While many towering band leaders who passed away this year have been properly immortalized in American newspapers and bible-thick British music magazines, a few important studio musicians and session players have passed away recently, with considerably less fanfare: jazz saxophonist Johnny Griffin, famous in Chicago for his “blowing sessions“; Buddy Harmon, the Nashville drummer who played on Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire” and Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man”; Norman Whitfield, producer and arranger for Motown Records whose signature song was “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”; and Earl Palmer, pictured here, the New Orleans drummer who played on such rock classics as “Tutti Frutti” and “La Bamba,” as well as Phil Spector productions like “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin'” and “River Deep, Mountain High.” RIP.