12-22: The Clash : Jamaica 1982 - Minutemen : KPFK Los Angeles 1985 - Ustvolskaya : Compositions I II & III / de Leeuw 1993 - Krenek : Kammermusik / Hierdeis et al 2002

Not shown: Jean-Joseph Mouret, Ishmail Spicer, Arthur H. Bird & Powell Weaver

1738 – Jean-Joseph Mouret (French composer)
1797 – Giovanni Marco Rutini (Italian composer)
1832 – Ishmail Spicer (American composer, publisher & teacher)
1874 – Johann Peter Pixis (German pianist & composer)
1875 – Nikolai Alexeyevich Titov [Николай Алексеевич Титов] (Russian composer, "Father of Russian Song")
1893 – Benedikt Randhartinger (Austrian tenor, conductor & composer, peer of Schubert)
1923 – Arthur H. Bird (American composer)
1939 – Ma Rainey (American blues singer & songwriter)
1941 – Leopoldo Mugnone (Italian conductor)
1950 – Julius Weismann (German composer & conductor)
1950 – Walter Damrosch (German-born American conductor & composer)
1951 – Powell Weaver (American organist & composer, pupil of Respighi)
1964 – Bonifacio Gil García (Spanish folklorist & composer)
1973 – Domingo Julio Gómez García (Spanish composer)
1977 – Johann Nepomuk David (Austrian composer & organist)
1985 – D. Boon (American punk rock singer, songwriter & guitarist, The Minutemen)
1986 – Celius Dougherty (American pianist & composer)
1987 – Leonidas Zoras [Λεωνίδας Ζώρας] (Greek composer & conductor)
1987 – Luca Prodan (Italian-born Argentine rock singer, Sumo)
1988 – Tucker Smith (American actor, singer & dancer, "Ice" in West Side Story)
1990 – Cecil Effinger (American composer, oboist & inventor of the Musicwriter & Tempowatch)
1991 – Ernst Krenek (Czech-born Austrian, later American composer)
1992 – Harry Bluestone (English violinist, soundtrack composer, conductor, producer & author)
1997 – Johnny Coles (American jazz trumpeter, "Little Johnny C")
2002 – Joe Strummer (English punk rock singer, songwriter & guitarist, The Clash)
2003 – Dave Dudley (American country singer)
2006 – Dennis Linde (American country & rock songwriter, singer & multi-instrumentalist)
2006 – Galina Ustvolskaya [Гали́на Уство́льская] (Russian composer, pupil of Shostakovich)

Yes, it's a big day, with one of the great Russian composers of the 20th century (who happens also to have been one of the greatest female composers of the 20th century)... plus one of the greatest vocal icons of early urban blues... plus two great icons of punk rock. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since Joe Strummer left us, and maybe even harder to believe that if D. Boon were alive today, he'd be twice the age he was when that van accident took his life back in '85. I don't know about you, but today's a day that makes me feel my age.

12-21: Albert King Montreux 1977 - Milstein : Tchaikovsky 1940 | Bruch 1942 | Mendelssohn 1945 - Gade : Symphonies 2 & 8 / Hogwood 2001 - Mozart Exsultate Jubilate : Raskin / Szell 1964

Not shown: Philipp Hyacinth Lobkowitz, Caspar Ruetz & Charles-François Dumonchau

1734 – Philipp Hyacinth Lobkowitz (Czech nobleman, lutenist & patron of Arcangelo Corelli)
1755 – Caspar Ruetz (German cantor & composer)
1807 – John Newton (English sailor, minister & hymn writer)
1820 – Charles-François Dumonchau (French composer, pianist & cellist)
1843 – Edward Bunting (Irish folksong collector, author & organist)
1864 – William Henry Fry (American composer & music critic)
1890 – Niels Gade (Danish composer, conductor, violinist, organist & teacher)
1906 – Adalbert von Goldschmidt (Austrian composer)
1957 – Eric Coates (English composer, conductor & violist)
1964 – Thomas Nassi (Albanian composer, conductor, teacher & flutist, active also in the United States)
1965 – Claude Champagne (Canadian composer, teacher, violinist, pianist & organist)
1982 – Abu-Al-Asar Hafeez Jalandhari [ابو الاثر حفیظ جالندھری] (Pakistani writer, poet & composer of Pakistan's National Anthem)
1984 – Judith Raskin (American lyric soprano)
1987 – John Spence (American alternative rock singer, No Doubt)
1989 – Ján Cikker (Slovak composer, conductor & organist)
1992 – Albert King (American blues guitarist, singer & songwriter)
1992 – Nathan Milstein (Ukrainian-born American violinist)
1997 – Amie Comeaux (American country singer)
1998 – Karl Denver (Scottish pop singer)

You might find the fellow in the upper-right corner, William Henry Fry, to be a bit familiar. That's because I mistakenly already included him on September 21st, when he actually belongs in December... another example of my often-faulty sources failing me. But I suppose Fry is worth remembering twice, since was one of the more important American composers of the 19th century. I even had a download for him in that previous post in which he appeared, but don't bother looking for it... it was another Megaupload! So, an all-around FAIL, any way you look at it... but anyway, it's going to be another big day around here tomorrow, so I'd better catch up on my beauty sleep...

