Without music, life would be an error. — Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900
Music (and other) geeks tend to make “best of” lists, sometimes every year. A few years back, I was asked by a now-defunct publication to compile my own roster of my all-time top ten favorite albums, from anywhere in the world. I couldn't do it; I like music too much, and have heard too much great stuff. But I started a list of ultimate musical figures, wound up with twenty-five, narrowed it to just the USA, got it down to twenty, then limited it to the 20th century and trimmed it to fifteen famed figures — chosen more for their originality and influence in their genres than any subjective judgment about who might be “best.”
So, I hereby humbly offer my list of the top 15:
Louis Armstrong — Satchmo, founding figure of jazz, “America’s Classical Music.”
Duke Ellington — master of jazz composition and orchestration,
Hank Williams — country music’s mysterious tragic founding figure.
Woody Guthrie — the nation’s founding folkie.
Robert Johnson — hands, voice, guitar, suffering, perhaps even the Devil — the blues.
Miles Davis — The Dark Prince, reinvented jazz at least four times.
John Coltrane — Spiritually took jazz from be-bop to new realms, still being explored.
Frank Sinatra — The Voice.
James Brown — The Godfather of Soul, not to mention Funk.
Chuck Berry — “If rock and roll had another name, it might be Chuck Berry” — John Lennon.
Elvis Presley — The King.
Muddy Waters — electrified blues but kept the roots.
Bob Dylan — America’s poet laureate, titled or not.
Jimi Hendrix — took rock and blues to a new place from which it has never recovered.
Gil Scott-Heron — invented rap, mixed with jazz and funk, and was never bettered.
Now, I recognize some potential problems here. Where are the women? What about classical music? (I guess that’s mostly European, but even I have trouble understanding it — my loss). Whereof Motown? Gospel? What about electronic dance music — does sound that requires drugs to dig count? (for that matter, where’s Jerry Garcia?) Why have so many of the best suffered so much? And of course the endless quibbles that might be targeted at any category or person here, or omitted (and I am not saying these Avatars are necessarily the “best,” but the most influential in their genres).
So, if you're so inclined, feel free to create your own list — add names such as Holiday, Charles, Zappa, Simone, Gillespie, Parker, Cash, Gaye, Redding, Mingus, Monk, Haggard, Nelson, Cobain, Franklin, Pop, Wonder, Bernstein, Gershwin, or even Arthur Lee or Rat Scabies if you wish — but remember you’d have to remove one already there for each, to make room (and as for those revered names Mitchell, Young, The Band, and Cohen — they're Canadians, sorry). It’s up to you. It’s just my list, this month. It could and does change, with mood or whatever. Your results may vary. I wouldn’t mess with your list — OK, I do have a secret roster of folks who would be excluded, don’t ask — as these are subjective, undefinable and indescribable matters. The best stuff in life usually is.
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