The Simpsons creator Matt Groening and Mr. Tom Waits have just given tribute to Captain Beefheart (real name Don Van Vliet), who passed away last week.

Waits hailed his memory comparing him to Miles Davis and both Sun Ra, as he told to LA Times.
“He was like the scout on a wagon train,” Waits wrote. “He was the one who goes ahead and shows the way. He was a demanding bandleader, a transcendental composer (with emphasis on the dental), up there with Ornette [Coleman], Sun Ra and Miles [Davis].”

Also Matt Groening enlisted Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band to play the All Tomorrow Parties festival he curated in 2003 in Califorina, speaking also about his influence on him: “Back in my formative years, my buddies and I were looking for the furthest limits in pop music,” Groening explained. “We loved avant-garde jazz, and we loved the blues, and Captain Beefheart melded them in a way that no one else has ever done, with the vocal techniques of on top of these crazy, angular songs.”

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – “Sure ‘nuff ‘n Yes I do”:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCSPf5Viwd0

by Ilaria Rebecchi

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