1747 – Johann Gotthilf Ziegler (German composer)
1841 – Alessandro Rolla (Italian violist, violinist & composer, teacher of Paganini)
1915 – Ernest Gagnon (Canadian folk music collector, composer & organist)
1923 – Sayed Darwish (Egyptian singer & oud player, considered Egypt's greatest composer)
1924 – Anthony Johnson Showalter (American hymn composer, teacher & publisher)
1945 – Anton Webern (Austrian composer)
1950 – Vojtěch Říhovský (Czech composer & pianist)
1951 – Jacinto Guerrero (Spanish composer of zarzuelas & orchestral music)
1965 – Steve Brown (American jazz bassist, New Orleans Rhythm Kings, Paul Whiteman)
1972 – Ulvi Cemal Erkin (Turkish composer, one of the "Turkish Five")
1980 – Bill Evans (American jazz pianist & composer)
1983 – Willie Bobo (American Latin jazz percussionist)
1985 – Cootie Williams (American jazz & blues trumpeter, Duke Ellington)
1989 – Jan DeGaetani (American mezzo-soprano, known for 20th-century repertoire)
1993 – Frits Noske (Dutch musicologist, music editor & writer)
1994 – Haywood Henry (American jazz baritone saxophonist)
2003 – Jack Brymer (English classical & jazz clarinetist)
2004 – Johnny Ramone (American punk guitarist, The Ramones)
2007 – Aldemaro Romero (Venezuelan pop & classical pianist, composer, arranger & conductor)
2008 – Richard Wright (English rock keyboardist, Pink Floyd)
Well, I've been thinking... if it takes 2 or 3 posts just to fit in all the labels for these multi-day posts, I might as well just do a separate post for each day! But I'll also need to be making at least 2 posts per day if I ever hope to get caught up.
Some real stars of the music world today. It's hard to imagine what jazz of the past 55 years or so would have been like without Bill Evans. Easily one of the most influential pianists of the second half of the 20th century, his impressionistic, probing style of improvisation can still be heard in the work of many artists, including Keith Jarrett, Steve Kuhn, and Paul Bley. And there's also Cootie Williams, and Willie Bobo, and Haywood Henry. Those guys get major jazz props just for their names. You don't even have to hear one note - which is exactly what you might hear from Cootie (he was something of a minimalist when it came to trumpet solos).
Speaking of minimalists, Anton Webern. He was accidentally shot to death at the end of WWII by an American soldier. Webern had some nervous tics, and apparently one of them was mistaken for... I dunno, reaching for something? A hand-grenade? Anyway, Webern - a musical miniaturist who reveled in symmetries and subtleties of expression - was, among those from the Second Viennese School, the one who had the most influence on those composers of integral serialism who dominated the classical avant-garde in the post-war period.
Sayed (or Sayyed) Darwish (but really of course it's سيد درويش) is one of the single most prominent figures in the history of Egyptian music. He's considered to be not only Egypt's greatest composer, but also the father of Egyptian popular music. Thus Darwish enjoys a status in his home country that is unparalleled for a musician from just about any other country.
Also there's Turkish composer Ulvi Cemal Erkin, who was one of the major figures to bring original homegrown Western-style classical music to Turkey in the early-to-mid 20th century, following the important reforms of modernization initiated by the heroic Mustafa Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey and its first president.
Dan JeGaetani, er, Jan DeGaetani was one of those great, great mezzos who ya just want to hug. You know what I mean? Wouldn't you just love to give Jan, and Cathy Berberian, and Christa Ludwig, and Janet Baker, and Marilyn Horne and Risë Stevens and Teresa Berganza a big old hug? Probably still could with Cecilia Bartoli or Frederica von Stade... not dead! That's an important criterion when it comes to hugging. Anyway, Jan DeGaetani made some pretty sick recordings of modern music. Such as her Schoenberg Pierrot Lunaire, still considered the reference recording of that very difficult-to-sing-and-speak-and-something-in-between work. And who could ever forget the original LP cover of that sweet baby?
DeGaetani also did some important work with living composers, in particular George Crumb...