Given that this will be the remaining Audio Information Digest function of 2021, it is a fitting time to thank all all those who have sent information and leads our way in the course of the calendar year. That record involves artists, publicists, report labels, FYI colleagues (David Farrell and Nick Krewen especially) and marketplace buddies.
Here is hoping the new music and sector information we get to include in 2022 is instead happier than has been the circumstance in 2021. Selfishly, this scribe is peeved to be sitting on tickets obtained for concerts that must have by now transpired, but of class the saddest thing is the devastating impact that the ongoing pandemic and associated constraints are getting on my pals who are artists, concert promoters, agents, and club bookers, managers and owners. This is to a smoother and a lot more active live songs scene in 2022 for all of us and please keep or get vaxxed and boosted!
– The Vancouver Solar reports that Sarah McLachlan will headline the 2022 Squamish Constellation Festival, which operates July 22-24 at Hendrickson Subject, Squamish, BC. July 22-24. McLachlan will headline the ultimate night of the fest. General community tickets on sale in March, visit constellationfest.ca. The fest went on hiatus in 2020.
– Strike dance songs combo Loud Luxurious plays Bandshell Park Toronto with Frank Walker on Dec. 26. Loud Luxury will be donating its efficiency charge to hospitality sector staff and regional charities. Kudos. Tix below.
https://www.youtube.com/check out?v=D_rqZm231HY
– Excellent to see just one of Canada’s greatest rock bands, The Headstones, now get exposed in the US media. That is down to the reality that frontman Hugh Dillon‘s profile as a Tv actor and present co-creator has been heightened by this kind of existing Tv set series as Yellowstone and Mayor of Kingstown, a show he experienced a important hand in developing. Newsweek has just published a significant profile of Dillon that incorporates references to the nonetheless alive ‘n kickin it Headstones.
– Yesterday (Dec. 22), the Toronto Blues Society (TBS) declared the postponement of the once-a-year Maple Blues Awards and Blues Summit, supplied the Covid condition. They ended up to be held in Toronto in late January, and the new dates have not however been scheduled.
– Also moving dates for the very same motive is the Folks Alliance Global conference, now scheduled for May 18-22, 2022, in Kansas Town. The Typical Registration Price deadline, which was initially extended to Dec. 22, will now stop on March 15. Sign up listed here.
– If you’re hunting for some place tunes to round out your Xmas playlist, CMAOntario has compiled a seasonal assortment you can examine out here.
– Duncan Fremlin, leader of veteran Ontario roots audio combo Whiskey Jack, contacted us to report on their year that was. He famous the expanding viewers for its Youtube Channel (“we like to think it’s for the reason that it incorporates a ton of entertaining films, a person of which has effectively above 800K views”) and the simple fact the group streamed on line for the to start with time since 2015, as perfectly as squeezing in a couple of live shows. He’s keenly awaiting Whiskey Jack’s 45th anniversary celebration, established for April 16 at Sam’s Location in Prince Edward County, the new venue from former Cadillac Lounge owner Sam Grosso. Ticket facts here
RIP
Don Palmer, saxophonist and a keystone of the Nova Scotia jazz scene, died on Dec. 17, age 82.
Composing in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald, Stephen Cooke mentioned that “It is tricky to think about what the tale of jazz music in Nova Scotia, or significantly of Canada for that issue, would be like if Don Palmer hadn’t been all over to foster the scene, encourage its most promising gamers, or get on stage with his saxophone and flute at any chance.”
“As the director of the jazz system in the Dalhousie University new music section and as a co-founder and creative director for the Atlantic (now Halifax) Jazz Festival, Palmer could both equally nurture young talent and deliver a stage for proven gamers, though also lending his appreciable capabilities to the region’s audio scene as a soloist, ensemble member and sideman.”
Coming from a musical family — his father (Chipper) Palmer was a common dance band vocalist in Cape Breton — the teenage musician honed his capabilities on clarinet in the Royal Canadian Artillery Band in advance of attending the Maritime Conservatory of Tunes in the late 1950s and enjoying alto sax at the 777 Barrington Avenue jazz club.
Palmer moved to New York in 1959, making the most of the city’s vivid tunes scene, learning with jazz greats like saxophonist Lee Konitz and pianist Lennie Tristano, touring with the Latin orchestras of legends Machito and Tito Puente, and playing in pit bands for broadway reveals like Grease.
He moved back again to Nova Scotia in the mid-1970s, getting to be artist-in-residence at the University of Cape Breton, prior to using on a manufacturer-new posture in 1978 as director of the Dalhousie department of music jazz software, where he ongoing to educate until going to Toronto for spouse and children explanations in 2005.
Palmer’s learners included Juno Award-successful musicians like Kirk MacDonald and Mike Murley, as well as associates of bands who became identified across Canada like the Johnny Favorite Swing Orchestra and Gypsophilia.
For the general public at substantial, Palmer was most effective recognized as a performer with teams like the Benghazi Saxophone Quartet with Upstream co-founder Paul Cram, his Dal jazz plan successor Chris Mitchell and Ken MacKay, and the all-star trio Alive and Nicely with longtime pals bassist Skip Beckwith and recently departed drummer Jerry Granelli.
