Passings

Several of my jazz blogosphere compatriots have been eloquently keeping on top of all the recent losses in the music world -- and what a depressing year it has been so far, what with the departure of everyone from Leroy Jenkins to Alice Coltrane to Michael Brecker. I have been moved by reading these tributes, but in general I have felt that my comrades did their blog-eulogies so well that additional commentary from the likes of me was more or less completely unnecessary.

Still, I don't think any of the usual suspects have yet noted the strange sad passing of Boston vocalist Brad Delp. Which is probably just as well, because Boston's contributions to the advancement of jazz are probably negligible. But good music is good music, right? If you're looking for some sort of standard for male hard-rock vocals (and I know you are), Delp was surpassed only by the godlike Freddie Mercury.

In practice, I was never a huge Boston fan. But I respected them, because they did what they did extremely well, and with a hell of a lot more integrity and focus than some of their contemporaries. They were one of those groups whose records earned the dubious distinction of ad nauseum airplay, which nearly ruined them for kids like me. But for better or worse, all of that was forgiven during one hot Fourth of July weekend in high school, when "More Than a Feeling" was revealed as the perfect soundtrack for a moment of teenage lust. What can I say? For that I will always be grateful.