Gil Scott-Heron

And so to the end.
A friend of mine played one of Gil's albums in the car while we were out on a job last year. I knew about Scott-Heron, but mostly for his reputation, and musically only for his spoken-word work: important work, the dawnings of rap etc. And although the spoken word material is good, it is quite austere. What I hadn't realised until the CD came on was what a fantastic singer Gil was as well. Nor had I known how soulful his music could be. I can't pretend I know his discography very well - I have one compilation of his music from the 70s - but Gil was clearly an important musician. And he was still producing strong work as well - work that Jamie XX used to such unsettling effect earlier in the year.
Now he is gone.