Died On This Date (March 28, 2010) Herb Ellis / Jazz Guitar Great
themusicsover Mitchell “Herb” Ellis
August 4, 1921 – March 28, 2010
Herb Ellis was a jazz guitar virtuoso who, over the course of a career that spanned some 50 years played with the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Jimmy Dorsey, Dizzy Gillespie, and Buddy Rich. His most celebrated collaborations however, were with Oscar Peterson, in whose trio he performed from 1953 to 1958. Herb Ellis died of Alzheimer’s disease on March 28, 2010. He was 88.
What You Should Own
W.C. Handy was born in Florence, Alabama in a log cabin that was built by his grandfather. By the time he was a teenager he was playing both trumpet and clarinet in a band. He would become a teacher by trade and was soon writing songs that would become blues standards. His “St. Louis Blues” as recorded by 
Ian Dury was one of rocks most beloved cult heroes. Besides making quirky music, he had a somewhat odd appearance partially due to childhood polio, and that endeared him to his devoted fans. Dury signed to the legendary Stiff Records in 1978 where he began to release songs that combined elements of punk and disco which at the time were mortal enemies. Songs like “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick” and “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll” made him a star in England and built him that cult following in the US. His quirky lyrics and thick cockney accent kept him from breaking out of that cult status beyond the UK. The 80s found Dury devoting more time to his other passion, acting as he appeared in several TV shows and movies, including The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and Roman Polanski’s Pirates. In 1998 Dury made public his battle with colon cancer and that the disease had spread to his liver. He lost his battle to the disease on March 27, 2000.