Early December brings a ‘certain chill’ in the air – and it’s not just the approaching winter winds. It’s the remembrances of music legends we lost over the years – in the early days of December.  Most notable is the murder of John Lennon in the late evening of December 8th, 1980 – 40 years ago now.  There was an outpouring of grief, shock, and then love – in the days and weeks that followed.  The love and peace he and Yoko had always championed helped sustain his fans and inspired many of his musical peers to create memorable tribute songs.

I’ve collected the best of those salutes by his ‘Beatle-brothers’ as well as a couple rock legends.  There were others we also lost in early December: from Sam Cooke and Otis Redding to Roy Orbison – and they too inspired some wonderful tribute songs.  I’m featuring these heart-warming and emotion-tugging salutes, and some others in this special edition of ‘Vintage Favourites’.  I’ll wrap the show with a couple birthday salutes to Andy Kim and Serena Ryder.

My first-hour feature (1-2pm.) – ‘This Week in Zoomer Music‘ – has some fascinating moments as well: from the legendary ‘Million Dollar Quartet’ recording, to the100th anniversary of the birth of a jazz giant – Dave Brubeck. He was one of the few pure jazz artists to score a million-selling album peaking at #2 on Billboard’s Pop Albums Chart – 60 years ago this week. I’ll also play you a rare version of ‘House of the Rising Sun‘ – from a woman’s perspective. It’s by Odetta. Martin Luther King Jr. called her ‘The Queen of American Folk Music’. This song – alone – is worth tuning in for … but I hope you’ll stay to hear the rest of this special ‘tribute’ edition of ‘Vintage Favourites’.