12-30: The Birthday Party : Peel Sessions 1980-1982 - Richard Rodgers : Victory at Sea 1953 - The Magic of Boney M 1980 - Artie Shaw & His Gramercy Five 1954

Not shown: Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne

1796 – Jean-Baptiste Lemoyne (French composer)
1821 – Angelo Maria Benincori (Italian composer & violinist)
1825 – Peter Grønland (Danish composer)
1828 – Waldemar Thrane (Norwegian composer, violinist & conductor)
1922 – Richard Zeckwer (German-born American composer, organist & teacher)
1934 – Peter Cornelius (Danish operatic tenor & baritone)
1940 – Fritz Volbach (German conductor, composer, musicologist, pianist & organist)
1946 – Charles Wakefield Cadman (American composer & pianist, associated with Indianist movement)
1948 – Rosina Buckman (New Zealand soprano)
1949 – Heinrich Rehkemper (German baritone)
1967 – Bert Berns (American songwriter, producer & record executive "Hang on Sloopy", "Twist and Shout")
1971 – Jan Mul (Dutch composer & organist)
1973 – Henri Büsser (French composer, organist & conductor of German ancestry)
1979 – Richard Rodgers (American popular songwriter & composer for theater, film & television)
1986 – Jiří Jaroch (Czech composer)
1993 – Mack David (American songwriter)
1995 – Ralph Flanagan (American jazz bandleader, pianist, composer & arranger)
1998 – Johnny Moore (American R&B singer, The Drifters)
2003 – Anita Mui [梅艷芳] (Hong Kong cantopop singer & actress)
2004 – Artie Shaw (American jazz clarinetist, bandleader, composer & author)
2009 – Rowland S. Howard (Australian post-punk guitarist, songwriter, keyboardist & singer, The Birthday Party)
2010 – Bobby Farrell (Aruban pop & disco dancer & singer, Boney M.)

We've heard from The Birthday Party before, when we were remembering their bass player, Tracy Pew. (Don't bother looking for that post - the links aren't good anymore.) Weird coincidence: On the fifth anniversary of the day Tracy Pew died, R&B musician Carter Cornelius died. Well, now we have The Birthday Party's guitarist, Rowland Howard, dying on the seventy-fifth anniversary of the day Danish opera singer Peter Cornelius died. Something funny is happening with the Birthday Party and Corneliuses (Cornelii?), and I promise to get to the bottom of it! And you know how much my promises are worth!

And as far as Peter Cornelius goes, that's another issue entirely. There are in fact three famous musicians named Peter Cornelius. The most famous Peter Cornelius nowadays is a still-living Austrian pop singer and guitarist who was formerly a member of Enigma. Prior to that Peter Cornelius coming into prominence, the most famous had been a German composer and author of the 19th century, whom we also remembered in a previous post. And do you want to know what's really coincidental about that post?!? I have no idea. At least, I haven't figured it out, YET. Maybe somebody can leave a comment and tell me what it is...

12-29: Freddie Hubbard : First Light 1971 - Bruckner 8 / Takashi Asahina 1976 - Kosaku Yamada : Symphony Triumph & Peace etc. / Yuasa 2008 - Tim Hardin 1 1966

Not shown: Albert Christoph Dies, Charles-Joseph Tolbecque, Ferdinand Marcucci, Fritz Behrend & Gene Tanner

1785 – Johann Heinrich Rolle (German composer)
1819 – Josepha Weber (Austrian soprano, sister-in-law of Mozart & creator of The Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute)
1822 – Albert Christoph Dies (German painter, composer & early biographer of Joseph Haydn)
1825 – Giuseppe Cambini (Italian composer & violinist)
1835 – Charles-Joseph Tolbecque (French violinist, conductor & composer)
1836 – Johann Baptist Schenk (Austrian composer, multi-instrumentalist & teacher)
1847 – William Crotch (English composer, organist & artist)
1876 – Ferdinand Marcucci (Italian harpist & composer)
1898 – Georg Goltermann (German cellist & composer)
1915 – Charles Beach Hawley (American bass, choir director & composer)
1952 – Beryl Rubinstein (American pianist, composer & teacher)
1959 – Robin Milford (English composer, pianist, flutist & organist)
1964 – Miroslav Krejčí (Czech composer & teacher)
1965 – Kōsaku Yamada [山田 耕筰] (Japanese composer & conductor)
1967 – Paul Whiteman (American jazz, pop & classical bandleader & violinist, commissioned Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue)
1972 – Fritz Behrend (German composer)
1980 – Tim Hardin (American folk singer, songwriter, guitarist & pianist)
1986 – John Antill (Australian composer, known for Aboriginal-inspired ballet Corroboree)
1989 – Irma Beilke (German coloratura soprano)
1990 – Aulikki Rautawaara (Finnish soprano)
1994 – Gene Tanner (American R&B singer, The Five Royales)
1996 – Mireille Hartuch (French theatrical singer, composer, pianist, actress & teacher)
2001 – Takashi Asahina [朝比奈 隆] (Japanese conductor, famed in particular for his performances of Bruckner)
2001 – Cássia Eller (Brazilian rock & MPB singer & guitarist)
2004 – Floriana Cavalli (Italian soprano)
2008 – Freddie Hubbard (American jazz trumpeter, cornetist, flugelhornist & composer)

Yay, Japan! Yay, Bruckner! Yay, Freddie Hubbard! Boo, Death!!

