2008: In Memoriam
“There are so many little dyings that it doesn’t matter which of them is death,” wrote esteemed poet/ author Kenneth Patchen. Yet the accrual of such dying over the course of a calendar year belies such “little”ness. As we nudge into the 21st century, the luminaries of the previous one begin to wane, the architects and innovators of prime American music forms: blues, jazz, folk, rock. The obituary page for 2008 may not feature so many marquee names, but the crucial people behind the stage—the gurus, the producers, the poster artists, the record executives, the session men—all continued to vanish as well.
We lost studio drummers like Earl Palmer and guitarist Robert Ward, Phil Spector’s engineer Phil Levine, jazz photographer William Claxton, Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black, Thelonious Monk saxophonist Johnny Griffin. Number groups diminished by one, be they the Count Five, the Four Tops, the Dave Clark Five, or the Kingston Trio. Here are a few of the folks-–some well-known, some never heard of— whose work and influence created a great resonance here and whose efforts will hopefully continue to reverberate in the generations to come.
Henri Chopin, French sound poet (Jan. 3)
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, Beatles guru (Feb. 5)
Teo Macero, Miles Davis producer, original cut-n-paste producer (Feb. 19)
Joe Gibbs, legendary Jamaican reggae producer (Feb. 21)
Larry Norman, “Father of Christian Rock” (Feb. 24)
Steve “Static Major” Garrett, hip-hop songwriter (Feb. 25)
Buddy Miles, drummer (Feb. 26)
Mikey Dread, reggae producer, Clash collaborator (March 15)
Danny Federici, E Street bandsman (April 17)
Bebe Barron, electronic music composer (April 20)
Jimmy Giuffre, jazz reedman/composer (April 24)
Eddy Arnold, countrypolitan crooner (May 8)
Bo Diddley, guitar genius (June 2)
Natasha Shneider, keyboardist and singer (July 3)
Khia “K-Swift” Edgerton, Baltimore producer/DJ (July 21)
Robert Hazard, Philly new waver (Aug. 5)
Isaac Hayes, singer, songwriter, producer, Black Moses (Aug. 10)
Jerry Wexler, music journalist, Atlantic Records music producer, coined term “rhythm & blues” (Aug. 15)
Richard Wright, Pink Floyd keyboardist (Sept. 15)
Alton Ellis, Jamaican soul singer (Oct. 10)
Neal Hefti, trumpeter, small-screen composer (Oct. 11)
Levi Stubbs, gravel-voiced soul man (Oct. 17)
Yma Sumac, Peruvian songbird (Nov. 1)
Miriam Makeba, South African singer, exile, “Mama Afrika” (Nov. 10)
Mitch Mitchell, drummer (Nov. 12)
Odetta, Queen of American Folk Music (Dec. 2)
Davey Graham, pioneering UK folk guitarist (Dec. 15)
Eartha Kitt, singer, Catwoman (Dec. 25)
Delaney Bramlett, guitarist, songwriter, white bluesman (Dec. 28)
Freddie Hubbard, jazz saxophonist, sideman, small group leader (Dec. 29)
