The Year (some of the people who made some of) The Music Died (Part 2)

As mentioned before, LOTS of remarkable people in the world of music died in 2013, the following are tributes to  a few more of them...

Richie Havens (died 22nd April)

 

Why you should* feel sad
Because another unique human being no longer exists

Contribution to music
Unique and intense, plaintive and jittery acoustic folk-ish, soul-ish, blues-ish type stuff

Outstanding Example:
'Freedom' (Live at Woodstock, 1969)
Kind of a cliché since it is by far his most famous performance but his opening set ensured that in all the mud and euphoria the serious, peace-activism at the heart of the festival.


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Ray Manzarek (died 20th May)

 

Why you should* feel sad
Because another unique human being no longer exists

Contribution to music
Jim Morrison may have been the face/voice of The Doors, but Ray Manzarek's organ really set the sound of the band apart from their blues/rock/psych peers

Outstanding Example:
Where to start? 'Light My Fire' is maybe the most classic bit of Doors organ but Manzarek's playing is everywhere in their sound. I would go for 'The Changeling' as a masterpiece of his funkier style.


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Trevor Bolder (died 4th February)

 

Why you should* feel sad
Because another unique human being no longer exists

Contribution to music
Played bass on some of David Bowie's finest albums as well as with Uriah Heep

Outstanding Example:
LOTS! If you take Bolder's descending bass part out of Bowie's 'Changes' it loses half of its goodness. And his bass gives the rock riff of 'Ziggy Stardust' its impact.

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Jeff Hanneman (died 2nd May)

 

Why you should* feel sad
Because another unique human being no longer exists

Contribution to music
Some of the most inventive riffs and solos in metal; one of the key architects of thrash/death metal.

Outstanding Example:
Again, so many. But I LOVE Hanneman's 'Spill The Blood' from South of Heaven (1988), a song that went against the prevailing faster-than-thou trend (which admittedly Slayer had helped to create with Reign in Blood) to show that clean guitars and slower tempos need not mean less heavy music.

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Alan Myers (died 24th June)

 

Why you should* feel sad
Because another unique human being no longer exists

Contribution to music
One of the great robotic drummers of the New Wave period

Outstanding Example:
The whole of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo. His precise, hard-hitting style gives maximum tension to their tightly controlled sound, especially on songs like their idiosyncratic cover of the Rolling Stones' 'Satisfaction'.

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George Duke (died 5th August)

 

Why you should* feel sad
Because another unique human being no longer exists

Contribution to music
Like all of Frank Zappa's collaborators, George Duke was a first class musician; both in solo recordings and as a band member his keyboard playing was complex, innovative, but never unlistenable.

Outstanding Example:
Having not heard as much of his solo stuff as I should have I kind of have to judge by his Zappa work, but listen to Roxy & Elsewhere - he was great.

* You shouldn't of course feel sad, unless you want to.