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Astrud Gilberto (born Astrud Evangelina Weinert (29 March 1940 – 5 June 2023) was a Brazilian samba and bossa nova singer and songwriter, best known for her interpretation of the the immortal Antonio Carlos Jobim song "The Girl from Ipanema". Her 1977 album "That Girl From Ipanema" has been part of my vinyl collection since its release and her 1964 collaboration with the great tenor saxophonist Stan Getz is timeless - his tone and her malencholy voice, so incredibly compleme

The Queen has left the stage, but her songs will forever be sung. Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) We commemorate a career that began in the nightclubs of St Louis in 1957 and soon after joining Ike Turner's band. Over the next 15 years, Ike & Tina Turner released a string of hit albums and singles, including "River Deep - Mountain High," "Proud Mary," and "Nutbush City Limits." They toured extensively, and they became known for their ener

Arabic and North African music has had a profound influence on jazz and improvised music in Europe. The use of microtones, polyrhythms, and improvisational techniques from these traditions has enriched and expanded the possibilities of jazz, creating a new and exciting sound that is both familiar and exotic. One of the earliest examples can be found in the work of American saxophonist Coleman Hawkins. In the 1930s, Hawkins began to incorporate elements of Arabic music into hi

Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist Gordon Lightfoot (17 November, 1938 – 1 May 2023) achieved international success in folk, folk-rock, and country music and is credited with helping to define the folk-pop sound of the 1960s and 1970s. Lightfoot was the first in a generation of Canadian singer-songwriters that included Cohen, Mitchell, Young, Sainte-Marie, Robertson, Cockburn, lang, Morissette, Sexsmith, McGarrigle, Feist, McLachlan, Adams, Furtado, Lavigne and others.

If you are not familiar with the name of Karl Berger, you are not alone. Sadly, I only became aware of this exceptional man by reading of his recent passing in the NYT. Karl Hans Berger (March 30, 1935 – April 9, 2023) was a German-American jazz pianist, vibraphonist, composer, educator, and musical thinker. With Ingrid Sertso (his wife) and trumpeter Ornette Coleman, Berger co-founded the Creative Music Foundation (1971) and Creative Music Studio (1972), a premier study cent

The question to be put to the Australian people at the 2023 referendum will be: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?” The proposed law that Australians are being asked to approve at the referendum would insert a new section into the Constitution: "Chapter IX Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples 129 A

Ryuichi Sakamoto (17 January, 1952 – 28 March, 2023) Japanese composer, record producer, actor, solo artist and one of three members of Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), Ryuichi Sakamoto was an influential and inspiring innovator and musical pioneer of synthesised pop music, electro and techno in the 1970's and 1980's, who then turned to and mastered the full range of musical media including scores for Films, Television Series and Video Games Scores. His collaborations ranged fro

Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) American jazz saxophonist and composer. Wayne Shorter appeared in the late 1950s as a member of, and eventually primary composer for, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers. In the 1960s, he joined Miles Davis's second quintet and then co-founded the jazz fusion band Weather Report. He recorded over 20 albums as a bandleader and leaves behind a library of jazz standards that place him among the very greatest players of all time. Click on

This article from The Conversation sheds light on a mystery - why many people's musical tastebuds seem to be cauterized at the end of their teens; whose default seems to become Regurgitator's 1997 refrain "I like your old stuff better than your new stuff". This phenomenon may benefit many performers, allowing them to sing their hits into their dotage, on the Winery Tour and Festival Circuits, but (as I hope shows out in our monthly and annual playlists on SunNeverSetsOnMusic)

"Faith Hope and Carnage" (Canongate Books, Sept 2022) captures the intimate exchanges between Australian singer, songwriter, author, sculptor Nick Cave and Irish journalist Sean O'Hagan, culled from nearly 40 hours of phone conversations that took place during lockdown, between August 2020 and the summer of 2021. Cave openly discusses his grief following the tragic accidental death of his young son Arthur in 2015 and the transformative influence this has had on his personal l

He describes himself as "composer, producer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist" but perhaps the Australian didgeridoo master William Barton's greatest attribute is his collaborative spirit. I've compiled a playlist of half a dozen of his albums, but his entire catalogue is extraordinary and worth getting lost within. And most remarkably in his hands, he demonstrates how the didgeridoo adds a timeless depth, bass resonance and bite to orchestral music, like no other acoustic

On his new album, Jose James pays homage to Arykah Badu and Alice Coltrane, by reworking seven of the former's classic songs and replicating the album artwork from one of the latter's most important releases. Jose James' January 2023 release "On & On" pays homage to Erykah Badu, revisiting seven of her most outstanding songs, from all stages of her career, re-presenting them in his very own style, while remaining faithful to the originals. He is supported on this project by a

History isn't only written in the pages of library books or captured on film or in documentaries - it also lives and breathes in song. Here is a selection of songs of hope and resistance, to mark Black History Month. Sampa The Great - Freedom What's Going On - Marvin Gaye (1971) Nina Simone - I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free (1967) Curtis Mayfield - People Get Ready (2001) The Last Poets - When The Revolution Comes Gil Scott-Heron - The Revolution Will Not Be Telev

If you are fortunate enough to live in a Muslim country for awhile, the Call To Prayer, repeated five times a day, becomes part of everyday life. Sometimes you hear a recorded version and you continue about your routine. At others, you may be treated to a live performance, amplified from the nearest minaret: sometimes, so beautifully performed that you're compelled to stop and listen. Tunisian oud master Dhafer Youssef has one of those voices and for his 10th studio album Str

What a wonderful musician and performance!

Many notable musical identities passed during 2023 including Vangelis, Betty Davis, Chris Bailey (of The Saints), Mark Lanegan, Glen Wheatley, Olivia Newton-John, Judith Durham, Archie Roach, Christine McVie, Ronnie Spector, Meat Loaf, Ramsey Lewis, Irene Cara, Joey De Francesco, Jim Seals (Seals and Crofts), Klaus Schulze (of Tangerine Dream), Loretta Lyn, Anita Pointer (of The Pointer Sisters), Jerry Lee Lewis and Margaret Ulrich (not to forget legends Uncle Jack Charles,

Like everything Dylan, I find that The Philosophy of Modern Song is all-at-once exhilarating, surprising, illuminating, crafty and flawed - and I'm loving every word of it! Dylan makes over 60 selections from the American songbook, ranging far and wide in his choices. Some you know every word. Some you never heard before. Some you may hate to bits. But if you're anything like me, you will thoroughly enjoy his take on each one, nevertheless. He polishes each entry in two pass

Welcome to the new year - better than the old year! SunNeverSetsOnMusic - new and innovative music from around the world in 2023! Since SunNeverSetsOnMusic began, our primary focus has been our monthly review of (mostly) new and innovative albums. This was a way to index the music we'd been streaming, in a more interactive and attractive format than the streaming services' playlists offered - like the display wall at a record store. Our format has evolved over time. We began