Tribute to Captain Beefheart and James Moody

I note the passing away of two great musicians this past week:  Captain Beefheart and James Moody.  Two very different but extraordinary men.  For those of you who are not familiar with one or both of these musicians, Captain Beefheart was a Dadist rock and roll, blues musician who performed principally in the late sixties and early eighties, most well known for the Magic Band and his Trout Mask Replica album,  and James Moody was a bebop and post bop jazz tenor saxaphonist, most well known for the seminal jazz song Moody's Mood for Love and his work with Dizzy Gillespie.
Don Van Vliet, better known as Captain Beefheart died on December 17th of multiple schlerosis.  He was 69 years old.  For those who are unfamiliar with the Captain, the BBC did an excellent bio of him which is accessible on you tube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M5YE_a4B1U I highly recommend it.  Trout Mask Replica is the only rock album I still own, and one of only a half dozen rock albums I ever purchased.  I think I got the album after hearing Beefheart sing on Zappa's Hot Rats album.
James Moody died on December 9th.  He was 85.  Moody had a much longer career than Beefheart that spanned over 60 years.  He was most well known for his improvisation on the changes to I'm in the mood for love which he recorded in Europe in 1949.  The song became something of a cross over hit when first Eddie Jefferson put lyrics to Moody's solo.  Then King Pleasure wrote his lyrics to the song, and his version became a big hit.  I myself prefer Eddie Jefferson's version over King Pleasure's, but I may be a little biased having met and talked to Eddie Jefferson many times when he would perform at the Rogue and Jar, where I used to cook in Washington, D.C.
Later in his career James Moody often sang and his singing was somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Clark Terry.  He would do a sort of growly bluesy, funny rap.  He definitely learned how to amuse a crowd from Dizzy.  There is plenty of James Moody on youtube.  Here is an interview and some music:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4yyIWSLGAw
Both men will be missed.  But their passing did give me an opportunity to learn a little more about creating a blog and inserting links to other sites.  Next time, however, I will stick to Indonesia.