly appreciated!

Please note, that if you're reading this now, this is my final vignette, as I am no longer residing on this plane of existence, and have “moved on”, to wherever that may be.

I'd like to think there is something beyond where I was to where I am now, assuming that the millions of suppositions as to what is next, are accurate.

I'd like to think that I'm thoroughly enjoying my new “residence”, and that the countless rumors that there is a big working "studio in the sky" are true, and that we are, dare I say, making heavenly music!

I am also hoping that I am currently engaged in renewing relationships with a ton of friends and acquaintances, many of which go back for decades.

I've had a good run, and I am delighted it lasted as long as it did. I'm also delighted that I am told I have a legacy that will last even longer.

I look forward to meeting some of you in the future who are reading this, but LOL, don't hurry to get here, I'm not going anywhere!"

[colinr0380]

I had missed this until the article dedicated to her in this month's last edition of Neo Magazine but the voice actress Atsuko Tanaka passed back on 20th August at only 61. She has a lot of roles but the big one is that she voiced Major Motoko Kusanagi in the two Ghost In The Shell films, as well as the Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex series of the mid-2000s (and the 2006 spin-off film from that: Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex: Solid State Society). In other anime series she voices characters in Ergo Poxy, Parasyte: The Maxim, Devilman: Crybaby and the 2004 Monster series.

Her other big role was in video games where she was the voice of Bayonetta (as well as Kainé in the two Neir games).

[flyonthewall2983]

Pete Sinfield, lyricist for the earliest King Crimson material from the iconic debut album on through 1972, also made some records of his own and later wrote pop songs for the likes of Celine Dion.

[GaryC]

Australian actor Ken Shorter. He's probably best known for playing the title role in Stone (1973) but was also in Ned Kelly (1970) and Sunday Too Far Away (1975) amongst others. He first came to prominence in the 1967 TV series You Can't See 'Round Corners and its 1969 cinema version. He also worked in the UK on film and television. Wikipedia seems uncertain of his birth and death dates, but he was 79.

[GaryC]

Pete Sinfield, lyricist for the earliest King Crimson material from the iconic debut album on through 1972, also made some records of his own and later wrote pop songs for the likes of Celine Dion.

Not forgetting a UK number one with Bucks Fizz's "Land of Make Believe" and, probably the biggest hit with his name on it, Greg Lake's "I Believe in Father Christmas". The latter is now a Christmas perennial and would have been a number one if it hadn't come out at the same time as "Bohemian Rhapsody".

[Swift]

Jon Kenny, comedian and sometime actor, died a few days ago. He rose to fame in Ireland in the 90s as one half of the double act D'Unbelievables, who parodied a very rural Irish way life, touring the country, releasing VHS tapes and making occasional television appearances. His most well known acting roles would've been in two episodes of Father Ted, playing the manager of the cinema where the two lead priests protest a blasphemous film, and then in a later episode as the host of the Eurosong contest (after Steve Coogan had to back out). He recently showed up with his comedy partner Pat Shortt in the pub scenes in The Banshees of Inisherin.

[GaryC]

Colin "Smiley" Petersen, aged 79. A child actor in the 1950s, including the title role in Smiley (1956), from which he earned his nickname. He went on to be the original drummer with the Bee Gees.

[ex-cowboy]

Poet Shuntaro Tanikawa. Primarily a writer, and translator of Snoopy into Japanese, but he also made a series of video letters, which were exchanged with Shuji Terayama not long before the latter's death. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/ ... ath-age-92