Very sorry to hear that the drummer and avant-garde master Ronald Shannon Jackson died today. This would be a great time to revisit his Modern Drummer interview from 1984, by friend of the blog Chip […]
Category: obituary
George Duke 1946-2013
There was some kind of magnetism about George Duke that made you think he was going to live forever, but then it doesn’t work out that way. Hearing him on Frank Zappa’s Roxy & Elsewhere […]
DBMITW: Steve Berrios 1945-2013
Very sorry that the drummer Steve Berrios, who played a lot of great music, passed away this week. On this recording he plays trumpet, as well as drums: More after the break: Playing drumset: On […]
Alan Myers 1955-2013
Mark Mothersbaugh and Alan Myers, way back when. Very sorry to hear Devo drummer Alan Myers died today, of cancer. Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! was the first record I ever […]
Ed Shaughnessy 1929-2013
I couldn’t possibly improve on what Jon McCaslin has said about the passing of this great drummer, so just go read his notice.
Jonathan Winters 1925-2013
The great comedian Jonathan Winters has just died— I guess if his name means anything to you, you probably know about it already. As usual, I have nothing significant to add, but there’s a very […]
Clive Burr 1957-2013
Sorry to hear that original Iron Maiden drummer (he played on the first records, anyway) Clive Burr died yesterday, of multiple sclerosis, at age 56. Heavy metal drummers tend to be pretty anonymous sounding to […]
Dave Brubeck 1920-2012
On the occasion of pianist Dave Brubeck’s passing at age 91, it might be nice to set aside the time to watch his appearance on Jazz Casual with Ralph J. Gleason: Here’s a notice from […]
Pete LaRoca 1938-2012
Another very great drummer has died, Pete LaRoca Sims. I heard that he had entered a hospice a few days ago; his condition must have deteriorated very quickly. He was of roughly the same generation […]