MUSICIANS WHO DIED IN JUNE 2021

 JUNE 18

 GIFT OF GAB  (50)  /   AKA TIMOTHY JEROME PARKER, AMERICAN UNDERGROUND RAPPER. MEMBER OF HIP HOP DUO BLACKALICIOUS (5 ALBUMS), THE MIGHTY UNDERDOGS AND QUANNUM PROJECTS, ALSO SOLO ARTIST (3 ALBUMS). WORKED WITH DJ SHADOW, DJ VADIM, SLAM POET WATSKY, N.A.S.A. IN 2002 GIFT OF GAB CONTRIBUTED TO RED HOT + RIOT: THE MUSIC AND SPIRIT OF FELA KUTI. 

JUNE 19 / 20

 DAVID EDWARDS  (56)  /  WELSH MUSICIAN, SINGER, WRITER, LEAD SINGER OF THE WELSH-LANGUAGE POST-PUNK / EXPERIMENTAL BAND DATBLYGU FORMED IN 1982. ALSO WORKED WITH LLWYBR LLAETHOG, AN EXPERIMENTAL WELSH LANGUAGE BAND MIXING PUNK, HIP HOP, DUB, RAP. DATBLYGU SPLIT DUE TO EDWARDS' ALCOHOLISM, WHICH FINALLY KILLED HIM. MADE THREE ALBUMS WYAU, PYST, LIBERTINO. WROTE AUTOBIOGRAPHY ATGOFION HENC WAN (Y LOLFA, 2009). NME PRAISED HIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE WELSH LANGUAGE AND JOHN PEEL WANTED TO LEARN WELSH BECAUSE OF EDWARDS' LYRICS.

JUNE 22

JIM BESSMAN  (68)  /  AMERICAN WRITER AND MUSIC JOURNALIST, WROTE FOR BILLBOARD MAGAZINE, VARIETY AND OTHER MAGAZINES AND LINER NOTES FOR OVER 80 ALBUMS. AUTHOR OF BOOKS THE RAMONES - AN AMERICAN BAND AND JOHN MELLENCAMP - THE CONCERT AT WALTER REED. WAS A VOTING MEMBER OF THE ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME.

JUNE 23

 WOJCIECH KAROLAK  (82)  /  POLISH JAZZ MUSICIAN AND COMPOSER. PLAYED ALTO AND TENOR SAXOPHONES, ACOUSTIC AND ELECTRIC PIANOS AND HIS MAIN INSTRUMENT HAMMOND B-3 ORGAN. WORKED WITH ALL THE BEST POLISH JAZZMEN AND  DON ELLIS, ANNIE ROSS, RAY CHARLES, RED MITCHELL. STARTED PLAYING WHILE STILL AT SCHOOL IN KRAKÓW. IN THE LATE 1950's WITH KRZYSZTOF KOMEDA AND ANDRZEJ TRZASKOWSKI IN THE JAZZ BELIEVERS. THEN WITH ANDRZEJ KURYLEWICZ, ROMAN "GUCIO" DYLĄG, JERZY MILIAN, JAN BYRCZEK, ZBIGNIEW NAMYSŁOWSKI, MICHAŁ URBANIAK, ADAM MAKOWICZ, URSZULA DUDZIAK, ANDRZEJ DĄBROWSKI, CZESŁAW BARTKOWSKI, MAREK BLIZIŃSKI, JAN "PTASZYN" WRÓBLEWSKI, JAROSŁAW ŚMIETANA. 1965 - 1972 LIVED AND PLAYED IN SWEDEN. WOJCIECH KAROLAK ALSO WROTE MUSIC FOR FILMS AND JAZZ AND POP SONGS OFTEN FOR EWA BEM AND OFTEN WITH LYRICS BY HIS WIFE, FAMOUS LYRYCIST AND WRITER MARIA CZUBASZEK (DIED IN 2016, BOTH WERE BORN JUST BEFORE WWII).