12-28b: Beach Boys Rare & Unreleased 1962-1972 - Steiner : King Kong 1933 / Stromberg 1996 - Freddie King Fillmore West 1970 - Avenged Sevenfold City Of Evil 2005 - Billy Taylor It's A Matter Of Pride 1993

Not shown: Frederick Douglass Hall

1971 – Max Steiner (Austrian-born American film music composer, Gone With The Wind, King Kong)
1976 – Freddie King (American blues guitarist & singer, "The Texas Cannonball")
1982 – Frederick Douglass Hall (American composer)
1983 – Dennis Wilson (American rock & pop drummer, singer & songwriter, The Beach Boys)
1992 – Mort Greene (American popular songwriter for film & television, "Sioux City Sue")
1997 – Henry Barraud (French composer, musicologist, author & music director of French public radio from 1945-65)
2009 – The Reverend Tholomew Plague [James Owen Sullivan] (American metal drummer & singer, Avenged Sevenfold)
2010 – Billy Taylor (American jazz pianist, composer, broadcaster & teacher)

I'm not exactly sure who Frederick Douglass Hall was. But I do know he shares his name with a building on the campus of Howard University. Frederick Douglass Hall the building (and possibly also Frederick Douglass Hall the composer) was of course named after just plain-old Frederick Douglass the social reformer, abolitionist, author, and orator. Just another example of how tricky online research can often be. Almost as tricky as locating viable downloads under current circumstances.

12-28a: Ravel : Daphnis et Chloe Complete / Maazel 1978 - Fletcher Henderson 1927-1931 - Hindemith : Mathis der Mahler Symphony | Symphonic Metamorphoses | Nobilissima Visione / Abbado 1995

Not shown: Hermann Finck, Adrien-Joseph van Helmont & Humphrey John Stewart

1558 – Hermann Finck (German composer, music theorist & organist)
1736 – Antonio Caldara (Italian composer)
1779 – Gennaro Manna (Italian composer)
1830 – Adrien-Joseph van Helmont (Belgian composer, son of Charles-Joseph)
1862 – Joaquim Casimiro Júnior (Portuguese composer & organist)
1870 – Alexei Lvov [Алексей Львов] ( Russian army officer, violinist, composer & conductor, Russian Imperial national anthem)
1878 – José Bernardo Alcedo (Peruvian composer, Peruvian national anthem)
1891 – Alfred Cellier (English composer & conductor of French ancestry, associated with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company)
1916 – Eduard Strauss (Austrian composer & conductor, brother of Johann II & Josef)
1932 – Humphrey John Stewart (English-born American organist & composer)
1937 – Maurice Ravel (French composer & pianist)
1946 – Carrie Jacobs-Bond (American singer, pianist, popular songwriter & poet)
1952 – Fletcher Henderson (American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger & composer)
1963 – Paul Hindemith (German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist & conductor)

Not a very long list today, but one that's full of notables. Hence, another two-parter. Hm... Ravel, Hindemith, and Fletcher Henderson, all on Dec. 28... I did not know that. Also didn't know that Ravel had a famous beard. We're all learning something new around here every day!

12-27: Delaney & Bonnie w/ Eric Clapton Fillmore West 1970 - Big Star #1 Record 1972 - Rach 3 / Cherkassky 1957 - Amy Beach Gaelic Symphony & Piano Concerto / Feinman | Schermerhorn 2003 - Lars-Erik Larsson : Förklädd Gud & Symphony 3 / Frykberg 1994

Not shown: Pietro Pontio & Walter Courvoisier

1595 – Pietro Pontio (Italian music theorist & composer)
1858 – Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (French composer)
1880 – Alessandro Nini (Italian composer)
1916 – Nikolay Solovyov [Николай Соловьёв] (Russian music critic, composer & teacher)
1919 – Achilles Alferaki [Αχιλλέας Αλφεράκης, Ахиллес Алфераки] (Russian composer, statesman & artist of Greek ancestry)
1931 – Peter Christian Lutkin (American organist, composer & teacher, namesake of Pi Kappa Lambda music honor society)
1931 – Walter Courvoisier (Swiss composer & teacher)
1944 – Amy [Mrs. H.H.A.] Beach (American composer & pianist)
1978 – Bob Luman (American country & rockabilly singer, songwriter & guitarist)
1978 – Chris Bell (American rock singer, songwriter & guitarist, Big Star)
1981 – Hoagy Carmichael (American popular songwriter, pianist, singer & actor)
1983 – Walter Scott (American rock singer, Bob Kuban and the In-Men)
1986 – Lars-Erik Larsson (Swedish composer & conductor)
1992 – Stephen Albert (American composer, pianist, trumpeter & hornist, winner of 1985 Pulitzer Prize)
1995 – Shura Cherkassky [Шура Черкасский] (Ukrainian-born American, later British, pianist)
2003 – Vestal Goodman (American gospel singer, "Queen of Southern Gospel")
2004 – Hank Garland (American country & jazz guitarist)
2008 – Delaney Bramlett (American blues, country & rock singer, songwriter, guitarist & producer)

Just barely enough room for all our labels today! Those Rachmaninoffs and Schermerhorns do take up a lot of space. Luckily I don't know the names of Delaney & Bonnie's other "friends" that appear on what's offered here, which is not the famous live album they made with Eric Clapton - that album was recorded on tour in England in 1969 - but rather a boot recorded in San Francisco the following year. No idea about the audio quality either, so freeloader beware...

Damn... Chris Bell. Talented guy... too bad, he really deserved to make it.

Well, I'd really love to tell you more about Amy Beach, and Hoagy Carmichael, and Shura Cherkassky, and Lars-Erik Larsson, and Vestal Goodman, but I'm just too busy with other things at the moment. Check out those links above, and keep reading...

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.