| All the music that ever was and ever will be is here now. It exists in a cloud just above our heads and when we play, we pluck it out of the ether for a lil while before sending it back up. |
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 | | Takeoff at the One MusicFest in Atlanta, Oct. 8, 2022. He was murdered three weeks later. | | (Paras Griffin/Getty Images) | | |
| quote of the day |
| "All the music that ever was and ever will be is here now. It exists in a cloud just above our heads and when we play, we pluck it out of the ether for a lil while before sending it back up." | | - jaimie branch, 1983 – 2022 | |
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| rantnrave:// |
Xanadu
With our final newsletter of 2022, we bid farewell to the musical giants we lost this year, from rock and country queens to hip-hop innovators and jazz visionaries, from behind-the-scenes architects of R&B and soul to a record executive who imagined an industry—against all odds and maybe all logic—where nothing mattered as much as artistic freedom. We mourn but also celebrate the shared purity of spirit that runs through RONNIE SPECTOR's New York rock melodrama and LORETTA LYNN's Kentucky country sass, through TAKEOFF's rap virtuosity and JAIMIE BRANCH's jazz and electronic improvisations, through THOM BELL's groundbreaking Philly soul productions, through the unbridled joy of TAYLOR HAWKINS' drumming, even through the way MO OSTIN insisted on running WARNER BROS. RECORDS.
In the mix below you'll find appreciations, histories and personal remembrances of them and 19 others. It's impossible to include everyone who deserves to be remembered in a single newsletter, so please accept this one with apologies to luminaries like IRENE CARA, JAMES MTUME, WILLIAM "POOGIE" HART, KEITH LEVENE, NED ROREM, KLAUS SCHULZE, ABDUL WADUD, PATRICK ADAMS, DJ KAY SLAY, JEFF COOK, HARGUS "PIG" ROBBINS and ANGELO BADALAMENTI, and industry titans including ART RUPE, JIM STEWART, TERRY TOLKIN, CREED TAYLOR and CHARLES KOPPELMAN. (And I'd be personally remiss if I didn't mention JOEL WHITBURN, the chartographer whose books were bibles for me and so many others.) A full alphabetical list, with brief descriptions, of every music figure of note who died in 2022 can be found in our REDEF original "And the Songbirds Keep Singing: Music Deaths 2022." Billboard offers a detailed list of behind-the-scenes industry deaths.
The Curtain Hits the Cast
Lastly, we want to note those who've passed in the two weeks since the last regular edition of MusicREDEF: Philly soul songwriter/producer/architect THOM BELL and Specials and Fun Boy Three lead singer TERRY HALL, both featured in remembrances below... Faithless lead singer MAXI JAZZ... Up-and-coming Memphis rapper BIG SCARR... Congolese singer and activist TSHALA MUANA... Canadian singer/songwriter IAN TYSON, best known as half of Ian & Sylvia... BERTHA BARBEE MCNEAL, co-founder of Motown's the Velvelettes... KIM SIMMONDS, leader of British blues band Savoy Brown... Pioneering timpanist ELAYNE JONES, believed to be the first Black principal player in a major American orchestra... And fashion designer VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, who helped create the look of British punk and new wave.
Rest in peace one and all.
And a peaceful new year to all who are reading.
| | - Matty Karas, curator | |
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| and the songbirds are singing |
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 | | The New York Times |
| | How Takeoff and the Migos Flow Changed Atlanta Rap | | By Jon Caramanica | | Quick-jabbing triplets had been a staple of rap, but the trio made the style sound fresh, thanks in large part to Takeoff, its master of syncopation. The rapper was shot and killed at 28 on Tuesday. | | |
 | | Esquire |
| | Loretta Lynn Made the Mundane Incendiary | | By Natalie Weiner | | There was no big picture angle or mission to the singer and songwriter's work besides telling her story over and over and over again with the kind of honesty and wit that made it feel not just fresh but revolutionary, every single time. | | |
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 | | Sonos Radio |
| | Dada Strain Radio: Bird Songs for Breezy (Honoring Jaimie Branch), Part 2 | | By Piotr Orlov | | The final episode of Dada Strain Radio's first season honors the memory of the late trumpeter/composer/improviser Jaimie "Breezy" Branch with music by Branch and memories from family and friends, including Kate Branch, Angel Bat David, Lester St. Louis and others. | | |
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 | | Passion of the Weiss |
| | A Requiem For PnB Rock (1991-2022) | | By Jayson Buford | | The Philadelphia musician was defined by the freedom of having no one to answer to. His passing is another tragedy in the midst of an epidemic of fallen rappers. | | |
 | | The New Yorker |
| | Meat Loaf Ascends to Rock Heaven | | By Amanda Petrusich | | The songwriter made records that were loud, infectious, theatrical, rebellious, dorky, sex-crazed, and beloved. | | |
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 | | Vulture |
| | Jerry Lee Lewis Was an SOB Right to the End | | By Bill Wyman | | Jerry Lee Lewis was known as the Killer, and it wasn't a casual sobriquet — a schoolmate called him that after he tried to strangle a teacher. He once shot his bass player in the chest; just about all of his seven wives, including one who was a child, said he beat them; and there's a lingering suspicion that he murdered wife No. 5. | | |
 | | Kerrang! |
| | Taylor Hawkins: A wild light blinding bright | | By James Hickie | | He was obsessed with rock'n'roll and one of the greatest drummers on the planet, but more importantly Taylor Hawkins was a man brimming with love and kindness. | | |
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 | | Trench |
| | MC Skibadee, Jungle Music & Me | | By Jordan Jarrett-Bryan | | My first encounter with Skibadee was an aggressive one. The year was 1999: I was in the queue for Planet V at Bagleys, aka jungle ravers' heaven, and I was being directed by security to step out of the paying queue and into the guestlist queue. | | |
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 | | The Philadelphia Inquirer |
| | Thom Bell, 79, The Sound of Philadelphia producer, has died | | By Robert Moran and Dan DeLuca | | The Grammy-winning producer, arranger, and songwriter, along with Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, helped create "The Sound of Philadelphia," which became world-famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s. | | |
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| | The New York Times |
| | The Soaring Legacy of Pablo Milanés | | By Ed Morales | | While helping pioneer nueva trova - which combined Cuban son and guaracha with soul, jazz and folk rock - he alternated embrace and rejection of the government that once jailed him. | | |
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 | | The Ringer |
| | Vangelis's Return Flight to the Cosmos | | By Tim Greiving | | The synth pioneer and Oscar-winning film composer, who died last week at age 79, saw his work as part of something bigger than all of us. | | |
 | | Some Came Running |
| | I Remember Anton Fier | | By Glenn Kenny | | I remember my campus friend Bob in 1978 or so expressing fake annoyance when telling me of drummer Anton Fier's imminent move from Cleveland to New York, where he would join the Haledon, N.J. band The Feelies. "I guess he heard somewhere that I had a pool at my house," Bob said. By which, I believe, Bob meant his parents' house. | | |
| what we're into |
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| Music | Media | | | | | | Suggest a link  | | "REDEF is dedicated to my mother, who nurtured and encouraged my interest in everything and slightly regrets the day she taught me to always ask 'why?'" |
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