response 1 of 13:

Mar 9 22:16 UTC 2006

The death of Malian guitarist and singer Ali Farka Toure was announced
this week.   Toure died of bone cancer; his age was around 67.

Toure was from the north of Mali, near Timbuktu, so his music had 
more of an Arabic/Islamic influence than the more numerous musicians
from the tropical south of the country.   Western listeners found 
links to the blues in Toure's style.   Toure recorded two albums 
in the early 1980s for a French label which didn't pay him; disillusioned
with the music business, he returned home.   A few years later, a 
British DJ played those French albums on the radio, and the boss of 
a small record company was motivated to have one of his staff go to 
Mali and find Toure.

Toure recorded about six albums after that, included two collaborations
which won Grammy awards: one with Ry Cooder, and one just last year with
kora player Toumani Diabate from the south of Mali.

Toure's audience was almost entirely a Western one; he was not 
well known as a musician in Mali.   He brought the money
he made from touring and recording back to his community, where he helped
fund development projects.    He had been appointed the mayor of 
his region in recent years.

response 3 of 13:

Jul 11 17:10 UTC 2006

Goddammit.

response 5 of 13:

Aug 4 21:48 UTC 2006

 Ken sent me a note today to point out that Arthur Lee, the front
 man for the largely forgotten 1960s psychedelic band Love, died
 of leukemia at the age of 61.

 Along with guitarist Bryan MacLean, Lee was the driving creative
 force behind Love, a pioneering, critically acclaimed, mutiracial
 band and fixture of the 1960s' Los Angeles psychedelic scene.
 Today their music is largely forgotten -- I dare say most people
 who will read this have never heard even one of their songs -- but
 it was highly respected at the time and has only grown in esteem
 as time progresses.  The band reached the peak of its creative
 powers with "Forever Changes", a chaotic, creative album of dystopian
 lyrics matched with gentle acoustic arrangements on some tracks
 and energetic horn-filled uptempo arragnements on others.  Cited
 by many critics as one of the great "lost" albums of the sixties
 and ranked by Rolling Stone at number 40 on their "500 Greatest
 Albums of All Time" list, "Forever Changes" was the band's high
 point (probably in more sense than one.)   Most likely Love was
 already doomed by the time of "Forever Changes" but within a short
 time thereafter the group was split by internal tension; in the
 end MacLean left the band and Lee's talent faded away through drugs,
 stress, and disillusionment.

 Lee spent years of the later part of his life in prison on firearms
 charges, having allegedly threatened a neighbor with a handgun.
 After his release, he launched a semi-successful comeback attempt
 in England, touring with old material and a new band to good reviews,
 including (according to Salon.com) this enthusiastic 2002 mention
 from Labour party MP Peter Bradley (Early Day Motion, House of
 Commons (May 22))

     Motion: "That this House pays tribute to the legendary
     Arthur Lee, also known as Arthurly, frontman and inspiration
     of Love, the world's greatest rock band and creators of
     'Forever Changes,' the greatest album of all time; notes
     that following his release from gaol he is currently touring
     Europe; and urges the honourable and especially Right
     honourable Members to consider the potential benefit to
     their constituents if they were, with the indulgence of
     their whips, to lighten up and tune in to one of his
     forthcoming British gigs."

 

response 7 of 13:

Dec 15 02:47 UTC 2006

  I'll be amending my playlist for tonight's radio show to focus on
  some of the acts Ertegun developed during his 60 years in the 
  music industry.  If I had more time I'd dig up some of the many
  tracks he co-authored and had recorded by artists in Atlantic's
  soul lineup back when soul music was just beginning to become a
  commercial success.

response 9 of 13:

Dec 15 06:24 UTC 2006

The only quibble I have with resp:6 is that my recollection is that
the Rolling Stones were not a "rising" band when they signed 
with Atlantic.  That deal was around 1970, and the first album 
under it was "Sticky Fingers" and the second was "Exile on Main 
Street."  (Atlantic did the distribution; the labels read
"Rolling Stones Records".)
 
In the late 70s I went through a period where I often played 
several good anthologies of the old Atlantic soul tracks.

response 11 of 13:

Dec 15 17:55 UTC 2006

"London" was the USA imprint of the British firm Decca Records, which
released the early Stones albums in the UK.   I think London Records
was better known as a classical music imprint; I'm having trouble
thinking of other rock bands who were on that label, though I'm sure
there must have been a few.
 
The Rolling Stone (magazine) obituary for Ertegun also credits him
for signing Cream, and for getting Neil Young to join up with 
Crosby Stills & Nash.

response 13 of 13:

Jun 2 21:34 UTC 2008

Rock 'n' Roll pioneer Bo Diddley has died at the age of 79.
His distinctive namesake beat can be heard in the work of the many
musicians he influenced and he leaves behind a number of popular
blues standards that will ensure his legacy continues.