Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/07/06/pianist-henry-butler-dead-at-6.html
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Sting. Yeah, I know, nothing really new new in a a while, but I’m always going to love hearing him sing.
Brian Eno. Again, he hasn’t really woken me up in years, but I keep hoping.
Wendy Carlos. Lyle Mays. Donald Fagen.
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Not sure how I came this far without hearing of Henry Butler (though upon checking, I must’ve at least heard him via Treme).
Most of the musicians I listen to are no longer with us. But I always keep Paul Simon’s Still Crazy… handy. (I still choke up whenever I hear Toots Thielemans on “Night Game”.) Peter Gabriel’s Passion. Aretha…
I’ve tried to go and see the older jazz musicians when they come to town: Heath Bros., Roy Haynes (turned 90 when I saw him), Lee Konitz (ditto), Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins (I believe he’s already retired from performing). I saw McCoy Tyner last fall: he needed help walking to the piano, but once he got there, he played like the thunder.
Hmm, not quite so much on his own as with Steely Dan, but I’d definitely miss him, yeah. I feel the same way as you do about Eno.
It’s a tough gig, watching your musical heroes fall. Here are some folks who might help, at least a little bit, to begin filling that void:
Joe Strummer - I got nuffin’. MAYBE Donald Glover/Childish Gambino, but that’s more of a spiritual successor than musical, at least IMO.
Johnny Cash - Sturgill Simpson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5cMqD0WqYE
Henry Butler - Charlie Wood: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTSaglsxmA8
Also maybe Manic Street Preachers, especially Generation Terrorists era. This may have the downside of knowing that Richey Edwards isn’t with us anymore (or, in the unlikely situation he is, he isn’t telling anyone)
For me, Tom Waits and Elvis Costello. I hope they’re both OK.
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Just to cheer this up: we’re getting wonderful new musicians every day. Nothing lasts forever.
These guys are middle aged, but:
Or, younger and from my neighbourhood:
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They’re both big for me too. Costello just cancelled the rest of his m current tour to recover from surgery to remove some cancer.
I am thankful for the opportunity to have seen Sonny Rollins and McCoy Tyner in concert, and hope that they are well.
Roy Haynes represents the last of the Actual Genius Drummers: his work on “My Favorite Things” at Newport with Trane is beyond description. Check it out for yourselves. Fools who cut costs by using three-beat mechanical tracks are destroying drumming and rhythm sections in general. Afro-Latin music is the last front of good percussion and it’s next for takeover by the soulless.
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Tribute to Henry Butler on this week’s Le Show, as I suspected there’d be:
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