 ELLEN McILWAINE  (75)  /  AMERICAN-BORN CANADIAN SINGER, SONGWRITER, GUITAR, PIANO, HARMONICA PLAYER, SLIDE GUITARIST. BORN IN NASHVILLE, ADOPTED BY MISSIONARIES, RAISED IN KOBE, JAPAN. IN 1966 IN GREENWICH VILLAGE IN NYC WORKED EVERY NIGHT AT THE CAFE AU GO GO, PLAYING WITH JIMI HENDRIX, OPENING FOR MUDDY WATERS, SONNY TERRY AND BROWNIE McGHEE, BIG JOE WILLIAMS. LATE 1960's FORMED PSYCHEDELIC BLUES-ROCK BAND FEAR ITSELF, MAKING ONE SELF-TITLED ALBUM IN 1968. MOVED TO CANADA. WORKED WITH JACK BRUCE, TAJ MAHAL, SUE FOLEY, PATTY LARKIN. APPEARED IN THE JIMI HENDRIX DOC, HEAR MY TRAIN A COMIN.

JUNE 26

 FREDERIC RZEWSKI  (83)  /  AMERICAN COMPOSER AND VIRTUOSO PIANIST INTERESTED IN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THEMES. BORN IN MASSACHUSETTS IN A POLISH FAMILY, STARTED PLAYING PIANO AT 5. STUDIED AT PHILLIPS ACADEMY, HARVARD, PRINCETON AND WAS TAUGHT BY MILTON BABBITT, RANDALL THOMPSON, WILLIAM SESSIONS, WALTER PISTON. IN 1960 WENT TO ITALY, STUDIED WITH LUIGI DALLAPICCOLA, PALYED NEW PIANO MUSIC, OFTEN IMPROVISED. IN 1966, IN ROME CO-FOUNDED A LIVE ACOUSTIC / ELECTRONIC IMPROVISATIONAL GROUP MUSICA ELETTRONICA VIVA OR MEV (EARLY EXPERIMENTS WITH SYNTHESIZERS) WITH ALVIN CURRAN AND RICHARD TEITELBAUM (THOUGH THE LIST OF CO-FOUNDERS VARIES). MEV HAD DIFFERENT COLLABORATORS LIKE STEVE LACY, GEORGE LEWIS, GARRETT LIST, MEMBERS OF AMM OR EVEN MICHELANGELO PISTOLETTO. MEV'S GIGS OFTEN ENDED IN RIOTS. SO THIS GROUP, OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH AVANTGARDE JAZZ, SHOWED A PUNK SPIRIT AS WELL. FREDERIC RZEWSKI'S MOST FAMOUS COMPOSITION WAS PERHAPS "THE PEOPLE UNITED WILL NEVER BE DEFEATED!",  36 VARIATIONS ON THE SERGIO ORTEGA SONG "EL PUEBLO UNIDO JAMÁS SERÁ VENCIDO". HE ALSO WROTE A SET OF VIRTUOSIC PIANO VARIATIONS ON BEETHOVEN'S DIABELLI VARIATIONS. RZEWSKI HIMSELF RECORDED MUSIC BY ANTHONY BRAXTON, CORNELIUS CARDEW, KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN AND RZEWSKI.

