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INTRODUCTION
This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, June 2nd, 2023, featuring music from recording artists who have recently passed away. It’s the afterlife’s greatest jam session, this week featuring musicians from America, Turkey, Israel, Slovakia, and Mexico; as well as singers from America, Australia, France, Algeria, Lebanon, and Ghana. Our headliner this week is jazz bassist and film composer Bill Lee. Now, let’s kick off the jam with our Opening Act.
Opening Act:
[21 May 2023] Ed Ames, 95, American singer (“My Cup Runneth Over“, “Time, Time“) and actor (Daniel Boone).
Our Opening Act was the youngest of nine children born to American emigrees from Ukraine in 1927. Ed Ames passed away on May 21st and played Mingo on the Daniel Boone TV show from the 1960s. While he also performed with three of his brothers as The Ames Brothers, he’s best known for his solo easy listening hits, like this one from the musical “I Do, I Do,” called “My Cup Runneth Over.”
Ed Ames – My Cup Runneth Over (From The Musical Production I Do, I Do)
Headliner:
[24 May 2023] Bill Lee, 94, American jazz musician and film composer (She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing).
Our Headliner this week is a 94-year-old jazz bassist and film composer who also happens to be filmmaker Spike Lee’s dad. Bill Lee passed on May 24th and was recorded on over 250 albums as a first-call session player for the likes of Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Harry Belafonte, Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon and Garfunkel, Burt Bacharach, the Mamas & the Papas, and on this track from Gordon Lightfoot’s 1966 debut album entitled “Oh, Linda”
Gordon Lightfoot – Oh, Linda
An extra salute goes out to Bill Nunn, who played Radio Raheem in that intro clip from Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing,” who passed away on May 27th at age 63.
Main Stage:
[31 May 2023] Dickie Harrell, 82, American Hall of Fame drummer (Gene Vincent and the Blue Caps).
Opening our Main Stage this week we have Dickie Harrell, a Rock & Roll Hall-of-Fame Drummer with Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps. Harrell passed on May 31st at the age of 82. Besides the Blue Caps, Harrell worked as a session drummer. Here he is on the Gene Vincent classic covered by so many artists, “Be Bop a Lula.”
Gene Vincent – Be-Bop-A-Lula
[25 May 2023] Joy McKean, 93, Australian country singer and songwriter (“Lights on the Hill“, “The Biggest Disappointment“), cancer.
Next on our Main Stage this week we go Down Under for some Australian Country. Joy McKean passed away on May 25th at the age of 93, two decades following her legendary husband, Australian icon Slim Dusty. McKean herself is known as the Queen of Australian Country music and penned many of Dusty’s biggest hits, including this one called “Lights on the Hill.”
Slim Dusty – Lights On The Hill
[25 May 2023] Jean-Louis Murat, 71, French singer-songwriter.
Next up we go to France, where singer-songwriter Jean-Louis Murat passed on May 25th at the age of 71. He was a gifted musician from the age of 7, a multi-instrumentalist and prolific artist, recording nearly an album a year from 1981 to 2021. Here he is with “Au Mont Sans-Souci.”
Jean-Louis Murat – Au Mont Sans-Souci
[23 May 2023] Redd Holt, 91, American jazz drummer (Ramsey Lewis Trio, Young-Holt Unlimited).
We close the Main Stage with jazz great Redd Holt, the drummer for The Ramsey Lewis Trio, who all three were classmates in high school in Chicago. Holt was born in 1932 and passed on May 23rd. Here’s the performance that earned Holt the 1965 Grammy for Best Jazz Performance, recorded live in Washington, DC, this is “The ‘In’ Crowd.”
The Ramsey Lewis Trio – The ‘In’ Crowd
Festival Stage:
[28 May 2023] Karim Tizouiar [fr], 60, Algerian Kabyle singer.
Our Festival Stage begins in Algeria with the youngest artist added to the Reaper’s Rotation this week. Karim Tizouiar was born in 1963 and passed away on May 28th. Known by his stage name Karim T, he began playing in mandolin in groups in 1982 and by 1987 had launched a solo career. Here he is with the tune “Abrid.”
Karim Tizouiar – Abrid
[26 May 2023] Mohamed Jamal [ar], 89, Lebanese singer.
Next, we go to Lebanon where Mohamed Jamal has passed away on May 26th at the age of 89. By the age of 20, Jamal was singing on national radio and soon appearing in films. His career continued for forty years until he retired in 1994 in Los Angeles. Here he is performing “Baddi Choufik Koul Yom.”
Mohamed Jamal – Baddi Choufik Koul Yom
[24 May 2023] İlham Gencer [tr], 98, Turkish pianist.
We close the Festival Stage in Turkey with Ilham Gencer, a singer and pianist who’s our oldest performer this week at the age of 98. Often considered the father of Turkish pop music, Gencer began playing piano at the age of 5 and played by ear for the rest of his life. Surprisingly, this song, translated as “Once Upon A Time,” was one of the first pop hits in Turkey to be sung in Turkish.
İlham Gencer – Bak Bir Varmış Bir Yokmuş
The Conservatory:
[24 May 2023] Javier Álvarez, 67, Mexican composer.
We open the Conservatory in Mexico with 67-year-old Javier Alvarez, a Mexican composer whose works often utilized unusual instruments and new music technologies. Born in Mexico City in 1956, Alvarez also spent a quarter century in Britain. Alvarez passed away on May 24th. Here’s just a sample from one of his electroacoustical experimental compositions.
Javier Álvarez – Electroacustico
[27 May 2023] Mordechai Rechtman, 97, German-born Israeli bassoonist, conductor and arranger.
Next we have 97-year-old Mordechai Rechtman, who was the principal bassoonist for the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra from the country’s founding until 1991. He began playing the bassoon at age 12 and three years later was already a principal bassoonist. He was also an international chess master. Here he is performing Sonata in E-Flat Major by Bach.
Mordechai Rechtman – Sonata in E-Flat Major by Bach
[24 May 2023] Jack Martin Händler, 75, Slovak conductor and violinist.
Closing the Conservatory this week we feature Jack Martin Händler who left us on May 24th. He started his in Bratislava as a violinist, working his way up to conductor. Here he is on violin performing Vivaldi’s Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin in B-Flat.
Jack Martin Händler – Double Concerto for Oboe and Violin in B-Flat by Vivaldi
Encore:
[23 May 2023] Redd Holt, 91, American jazz drummer (Ramsey Lewis Trio, Young-Holt Unlimited).
We bring back Redd Holt to the stage to showcase another angle to this legendary jazz drummer. Following a split with Ramsey Lewis, Holt and fellow trio-mate Eldee Young formed Young-Holt Unlimited and earned modest success as an instrumental soul band. Here’s their best-known track, “Soulful Strut.”
Young-Holt Unlimited – Soulful Strut
[24 May 2023] Bill Lee, 94, American jazz musician and film composer (She’s Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing).
For our final encore, our headliner, jazz musician and film composer Bill Lee takes us home, playing the bass behind the Queen of Soul on her cover of “Over the Rainbow.”
Aretha Franklin – Over The Rainbow
Closing
And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, June 2nd, 2023, featuring artists who have recently passed away. Join us here next week for another tribute to the musicians playing the next set at the Great Gig in the Sky. For Rest in Playlist, I’m “Radical” Russ Belville reminding you to seize the day, it may be your last.
