In the introduction to “Blues & Chaos” (Scribner, hardcover, $30), the new anthology of Robert Palmer’s music writing, Robbie Robertson captures Palmer’s loves of music in an interview with Anthony DeCurtis, who edited the collection. “For Bob, music was a religion,” Robertson says. “It would stream out of him in the same way that somebody would be trying to impress you with their knowledge of God.”

It’s almost a cliche — that notion of music as religion — but so apt for a critic who not only testified to music’s transcendent properties (be it Hill Country Blues or the Moroccan Master Musicians of Jajouka), he conveyed an almost rabbinical breadth of musical knowledge.

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