Gil Scott-Heron, whose mix of poetry, politics, jazz, blues and soul influenced hip hop and neo soul, died Friday (May 27)

Jamie Byng, his UK publisher,…

Mississippi-born L.V. Banks (October 28th, 1932 to May 2, 2011), grew up singing Muddy Waters' songs while picking cotton and later played house parties in Indianola for his idol B.B. King. In 1965, Banks made the inevitable journey to Chicago, where he has remained one of the South Side's most prominent journeymen. It was King who encouraged the young Banks to take up the guitar to complement his fine voice, and his influence on Banks' use of both instruments is evident in the emphatic…

Bruce Ricker, a filmmaker best known for The Last of the Blue Devils, his early documentary about Kansas City blues and jazz musicians, as well as a series of well-received music-doc collaborations with Clint Eastwood, died on May 13 in Cambridge, Ma. The cause of death was pneumonia. Ricker was 68.

http://www.pasoroblesfilmfestival.com/Panel%20Members/bruce_ricker.htm…

"A lot of old blues they were signing about things and using hidden meanings for things, and situations that the black people of that era couldn't talk about freely in public."

Howard Glazer: Motor…

Jeff Healey to have T.O. park named in his honour

 A west-end Toronto park is to be renamed after a Canadian music icon.

Beginning in June, Woodford Park, near Queensway and Parklawn, will be called Jeff Healey Park.

Healey often played in the park as a child and later brought his children there to play.

The legendary blues and jazz guitarist died at in 2008 at age 41 after a battle with cancer.

The musician had performed…

The legendary guitarist Cornell Dupree died on Sunday, May 8, 2011. He was 68 years old. Dupree had earlier been diagnosed with emphysema and was to have had a lung transplant. A benefit concert was held at BB King’s New York City club on March 11 to help raise funds for Dupree’s medical expenses.



Born on December 19, 1942, in Fort Worth, Texas, Dupree was discovered by King Curtis, who brought the young guitarist to New York City, where his meteoric rise began. The guitarist can be…