Archive for the R.I.P. Category

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R.I.P. Terry Hall (1959-2022)

Posted in Biographical, Music, R.I.P. on December 20, 2022 by telescoper

I was very sad last night to hear the news of the death at the age of 63 of Terry Hall, lead singer of The Specials, one of the leading bands of the 2 Tone movement which swept the UK music scene in 1979. The Guardian obituary makes it clear what a tough upbringing Terry Hall had but also how firmly he stuck to his political ideals.

I was still at School in the 1970s and, though never a fan of Punk (which immediately preceded 2-Tone in popularity), I absolutely loved bands like The Specials, The Beat and especially Selecter. I enjoyed not only their music, but also their admirably inclusive multi-racial approach, exemplified by their adoption of Ska, the Jamaican music genre that paved the way to Reggae.

Being a bit of an anorak I actually managed way back then to get hold of some of the very rare original Ska recordings, principally by the superb Skatalites. This wonderful band specialized in irreverent and eccentric cover versions of movie film tunes from the 1960s including Doctor Zhivago and James Bond, plus the classic Guns of Navarone. Nowadays you can find lots of this music to download, but it was quite hard work getting vinyl recordings at that time. As well as enjoying 2-Tone itself I was immensely grateful for the window it provided to a treasure house of wonderful music.

Ska is usually played (at least nominally) in 4/4 time, but each beat is really a cluster of sub-beats forming a triplet so the usual 1-2-3-4 of the 4/4 turns into 123-123-123-123, etc . Usually the drummer puts a heavy bass accent (and usually a side stick or rim shot on the snare) on the 3rd component of each triplet, and there would be guitar chops, other percussion, and/or brass riffs on the “off” beats. It is said that this structure was inherited, at least in part, from the marching bands that played in Jamaica and it does give a kind of strutting feel to the overall pulse. But wherever it came from the beat gives the music an infectiously bouncy rhythm that gives anyone dancing to it an irresistible urge to jump up and down, especially on up-tempo numbers. The triplet structure also gives those with no sense of rhythm a greater probability of moving in time with at least one relevant beat.

Anyway, here as a tribute to Terry Hall are The Specials, in a typically exuberant live performance recorded on British TV in 1979 (a programme which I think I actually watched at the time). They are playing the theme from The Guns of Navarone as a direct tribute to the Skatalites, whose wonderful original version you can also find on Youtube here (although it is really just audio).

Rest in peace, Terry Hall (1959-2022)

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R.I.P. Tom Marsh (1961-2022)

Posted in R.I.P., Uncategorized on November 19, 2022 by telescoper

About two months ago I posted an urgent appeal for information about the whereabouts of Prof. Tom Marsh, who had gone missing while on an observing trip in La Silla, Chile. The longer the time he was missing the less likely it seemed that he would be found safe and well and sadly there wasn’t to be a happy ending.

Last week a body was found about 5km from the Observatory and has now been formally identified as that of Tom Marsh. This brings to an end an awful period of uncertainty, but it isn’t the kind of closure that anyone hoped for.

A fitting tribute to the life and astronomical achievements of Tom Marsh, who was 60 years old, has been posted by Warwick University I send my own condolences to his family, friends and colleagues at what must be a very difficult time.

Rest in peace, Tom Marsh (1961-2022).

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R.I.P. Pharaoh Sanders (1940-2022)

Posted in Jazz, R.I.P. with tags , , on September 25, 2022 by telescoper

Yesterday I heard the sad news that yet another legendary jazz musician – the tenor saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders – has passed away at the age of 81. As well as having one of the iconic beards of jazz, he had a unique and instantly recognizable style on tenor sax, heavily influenced by African and Asian music, sometimes involving raucous flurries of notes, sometimes overblowing, biting the reed or growling into the horn to achieve unusual effects, and sometimes playing with a contemplative lyricism evoking a deep sense of spirituality.

