Today marks the 50th anniversary of the plane crash that tragically took the lives of Buddy Holly(22 y.o.), Richie Valens (17 y.o.), and The Big Bopper (Jaye P. Richardson-28 y.o.). So much has been written about this day in Rock N Roll, known as “the day the music died” (from Don Mclean’s song “American Pie”). I’ve sometimes wondered what Buddy Holly’s music would’ve developed into had he lived. The same can be said for so many others-Eddie Cochran, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, yet we will never know. Perhaps if they had lived we might be disappointed by their current “smooth jazz/quiet storm/bad synthesizer” attempts as old men. Or maybe they’d be rockin' the house with great back-up bands like Big Sandy & The Flyrite Boys or The Dap-Kings.
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Suggested listening: Some years ago I picked up the the CD, Buddy Holly "From the Original Master Tapes" which is a nice collection, but the final track "True Love Ways" includes the pre-performance studio chatter, the saxophone blowing a few notes, the engineer saying something like "Okay Charlie" which may have been directed at Buddy whose real name was Charles Hardin Holley, and you can hear Buddy clearing his throat before the piano gives him his starting note, since Buddy starts the tune a capella.
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