12-20: Pink Floyd : Atom Heart Mother 1970 / 2011 Remaster - Rubinstein : Chopin Concertos 1958 & 1961 / 2005 Remaster - Soler Concertos : Newman / Payne 1974 - Sarah Louvion : Jolivet | Bauzin | Roussel | Ibert 2007

Not shown: Johannes Lupi, Manuel Giró & William Gilchrist

1783 – Padre Antonio Soler (Spanish priest, composer & organist)
1793 – Joseph Legros (French singer & composer)
1819 – Louis-Luc Loiseau de Persuis (French violinist, conductor, choirmaster, teacher, composer & theatrical director)
1821 – Gian Francesco Fortunati (Italian composer)
1903 – Gavriil Musicescu (Romanian composer, conductor & musicologist)
1909 – Benjamin Ipavec (Slovenian composer & physician)
1915 – Upendrakishore Ray [উপেন্দ্রকিশোর রায়] (Bengali writer, painter, violinist & composer)
1916 – Manuel Giró (Spanish composer)
1916 – William Gilchrist (American composer, organist & teacher)
1942 – Jean Gilbert [Max Winterfield] (German operetta composer & conductor)
1954 – Emīls Melngailis (Latvian composer, conductor, ethnomusicologist & ethnographic photographer)
1962 – Erik Leidzén (Swedish-born American wind band composer, arranger & bandmaster)
1962 – Luís Abraham Delgadillo (Nicaraguan composer & conductor)
1963 – Paul Constantinescu (Romanian composer)
1968 – Max Brod (Czech-born Israeli author, composer & journalist, friend of Franz Kafka & executor of his literary estate)
1973 – Bobby Darin (American pop singer, songwriter & actor)
1974 – André Jolivet (French composer)
1982 – Arthur Rubinstein (Polish-born American pianist)
1989 – Kurt Böhme (German bass)
1999 – Hank Snow (Canadian country singer)
2010 – John Alldis (English choirmaster & conductor)

For those of you who have your heart set on the Soler, Multiupload was unreachable at the time of this posting. But I'm assuming this is a temporary thing. I mean, it couldn't be gone forever... could it?

12-19b: Jimmy Rogers : Hard Working Man - Puccini : Il Trittico / Tebaldi / Del Monaco / Merrill / Gardelli 1962

As promised, here's your Renata and your Rogers. I lied about the big-ass opera, though. Does three little-ass operas work for you?

12-19a: Gong : Camembert Electrique 1971 - Black Flag : LA 1985 instrumental - Byrds + Flying Burrito Brothers : Whisky A Go Go 1970 - Staple Singers : Best Of 1990

Not shown: Melchior Bischoff, Georg Peter Weimar, Nicolas-Joseph Hüllmandel & Lawrance Collingwood

1614 – Melchior Bischoff (German clergyman, cantor, hymn writer & composer)
1749 – Francesco Antonio Bonporti (Italian priest, violinist & composer)
1800 – Georg Peter Weimar (German cantor, author & composer)
1810 – Johann Heinrich Egli (Swiss composer)
1815 – Michel Woldemar (French composer, violinist & inventor of 5-string violin-viola hybrid)
1823 – Nicolas-Joseph Hüllmandel (Alsatian composer, pianist, harpsichordist & glass harmonica player)
1867 – Jean-Georges Kastner (Alsatian music theorist & composer)
1925 – José Ignacio Quintón (Puerto Rican pianist, violinist, teacher & composer of danzas)
1939 – Eric Fogg (English composer & conductor)
1982 – Jean-Jacques Grünenwald (French organist, composer, architect & teacher)
1982 – Lawrance Collingwood (English conductor, composer, organist, choirmaster & record producer)
1984 – Michel Magne (French film & experimental composer, owner of the "Honky Château")
1991 – Joe Cole (American roadie for Black Flag & Rollins Band & best friend of Henry Rollins)
1993 – Michael Clarke (American rock drummer, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers)
1994 – Noel Pointer (American jazz violinist & record producer)
1997 – Jimmy Rogers (American blues guitarist, singer & harmonica player)
2000 – Milt Hinton (American jazz bassist & photographer, "The Judge")
2000 – Pops Staples (American gospel & R&B singer, songwriter & guitarist, The Staple Singers)
2000 – Rob Buck (American rock guitarist & songwriter, 10,000 Maniacs)
2001 – Marcel Mule (French classical saxophonist & teacher)
2004 – Renata Tebaldi (Italian spinto soprano)
2008 – Kenny Cox (American jazz pianist)
2010 – Trudy Pitts (American jazz organist, pianist & singer)

His name was Roebuck "Pops" Staples. He was the patriarch of the Staples family of gospel, R&B and soul singers. They aren't called the "Staples Singers," though - it's the "Staple Singers," no 's' at the end. Don't ask me why. Maybe it's because "singers" starts with an 's' too, and the two 's' sounds in a row would be awkward, even something of a tongue-twister.

Then there's Jimmy Rogers. You have to be careful not to confuse Jimmy Rogers with Jimmie Rodgers or Jimmie Rodgers.

That's right. There are two Jimmie Rodgerses. The first one was the Singing Brakeman, the Blue Yodeler - you know, the Father of Country Music, who passed away from TB in 1933. The other Jimmie Rodgers was born in 1933, is still with us, and is a pop and folk singer, who briefly had his own variety show.

There's also a Jimmy Rodgers who was head coach of the Boston Celtics for two seasons, and a Jimmy Rogers who used to pitch for the Toronto Blue Jays, but we won't get into them.

No, the Jimmy Rogers on our list is Jimmy Rogers, the blues guitarist, who played with Muddy Waters, and Little Walter, and Howling Wolf. Now see, those are names you could never mistake for any others.

Well, I hope I cleared everything up for you. I hope to also bring you some music from one or more Jimm(y)(ie) Ro(d)gerses at some point later today, along with a big-ass opera with Renata Tebaldi. Stay tuned...