JON HASSELL  (84)  /  AMERICAN TRUMPET PLAYER AND COMPOSER WORKING IN AVANTGARDE, WORLD, AMBIENT, MINIMAL AND ELECTROACOUSTIC MUSIC. CREATED THE CONCEPT OF "FOURTH WORLD" MUSIC EXPLAINING IT AS "A UNIFIED PRIMITIVE/FUTURISTIC SOUND COMBINING FEATURES OF WORLD ETHNIC STYLES WITH ADVANCED ELECTRONIC TECHNIQUES". STUDIED AT EASTMAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC AND WITH KARLHEINZ STOCKHAUSEN IN COLOGNE. BACK IN THE US WORKED WITH TERRY RILEY, MARIAN ZAZEELA AND La MONTE YOUNG. HASSELL'S SOUND WAS INFLUENCED BY MILES DAVIS AND PANDIT PRAN NATH. IN 1980 WITH BRIAN ENO ON THE ALBUM FOURTH WORLD, VOL.1: POSSIBLE MUSICS. MADE 18 ALBUMS AS LEADER OR CO-LEADER. RECORDED WITH TERRY RILEY, La MONTE YOUNG, MARIAN ZAZEELA, BRIAN ENO, TALKING HEADS, DAVID SYLVIAN, PETER GABRIEL, TEARS FOR FEARS ("THE SEEDS OF LOVE"), RY COODER, ANI DiFRANCO, DAVID TOOP, HAL WILNER, IBRAHIM FERRER, BASSEKOU KOUYATÉ, JACKSON BROWNE, k.d. LANG, LLOYD COLE AND THE COMMOTIONS, JON BALKE, HOLLY COLE, DUNCAN SHEIK AND MANY OTHERS.       

JUNE 27

 PEPS PERSSON  (74)  /  SWEDISH SINGER, SONGWRITER AND PROGG, BLUES, ROOTS ROCK, REGGAE MUSICIAN AND SOCIAL CRITIC. STARTED IN 1962. SANG MAINLY IN SWEDISH, INSPIRED BY MUDDY WATERS, ELMORE JAMES, BOB MARLEY.

BRENDAN "STU" MAGUIRE  (  )  /  AMERICAN HARDCORE PUNK MUSICIAN WHO PLAYED BASS GUITAR WITH THE STRAIGHT EDGE BAND BANE (2006-2012) RECORDING WITH THEM THE BOSTON 6:58 PM AND LOS ANGELES 3:58 PM EPs. HE WAS ALSO KNOWN FOR HIS WORK WITH THE BOSTON BANDS REACH THE SKY AND CELTIC PUNK HARDCORE DROPKICK MURPHYS AND SKA-CORE THE MIGHTY MIGHTY BOSSTONES. FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS MAGUIRE BATTLED PANCREATIC CANCER. ON JULY 2 THE BOUNCING SOULS, H2O, SICK OF IT ALL, REBUILDER AND MAYBE SOME OTHER BANDS WILL PLAY A BENEFIT GIG CALLED "WE'RE WITH STU".  

 JUNE 28

 BURTON GREENE  (84)  /  AMERICAN FREE JAZZ PIANIST, PLAYING AVANTGARDE JAZZ AND KLEZMER MUSIC. STARTED PLAYING IN NYC WITH ALAN SILVA AND MARION BROWN. IN 1963 FOUNDED FREE IMPROVISATION ENSEMBLE WITH ALAN SILVA. IN 1964 JOINED BILL DIXON AND CECIL TAYLOR IN THEIR JAZZ COMPOSERS GUILD. WORKED WITH ALBERT AYLER, RASHIED ALI, GATO BARBIERI, SAM RIVERS, BYARD LANCASTER, PATTY WATERS. BURTON GREENE MADE TWO ALBUMS FOR ESP-Disk BURTON GREENE QUARTET (1966) AND ON TOUR (1968). IN 1969 MOVED TO PARIS, THEN AMSTERDAM PLAYING WITH MAARTEN ALTENA AND WILLEM BREUKER. IN US WITH PERRY ROBINSON, ROY CAMPBELL, MARK DRESSER, ED AND GEORGE SCHULLER. BURTON GREENE MADE 34 ALBUMS FOR ESP-Disk, COLUMBIA, BYG, HORO, HAT HUT, NIMBUS WEST, CADENCE, CIMP, NO BUSINESS AND OTHERS. IN 2001 PUBLISHED AUTOBIOGRAPHY MEMOIRS OF A MUSICAL PESTY-MYSTIC (CADENCE JAZZ BOOKS). GREENE DIED ON HIS BOAT IN AMSTERDAM.