OCTOBER 27th, 2015
OCTOBER 27th, 2015
PASSINGS
LEON BIBB
Leon Bibb (February 7, 1922 – October 23, 2015) was an American folk singer and actor who grew up in Kentucky, studied voice in New York, and worked on Broadway. His career began when he became a featured soloist of the Louisville Municipal College glee club as a student. He lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, after 1969. Bibb was born in Louisville, Kentucky and was one of the performers at the first Newport Folk Festival in 1959. He also had his own NBC television talk show. During the late-1950s and early-1960s, Bibb was one of a number of American entertainers, such as his good friend Paul Robeson, who were blacklisted for alleged ties to left-wing groups and causes. In 1963, Bibb traveled to Mississippi to join Dick Gregory and others in the fight against racial segregation in the United States. Despite that setback, Bibb continued to perform, and around 1963–64 he was featured singing on the national TV show, Hootenanny, on The Ed Sullivan Show and performed with Bill Cosby on tours. He also provided the soundtrack to Luis Bunuel’s 1960 film The Young One. His a cappella vocals blend his classical, spiritual and blues influences. In 2009, he was made a Member of the Order of British Columbia. At the time of receiving this honor, Bibb was still an active performer. He was the father of the Helsinki, Finland-based acoustic blues singer/songwriter Eric Bibb, and grandfather of Swedish dancer and performer Rennie Mirro (in Swedish). (Wikipedia)
BILL KEITH
William Bradford “Bill” Keith (December 20, 1939 – October 23, 2015) was a five-string banjoist who made a significant contribution to the stylistic development of the instrument. In the 1960s he introduced a variation on the popular “Scruggs style” of banjo playing (an integral element of bluegrass music) which would soon become known as melodic style, or “Keith style.” Keith was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He attended Amherst College and graduated in 1961. In 1963 he became a member of Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys. Keith’s recordings and performances during these nine months with Monroe permanently altered banjo playing, and his style became an important part of the playing styles of many banjoists. After leaving the Bluegrass Boys, he joined Jim Kweskin Jug Band playing plectrum banjo. He began playing the steel guitar and soon after 1968, found himself working together with Ian and Sylvia and Jonathan Edwards. In the 1970s Keith recorded for Rounder Records. Over the years he performed with several other musicians, such as Clarence White and David Grisman in Muleskinner, Tony Trischka, Jim Rooney and Jim Collier. Today, Keith style is still regarded as modern or progressive in the context of bluegrass banjo playing. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame at an awards ceremony in Raleigh, NC on October 1, 2015 and delivered a heartfelt address on that occasion, just three weeks prior to his death. He died of cancer on October 23, 2015. Keith made a mechanical contribution to the banjo, as well. He designed a specialized type of banjo tuning peg that facilitates changing quickly from one open tuning to another, while playing. Earlier famed banjoist Earl Scruggs had designed a set of cams which were added to the banjo to perform this task. Keith’s invention made the extra hardware unnecessary, replacing two of the tuning machines already on the banjo — a more elegant solution. Scruggs himself became a partner in the venture for a while, and the product was known as “Scruggs-Keith Pegs”. Known today simply as Keith Pegs, they remain the state of the art, and Bill Keith continued to manufacture and market them personally as the primary product of his own company, the Beacon Banjo Company, until his death. Beacon Banjo tuners continue their proud tradition, now in the hands of his son, Martin. (Wikipedia)