Study a total obituary/tribute here.
https://www.youtube.com/look at?v=Wm4qSSasJ7g
Intercontinental
– Billy Conway, drummer of acclaimed Boston rock band Morphine, died on Dec. 19, of most cancers, at age 65.
Prior to Morphine, Conway played alongside that band’s frontman, Mark Sandman, in the bluesy address Her Proper. Morphine produced an effects with a collection of albums in the ’90s.
“We are devastated to learn that our brother, Morphine drummer Billy Conway, has passed, last but not least succumbing to most cancers after a extended combat,” the band Vapors of Morphine, who Conway done with together with other previous users, wrote on Facebook. “Our deepest condolences go to his spouse and children and friends.”
In current yrs, Conway also backed people terrific Chris Smither. Despite his health and fitness worries, Conway produced his first solo album, Exterior Inside, in 2020. As a producer and engineer, he also oversaw two of Kris Delmhorst’s albums, 5 Stories and Tracks for a Hurricane. Resources: Rolling Stone, Wikipedia
https://www.youtube.com/view?v=sUEQl_p7ghw
– Drakeo the Ruler (actual name Darrell Caldwell), a critically acclaimed Los Angeles rapper, was stabbed to demise at the As soon as Upon a Time festival in LA, on Dec. 18, age 28.
A source talking to the LA Moments explained Caldwell had been attacked on the pageant site by a team of persons on Saturday evening.
The festival’s promoter, Dwell Nation, stated: “There was an altercation in the roadway backstage. Out of regard for these concerned and in coordination with regional authorities, artists and organisers decided not to shift ahead with remaining sets so the festival was finished an hour early.” A established by Snoop Dogg was cancelled.
The Guardian reviews that “Caldwell had not crossed into the mainstream, but was a hugely admired cult determine in his city’s rap scene. He produced his debut mixtape in 2015, and went on to launch 10 much more whole-length projects.
In 2017, he was jailed for 11 months for unlawful firearm possession. In March 2018, he was detained once much more, on a murder charge relationship again to a shooting incident in Dec. 2016.
He continued to history tunes while incarcerated and was at some point acquitted of the murder charges in July 2019. Right after a plea offer for a charge of felony conspiracy, he was produced in Nov. 2020.
After his launch, he designed the album The Truth Hurts, which include the solitary Discuss to Me with guest star Drake. Drake was amongst individuals paying out tribute, composing on Instagram that Caldwell “always picked my spirit up with your energy”. Sources: The Guardian, LA Occasions
https://www.youtube.com/look at?v=w79uSCz5_Eg
– Kangol Kid (born Shaun Shiller Fequiere), a member of the legendary hip-hop group UTFO, died on Dec. 19 right after a struggle with colon cancer. He was 55.
Child was identified for usually sporting the popular Kangol headwear and currently being portion of UTFO, which stands for Untouchable Force Group. The four-member team was regarded for 1980s hits like Roxanne, Roxanne and Ya Chilly Wanna Be With Me.
Alongside with his hip-hop good results, Kid grew to become regarded for his efforts against breast most cancers through the Mama Luke Foundation. Subsequent his analysis, he had spoken publicly about the require for standard screening. Browse more in this AP obit. Sources: Newsday, AP
https://www.youtube.com/look at?v=sgaedPLT43k
Carlos Marín, the baritone singer in strike multi-national quartet Il Divo, died Dec. 19 of Sunday of Covid complications, at age 53.
Marin had been hospitalized on Dec. 8 in the Intensive Treatment Device of the Manchester Royal Healthcare facility when on tour in the United kingdom.
His demise was introduced on Sunday by Il Divo by means of the group’s Twitter account. “It is with weighty hearts that we are allowing you know that our good friend and husband or wife, Carlos Marín, has handed absent. He will be missed by his good friends, loved ones and lovers. For 17 a long time, the four of us have been on this extraordinary journey of Il Divo jointly, and we will pass up our dear mate.”
Il Divo was fashioned in 2003 by Simon Cowell for his Sony Music Synco Label as a new generation, Three Tenors-type quartet offering handles of songs crossing over between opera and pop. Immaculately turned out in largely Giorgio Armani suits, the group’s singers arrived from around the environment: Urs Bühler was a Swiss tenor, Marín a German-born Spaniard, David Miller an American tenor, Sébastien Izambard a French pop singer.
Delivering music in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and even Japanese and Latin,, the team launched 10 studio albums amongst 2004’s Il Divo and this year’s At the time in My Lifetime: A Celebration of Motown, as well as a compilation, 2012’s Biggest Hits.
Marín had by now achieved with significant results prior to joining Il Divo, creating his initial file, El pequeño Caruso, at the age of eight, singing with Montserrat Caballé and executing in phase productions which includes Les Misérables, Beauty and the Beast, and Grease. He also released a solo album, Portrait, in 2020. Resource: Range