12-26: Curtis Mayfield : Curtis / Live! 1971 - Larry Young : Into Somethin' 1964 - Nasum : Doombringer 2008 - Pablo Sorozábal : La del manojo de rosas 1962

Not shown: Jan David Holland, Jules François Blasini & Robert Levine Sanders

1827 – Jan David Holland (German-born Polish composer)
1836 – Hans Georg Nägeli (Swiss composer, music publisher, musicologist & author)
1838 – Franciszek Lessel (Polish composer, pianist & glass harmonica player, pupil of Haydn)
1887 – Jules François Blasini (Curaçaos pianist & composer)
1905 – Fritz Spindler (German pianist & composer)
1916 – Bernhard Scholz (German conductor & composer)
1918 – Bertram Luard-Selby (English composer & organist)
1937 – Ivor Gurney (English composer & poet)
1947 – Marguerite Carré (French soprano)
1950 – Emile Enthoven (Dutch composer)
1957 – Artur Malawski (Polish composer, conductor & violinist)
1958 – Harry Newton Redman (American composer, writer & artist)
1966 – Noël Gallon (French composer & teacher, pupils included Duruflé, Dutilleux, Lukas Foss & Messiaen)
1974 – Knudåge Riisager (Danish composer & violinist)
1974 – Robert Levine Sanders (American composer, conductor & organist)
1974 – Jack Benny (American comedian, actor & violinist)
1974 – Farid al-Atrash [فريد الأطرش] (Syrian-born Egyptian composer, singer, oud player & actor, "King of the Oud")
1988 – Pablo Sorozábal Mariezcurrena (Basque-Spanish composer & conductor)
1989 – Sir Lennox Berkeley (English composer)
1992 – Nikita Magaloff [Никита Магалов] (Russian pianist of Georgian ancestry)
1994 – Buddy Ace (American blues singer, "Silver Fox of the Blues")
1999 – Curtis Mayfield (American soul, R&B & funk singer, songwriter & record producer)
2002 – Armand Zildjian (American cymbal manufacturer of Turkish ancestry)
2003 – Hugh Bean (English violinist, leader of Philharmonia Orchestra & BBC Symphony)
2004 – Sigurd Køhn (Norwegian jazz saxophonist & composer, perished in Thailand in Indian Ocean Tsunami)
2004 – Mieszko Talarczyk (Polish-born Swedish grindcore singer & guitarist, Nasum, perished in Thailand in Indian Ocean Tsunami)
2004 – Aki Sirkesalo (Finnish pop singer & radio announcer, perished in Thailand in Indian Ocean Tsunami)
2005 – Muriel Costa-Greenspon (American mezzo-soprano)
2007 – Joe Dolan (Irish easy listening singer & entertainer)
2009 – Felix Wurman (American cellist & composer, founder of the Church of Beethoven)
2010 – Teena Marie (American R&B, disco & jazz singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist & producer)
2011 – Sam Rivers (American jazz saxophonist, bass clarinetist, flutist, harmonica player, pianist, composer & arranger)

The collage turned out really small today, didn't it? Sometimes it just happens that way. I think it's regrettable in particular that the three prominent musicians who were victims of the 2004 tsunami (that's them to the upper-right of Curtis Mayfield) turned out so tiny, but then again poor Jack Benny (who was actually quite a good violinist, despite what you might have gathered from his act) turned out hardly any larger. Incidentally, if you're a fan of Nasum, for which Mieszko Talarczyk was the frontman, the surviving members are doing one last tour this year to mark the 20th anniversary of their formation. Follow the link above to see if they are playing in a city near you.

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