Pharaoh Sanders began his recording career in the 1960s with John Coltrane on the great albums Ascension and Meditation. His playing then was avant-garde free jazz somewhat reminiscent of Albert Ayler but with a strong influence of Coltrane whom he influenced in return. Later on he embraced wider influences, including electronic instruments, as exemplified by the album Thembi. Later he moved away from free jazz improvisation to more traditional approaches. His recorded output decreased from the end of the 1980s but he carried on touring extensively and still creating wonderful music.

I’ve had the great privilege to hear Pharaoh Sanders play live on a number of occasions and he was terrific every time. He played at the National Concert Hall in Dublin just a few years ago but I was unable to make it to the concert.

I’ve been listening to Pharaoh Sanders tracks all morning to remind myself what a great musician he was. Out of all the superb tracks I could have picked going back to the mid-60s I picked this one, from the 1987 album Africa which I think exemplifies his later style very well. The track is You’ve got to have freedom:

P.S. You might be interested to know that the drummer on this track, Idris Muhammed, also played the drums on Fats Domino’s Blueberry Hill way back in 1956…

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R.I.P. Maarten Schmidt (1929-2022)

Posted in History, R.I.P., The Universe and Stuff with tags , on September 20, 2022 by telescoper

Once again I find myself having to pass on some sad news. Astronomer Maarten Schmidt has passed away at the age of 92. The highlight of his long and distinguished career was the discovery, in 1963, that quasars showed hydrogen emission lines that revealed them to be at cosmological redshifts. Together with Donald Lynden-Bell (who passed away in 2018), Schmidt was awarded the inaugural Kavli Prize for Astrophysics in 2008.

Rest in peace, Maarten Schmidt (1929-2022).

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R.I.P. David Mackay (1967-2016)

Posted in R.I.P., The Universe and Stuff with tags , on April 15, 2016 by telescoper

Professor David Mackay , who died yesterday

Professor David Mackay , who died yesterday

Yesterday evening I heard from friends at Cambridge the devastating news that David Mackay has passed away. I knew this would happen eventually. About a year ago David was diagnosed with a particularly aggressive form of stomach cancer that was expected to be terminal. Since then he has fought for his life with great courage and posted regular updates on his blog. On Sunday, however, he posted a heartbreaking piece that made it clear that he was about to lose the battle. He died yesterday at the age of 48. Fuck you, cancer.

For those who didn’t know Professor Sir David John Cameron Mackay, he was an extremely distinguished scientist and engineer, a Fellow of the Royal Society and a former Chief Advisor to the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change. He is probably best known outside his own research for his book Sustainable Energy Without The Hot Air which has become a standard undergraduate textbook not only in the United Kingdom but across the world. He will be remembered for this work, and it is indeed a fitting memorial, but he also did many other things. In fact he was a primarily a physicist (he did the same Natural Sciences course at Cambridge that I did) but his interests were always interdisciplinary in nature. He got his PhD from Caltech for a thesis about Bayesian Methods for Adaptive Models and after returning to Cambridge he rose rapidly through the ranks and eventually found himself as Regius Professor of Engineering there. He devoted a great deal of his time and effort to outreach and science policy and was one of our finest public intellectuals. He was knighted in this year’s New Years Honours List.

I didn’t actually know David very well personally – we met only a few times – but on each occasion I was struck not only by his sheer intelligence, but also his energy and the force  of his personality. You meet few people who make such a lasting impression so quickly as David. He was forthright in his views, but always honest and engaging. The word “luminary” definitely applied to him. One time we met was at a meeting about Bayesian Cosmology about a decade ago. He asked a question during my talk, which triggered a lively discussion that carried on into the coffee break. I was impressed that he saw immediately how to tackle a problem that I had struggled with for months. I feel honoured to have made his acquaintance, however briefly, and can’t even begin to imagine what people who were closer to him must be feeling at his loss in such a cruel fashion. I send my deepest condolences go out to his family and friends. He was brilliant and amazing person, and will be greatly missed.

Rest in Peace David Mackay (1967-2016).

P.S. Shortly before he died, David set up a Just Giving page in favour of the Arthur Rank Hospice Charity. Please consider making a donation in his memory.

 

 

 

 

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