Click to Listen to the Rest in Playlist
INTRODUCTION
This is the Rest in Playlist for Friday, May 12th, 2023, featuring artists who passed in the week prior, from April 29th through May 5th. This week the Grim Reaper brings us Croatian, Moroccan, Brazilian, & Greek artists on the Festival Stage, four American and Australian acts for the Jazz Cellar and the Country Bunker, an American and a Swede on our Main Stage, and, of course, our headliner, Canadian folk legend Gordon Lightfoot. But first we kick things off with our Opening Act.
Opening Act:
[03 May 2023] Linda Lewis, 72, English singer-songwriter (“Rock-a-Doodle-Doo”).
Our Opening Act today was born Linda Ann Fredericks in 1950 but sang under the stage name Linda Lewis. She joined the Great Gig in the Sky on May 3rd. Born in Britain to a jazz singer of Jamaican descent, Linda caught a break when she got to sing onstage with John Lee Hooker in 1964. Here she is with her best-known original single, “Rock-A-Doodle-Doo,” which hit #15 in the UK in 1973.
Linda Lewis – Rock-A-Doodle-Doo
Headliner:
[01 May 2023] Gordon Lightfoot, 84, Canadian Hall of Fame singer-songwriter (“Sundown”, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, “If You Could Read My Mind”).
The whole world mourns the loss of our Headliner, singer/songwriter Gordon Lightfoot. Born in 1938, Lightfoot moved from Canada to Los Angeles at age 20 and spent the 60s recording demos and writing jingles. By 1970, he had released the hit “If You Could Read My Mind,” then released seven albums in the 70s establishing him as one of the greatest songwriters of all-time. Lightfoot passed on May 1st. This next track is a favorite of the Grim Reaper’s, 1976’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.”
Gordon Lightfoot – The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Main Stage:
[04 May 2023] Rob Laakso, 44, American musician (Kurt Vile and the Violators, Swirlies), cancer.
On our Main Stage this week we start with the youngest artist on the Rest in Playlist, 44-year-old Rob Laakso, who died on May 4th. Laakso performed in The Swirlies but is best known as the recording partner of indie rock musician Kurt Vile and a member of his backing band, The Violators. Here is that band with the track, “Pretty Pimpin.”
Kurt Vile – Pretty Pimpin
[01 May 2023] Pugh Rogefeldt, 76, Swedish musician, complications from corticobasal degeneration.
Closing the Main Stage we have prolific Swedish musician Pugh Rogefeldt, who passed away on May 1st. Rogefeldt recorded fifteen albums starting in 1969, and unlike other Swedish musicians chasing stardom (*ahem* ABBA), he always recorded in Swedish. Rogefeldt was passionate about Old Norse religion and the god Thor was particularly important to him. Here’s his best-known hit, Små Lätta Moln, or “Small Light Clouds.”
Pugh Rogefeldt – Små Lätta Moln
Festival Stage:
[04 May 2023] Jasmin Stavros, 68, Croatian pop musician.
We’ve got quite the lineup on the Festival Stage this week. We begin with Croatian pop musician Jasmin Stavros, who died on May 4th. His most popular songs was “Dao bih sto Amerika” (I Would Give a Hundred Americas), which relates to his time spent in the United States before his return to Croatia shortly before the country’s independence. This track peaked at number two on the Yugoslav national charts.
Jasmin Stavros – Dao Bih Sto Amerika
[03 May 2023] Moulay Tahar Al Asbahani [ar], 75, Moroccan singer (Jil Jilala) and actor.
Next, we have Moulay Tahar Al Asbahani, one of the co-founders of the Moroccan group, Jil Jilala. The group was founded in 1972 and in 1976 they wrote this track, “Laayoune Aaniya,” about the 1975 Moroccan uprising to reclaim Spanish Sahara from Spain. Al Asbahani passed on May 3rd at the age of 75.
Jil Jalala – Laayoune Aaniya
[03 May 2023] Velho Milongueiro [pt], 83, Brazilian singer and composer.
Now on the Festival Stage we welcome Velho Milongueiro, who passed at the age of 83, also on May 3rd. Milogueiro began his career in Brazil in 1959 and performed in duos and groups until embarking on a solo career in 1980. Here’s a favorite from his solo work, entitled “É Mentira Desses Loco,” or “It’s a Crazy Lie.”
Velho Milongueiro – É Mentiri Desses Loco
[02 May 2023] Souli Sabah [el], 91, Greek singer and actress.
Tied for our oldest performer this week, we have Souli Sabah, age 91, who met the Reaper on May 2nd. She was a Greek singer and actress who appeared in dozens of TV shows and films. Here she is with the 60’s track “Agoraki Mou,” or “My Little Boy.”
Souli Sabah – Agoraki Mou
Jazz Cellar:
[29 Apr 2023] Don Sebesky, 85, American composer, arranger, and conductor (Giant Box, The Rape of El Morro).
We open up the Jazz Cellar this week with 85-year-old Don Sebesky, an American trombonist and composer who met his maker on April 29th. Sebesky was nominated for thirty-one Grammy Awards and won three Grammys in the 1990s. He arranged music for Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, John Pizzarelli, Michael Buble, Liza Minnelli, Seal, and Prince. Here’s his 1973 composition, “Song to a Seagull.”
Don Sebesky – Song To A Seagull
[05 May 2023] Jack Wilkins, 78, American jazz guitarist.
Closing the Jazz Cellar this week is American jazz guitarist Jack Wilkins, who left us on May 5th at the age of 78. Wilkins, who also played some vibraphone in his career, worked and arranged with such greats as Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, and even Barry Manilow. Here he is performing “Red Clay.”
Jack Wilkins – Red Clay
Country Bunker:
[30 Apr 2023] Broderick Smith, 75, English-born Australian musician (Carson, The Dingoes) and actor.
Country music is also popular Down Under, where we head today for our first Act, Broderick Smith. Born in England in 1948, Smith’s family moved to Australia in 1959. There he took an interest in American Blues and later he found his voice in Country. Here’s a track from one of his most prominent 1970s band, The Dingoes, called “Way Out West.”
The Dingoes – Way Out West
[28 Apr 2023] Claude Gray, 91, American country music singer-songwriter (“Family Bible”).
Sometimes the Grim Reaper’s bookkeeper falls behind in getting us the latest additions to the Great Gig in the Sky. Such is the case with Claude Gray, known as “The Tall Texan,” the American Country singer-songwriter who died on April 28th at the age of 91. Here he is with his #10 Country hit of 1960, “Family Bible,” a song he bought from Willie Nelson for $100.
Claude Gray – Family Bible
Encore:
[01 May 2023] Gordon Lightfoot, 84, Canadian Hall of Fame singer-songwriter (“Sundown”, “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”, “If You Could Read My Mind”).
We close with an encore from Canadian Gordon Lightfoot. He was married three times. His first wife was the inspiration behind the 1970 hit “If You Could Read My Mind.” This next track from 1974 was inspired by his relationship with groupie Cathy Smith, who’d later become infamous in 1983 for injecting John Belushi with the drugs that killed him. This is “Sundown.”
Gordon Lightfoot – Sundown
Closing
And that’s the Rest in Playlist for Friday, May 12th, 2023, featuring artists who passed the week before. Join us here next week for a tribute to the artists who have passed this week. For Rest in Playlist, I’m “Radical” Russ Belville reminding you to seize the day, it may be your last.
