There's something especially heartbreaking about the passing of the godfather of rap
There's perhaps something especially heartbreaking about the passing of Gil Scott-Heron now when, after years of drug problems and jail spells, his career had been put back on track thanks to I'm New Here, his stunning collaboration with XL Recordings boss Richard Russell. In fact, Gil was only just back from touring Europe when years of bad living finally caught up with him.
Still, at least the man whose influence on the music world is immeasurable (especially that of hip hop, rap and neo soul) had one final chance to remind a new generation that his was a voice like no other.
Who could possibly claim to hear On Coming From A Broken Home, the opening track on I'm New Here, without their body freezing on the spot as that voice cut its way towards what Gil himself described as "the absolute marrow" of your bones?
Even without paying attention to the lyrics ? a moving tribute to the female figures that shaped his, or any man's, life ? Gil's voice was as devastating an instrument as you're likely to ever hear. Rather than showing signs of damage after all those years of abuse, it seemed to have aged instead like the finest cask of rye. The album looked away from the swing of Gil's early jazz and soul-tinged releases towards a more skittish, trip hop backdrop, but that didn't mean the record lacked soul. After all, Gil's voice was soul.
You could gauge the vast influence of Gil Scott-Heron without even having to listen to a note of his music. When LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy starts rattling through his list of the most important, underrated figures in music on Losing My Edge (a list that stretches from This Heat to the Sonics) only one figure is worthy of the full on exclamation treatment: "Gil! Scott! Heron!"
Gil will be remembered most, of course, for The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, the 1970 spoken word track still regarded as one of the greatest pieces of political music ever put to tape.
You will doubtless hear more about that, along with other tributes to Gil, on guardian.co.uk/music over the coming days (Richard Russell has already blogged about the last time he spoke to Gil), but for now we'd love for you to share your memories of how this most unique musical voice moved you?
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