Gene Seymour is a film critic who has written about music, movies and culture for The New York Times, Newsday, Entertainment Weekly and the Washington Post. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his.

(CNN) This year's edition of the never-ending, always-expanding Astral Plane Pop & Jazz Festival was, as you can guess, very special in its range and (you'll pardon the expression) dimension. There seemed to be a LOT more additional newly deceased music immortals joining the ensemble in 2016, and we may end up leaving some big names out.

The surprises this year came in furious waves.

Soon after Natalie Cole's jolting New Year's Eve departure from our earthly plane, she was joined by jazz pianist Paul Bley (Jan. 3), playing solo renditions of such knotty, quirky and hauntingly beautiful compositions as "Ida Lupino."

Riveting as Bley was (and composer-conductor Pierre Boulez, who arrived on Jan. 6, waited to see if he could find an orchestral arrangement or two), he was the warm-up act for the first surge of new acts.

First came David Bowie on Jan. 10, just two days after he turned 69. Though he'd been ill with cancer for months, Bowie's arrival even surprised the angels. Having just released a jazz-inflected album, Bowie was intrigued by what Bley was playing. But the audience knew what it wanted and what did he give them first? "Changes," of course. An old friend from Mott the Hoople, drummer Dale "Buffin" Griffin (Jan. 17), arrived just in time to provide backup.

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Seconds later, the Eagles' Glenn Frey (Jan. 17) materialized on the big stage and Bowie, unfailingly generous, cued the choirs to lead Frey into "Desperado." Paul Kantner (Jan. 28), from Jefferson Airplane, traded fours with Frey on the guitar break and then Bowie, Frey and Kantner leaned into "Somebody To Love" as if they'd played it all their lives.

The musical gears shifted Feb. 4 when Maurice White, founder and guiding spirit of Earth, Wind & Fire, came on stage and Griffin offered him his seat on the trap set. White appreciated the love, but he'd brought his thumb piano and that would do for now.

Vanity (Feb, 16), the artist formerly known as Denise Matthews wandered into the audience. Somebody asked her about Prince. All she did was hold a secret behind a sad smile.

But revelations would have to wait because Phife Dawg (March 23), from A Tribe Called Quest, had just swaggered onto the stage. White said he HAD to take the drums now.

Merle Haggard (April 6) sauntered to the spotlight after a short break. "Mama Cried" was what he'd wanted to play at that moment and he'd decided to leave it there. The silence that followed was long enough to make everybody wonder if something big was coming.

Yes. And with one fiery guitar riff piercing the deep, dark silence, Vanity's melancholy secret was out.

JUST WATCHED Prince protege Vanity passes away Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Prince protege Vanity passes away 00:53

Prince (April 21) seemed energized by the crowd and played the nitro-powered set they'd been expecting. In the middle of "Little Red Corvette," Phife ran back on with a new arrival with his own guitar: Beastie Boys co-founder John Berry (May 19). Not known for sharing the stage easily on Earth, Prince shrugged and let Berry jam with him.

Three encores later, Prince and his crew were joined by another wave, this one comprising mostly jazz musicians: pianists Sit Charles Thompson (June 16), Claude Williamson (July 16) and Don Friedman (June 30), flutist Jeremy Steig (April 13), baritone saxophonist Joe Temperley (May 11). Because the Astral Plane recognizes no musical dividing lines, the rockers jammed with the jazz folk and vice-versa.

Frank Sinatra Jr. (May 16) brought his dad along to watch and even he was OK with the combinations. Dad was especially tickled to see Mose Allison (Nov. 15) drawling and vocalizing on "Your Molecular Structure."

