News & Updates — Twisted Cover Versions

Arthur Doyle / June 26, 1944 - Jan 25, 2014

Arthur Doyle / June 26, 1944 - Jan 25, 2014

Happy birthday to the unsung free jazz reedsman Arthur Doyle, he of the Alabama feeling. From Birmingham, his early touring and session work came with Motown groups, including Gladys Knight & the Pips, as well as some local Southern R&B groups before he went to NYC in the late '60s. He brought his R&B, gospel and bop chops to the city's free jazz scene and fit in his style very well with the high energy blowing music. He declined a full-time gig with Sun Ra's band to hook up with Noah Howard (the Black Ark band). The early '70s saw...

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Francisco "Kako" Bastar / June 21, 1936 - July 29, 1994

Francisco "Kako" Bastar / June 21, 1936 - July 29, 1994

Kako was a well-respected percussionist, dancer and bandleader in the Latin music scene starting in the '50s. A Puerto Rican who moved to NYC, he played timbales, congas, bongos & quinto for Tito Puente, Arsenio Rodriguez, Mon Rivera, Mongo Santamaria, Charlie Palmieri, Patato Valdez and others, as well as working in a multi-capacity role (session musician, composer, talent scout, A&R, executive) for Alegre Records. He recorded as a leader and also helped put together the Alegre All-Stars (the format of which was copied from the old Cuban descarga sessions but became more famous for the Fania All-Stars later on), who...

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Miguel "Angá" Diaz / June 15, 1961 - Aug 9, 2006

Miguel "Angá" Diaz / June 15, 1961 - Aug 9, 2006

A huge talent lost much too early, Angá was an ace Cuban percussionist who employed an army of congas, as well as timbales and other percussion instruments. A lifelong follower of Santería, he was born in Pinar del Rió, Cuba, to a musical family. He played professionally with jazz group Opus 13 while studying college before joining the greatest Cuban group of all time, Irakere, in 1987. He's worked with Buena Vista Social Club (and member projects), hiphop group Orishas, trumpeter Roy Hargrove, Afro-Cuban legend Tata Güines, progressive jazz pianist Omar Sosa, Malian jeli musician Baba Sissoko, avant-jazz/M-Base saxophonist Steve...

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Grant Green / June 6, 1935 - Jan 31, 1979

Grant Green / June 6, 1935 - Jan 31, 1979

Groovy Guitarist Grant Green was a regular presence on Blue Note Records and with funky organ combos. He was rooted in bop, blues and R&B and adapted his sound and approach to many different styles. He was inspired mostly by horn players, although he rarely worked with them. He effortlessly laid down lots of fluid single-note runs, and the only guitarists he seems to have cited as influence were Charlie Christian and Jimmy Raney. From St Louis, was playing in gospel bands by 12, before getting into rock & roll and R&B. He first recorded in '59 with Jimmy Forrest...

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Rufus Harley / May 20, 1936 - Aug 1, 2006

Rufus Harley / May 20, 1936 - Aug 1, 2006

The cult jazz artist Rufus Harley started out like any other Philly kid, taking lessons from Dennis Sandole, playing saxophone and other reeds, jamming with Philly scenesters like John Coltrane and Philly Joe Jones and gigging as a professional tenor player in his teens. But hearing the Scottish bagpipes during JFK's funeral procession got him really obsessed and he became the first bagpiper of jazz. After months of practicing the instrument (he even held them "wrong") to the dismay of his neighbors who would call the pigs (to which he would say "Officer, do I look Scottish to you?"--Harley was...

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