Humming of the Distances of the Planet, Betelgeuse, 57th Day of Hagwinter, 524 M.E.

Zakir Hussain, the legendary tabla virtuoso who defied genres, died today at age 73. Impermanence is swift.

Zakir played on a great many albums, from George Harrison's Living in the Material World (1973) and jazz musician John Handy's Hard Work (1976) to the soundtracks of Apocalypse Now and Bernardo Bertolucci's Little Buddha.   He appeared on Mickey Hart's Planet Drum and was a founding member of Bill Laswell's world-music supergroup Tabla Beat Science and John McLaughlin's Shakti. He was widely considered one of the greatest tabla players of all time.

He was scheduled to play at next year's Big Ears music festival with jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd and his own Masters of Percussion ensemble. I once noted that so many musicians seemed to die soon after performing at Big Ears - a statistical side effect of a festival featuring so many legendary but elderly musicians - but this is the first time I'm aware of a performer passing on before their scheduled appearance.

Rest in peace, good sir.