Photos: Prince: The artist Singer and songwriter Prince performs onstage during his Purple Rain Tour in 1984. The artist, who pioneered "the Minneapolis sound" and took on the music industry in his fight for creative freedom, died in April 2016 at age 57. Hide Caption 1 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs in New York in 1980. Prince won seven Grammy Awards, and earned 30 nominations. Five of his singles topped the charts and 14 other songs hit the Top 10. Hide Caption 2 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist He performs at the Palladium in New York in 1981. Hide Caption 3 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince at the Lyceum in London in 1981. Hide Caption 4 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince and Apollonia Kotero in a scene from the movie "Purple Rain," which was released in 1984. Hide Caption 5 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince, seen here on set, won an Oscar for the original song score for the classic film. Hide Caption 6 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs in New York in 1984. Controversy followed the singer and that, in part, made his fans adore him more. His 1984 song, "Darling Nikki," details a one-night stand and prompted the formation of the Parents Music Resource Center. Led by Al Gore's then-wife, Tipper Gore, the group encouraged record companies to place advisory labels on albums with explicit lyrics. Hide Caption 7 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit in 1984. Hide Caption 8 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs live at the Fabulous Forum in 1985, in Inglewood, California. Hide Caption 9 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince in 1985. Hide Caption 10 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince, circa 1985. Hide Caption 11 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs live at the 1985 Fabulous Forum in Inglewood, California. He created what became known as the Minneapolis sound, which was a funky blend of pop, synth and new wave. Hide Caption 12 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince in the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Hide Caption 13 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince, circa 1985. Hide Caption 14 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince in a scene from the 1986 film "Under the Cherry Moon." Hide Caption 15 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs in London in 1986. Hide Caption 16 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs in London in 1986. Hide Caption 17 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs at London's Wembley Arena in 1986. Hide Caption 18 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince in 1987. Hide Caption 19 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs at Wembley Arena in London in 1988. Hide Caption 20 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist The singer's predilection for lavishly kinky story-songs earned him the nickname "His Royal Badness." He is also known as the "Purple One" because of his colorful fashions. He is seen here in 1990. Hide Caption 21 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs in 1990. Hide Caption 22 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince, 1990. Hide Caption 23 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs during "The Nude Tour" in Birmingham, United Kingdom, in 1990. Hide Caption 24 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince listens to the crowd during a 1991 concert. Hide Caption 25 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles in 1991. Hide Caption 26 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs at the Globe Arena in Stockholm in 1993. Hide Caption 27 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince arrives at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in 1994. Hide Caption 28 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist A disguised Prince appears at a Virgin Records in London in 1995. Hide Caption 29 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist As dozens of singers perform "We Are The World" on the 10th anniversary of the African famine relief anthem, the artist formerly known as Prince stands sucking on a lollipop next to Quincy Jones at the American Music Awards in Los Angeles in 1995. Hide Caption 30 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince poses for a photo in Toronto in 1996. Hide Caption 31 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Muhammad Ali pats Prince's head prior to a news conference where they were to announce plans for a benefit concert in 1997. Hide Caption 32 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs in 1998. Hide Caption 33 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist A disguised Prince speaks at GQ magazine's third annual Men of the Year Awards in 1998. Hide Caption 34 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince, circa 1999. Hide Caption 35 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs in Hong Kong on October 17, 2003. Prince's concert was the the opening act in a four-week government-sponsored music festival titled "Hong Kong Harbor Fest," aimed at boosting the image of SARS-battered Hong Kong. Hide Caption 36 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince arrives with his then-wife, Manuela Testolini, for the 77th Academy Awards on February 27, 2005, in Los Angeles. Hide Caption 37 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince at the 2005 NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles. Hide Caption 38 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs during a news conference for Super Bowl XLI in 2007. Hide Caption 39 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist He left his imprint on many aspects of popular culture, from film to movies to sports to politics. As the Minnesota Vikings prepped to take on the New Orleans Saints in the 2010 NFC championship game, Prince wrote a fight song entitled "Purple and Gold" to inspire his home team. The Vikings lost. He was the half-time performer at the Super Bowl in 2007 in Miami Gardens, Florida, seen here. Hide Caption 40 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs onstage during the 2007 NCLR ALMA Awards. Hide Caption 41 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs on the runway at the spring/summer 2008 collection fashion show by Matthew Williamson during London Fashion Week in September 2007. Hide Caption 42 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs during his Welcome 2 America tour at Madison Square Garden in 2011 in New York. Hide Caption 43 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist American pop legend Prince is pictured performing on the final night of the Hop Farm Music Festival in Kent, United Kingdom, in 2011. Hide Caption 44 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performing at the Femoren on August 6, 2011, in Copenhagen, Denmark. Hide Caption 45 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince on stage with singer Mary J. Blige during the 2012 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas. Hide Caption 46 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince presents the winner for Record of the Year to Gotye and Kimbra during the 55th Grammy Awards in 2013. Hide Caption 47 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist A year later, Prince performs during the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas. Hide Caption 48 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince performs at the 2013 Skanderborg Festival in Denmark. Hide Caption 49 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince is seen in the stands during the 2014 French Open in Paris. Hide Caption 50 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Left to right: Zooey Deschanel, Prince, and Jake Johnson in a scene from the TV show "New Girl" which aired in 2014. Hide Caption 51 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince speaks at the 2015 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles. Additionally, last year, Prince released the song "Baltimore," addressing the unrest after the death of Freddie Gray while in police custody. He performed at a benefit concert in the city and gave a portion of the proceeds to youth groups in Baltimore. Hide Caption 52 of 53 Photos: Prince: The artist Prince tweeted his passport photo on February 11. The photo quickly took the Internet by storm. Hide Caption 53 of 53

Somebody had to record all this stuff and this year's crack engineering staff was joined by the formidable Sir George Martin (March 8), who could be heard in the booth discussing possible string arrangements with Sir Neville Marriner (Oct. 2). "Promising," was how Marriner assessed the available talent.

Martin was about to deliver an outline of what, with characteristic wit, he termed a "killer" climax, when once again the stage went dark and blank. A low growl could be heard and as soon as those growls coalesced into "Suzanne" everybody knew Leonard Cohen (Nov. 7) had arrived. Steig was brought back to accompany him on a nakedly emotional "Hallelujah."

Which should, by all rights, have been enough for a climax. It wasn't.

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Somehow, Sharon Jones (Nov. 18) was supposed to follow Cohen and it turned out to be a snap for one of the most galvanic soul vocalists formerly on Earth. And the surprises weren't over. Kay Starr (Nov. 3) joined the Dap Kings lead singer on-stage and asked her if there was anything they could do together. It takes a lot to surprise the Astral Plane, especially this year. But Starr and Jones made even George Martin's eyes grow big with a killer version of "This Land is Your Land."

Martin was floored, though not hard enough to make him forget his plan for a big finish. He waved all the rockers, jazzers and pop stars back on the stage. There was one more song to sing and he wanted to make sure everybody got to do a chorus.

More big stories from 2016 ... ... including the year's best pictures, in-depth reporting and a look at the year ahead, go to CNN.com/2016.

Which song? And that's when they turned to a figure with long hair and an even longer beard, both white as snow. Leon Russell (Nov, 13) sat at a piano in center stage and took the first chorus of -- what else? -- "A Song For You."

On second thought, Martin commanded, forget taking choruses. Everybody sing or play the song in his or her own way.

Which, of course, they all did. It went on for days and days, but time doesn't matter much in the Astral Plane.

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What else could they do? Especially after a year like this one.