For the past year or so, I’ve delved into music in a near insane fashion, listening to the art form about 12 hours daily: at work, home, car, bed, etc. I’ve revisited past loves, discovered new loves and generally decided that this is perhaps the most developed art form on the planet. At the end of my search, I’ve decided that the musicians below are perhaps the best or at least the most innovative/influential I’ve had the privilege of enjoying, and I’ve listened to a lot.

Thus:

John Coltrane – Fitting perfectly into the genius dead much too young from drug abuse mold, this jazz musician was so devilishly talented and innovative in his music it is almost impossible for me to listen to him without smiling. He along with Parker revolutionalized how the sax was/is played, but more than that, he was innovative without suffering in the beauty of his music. Below is three of his best music


Blue Train
Giant Steps
A Love Supreme


John Lennon – So much is known about this musician that perhaps I won’t do him justice by attempting. Let’s just say he’s a musical genius. Below is three of his best music

Something in the way she moves
Revolution
Seargent Pepper


Beethoven – Look above. His seminal piece is listed below

9th Symphony


George Gershwin – As my primary criterion is essentially innovation, musical capacity and the vision to bring said qualities into their music, Gershwin could not be left out. Radically different and blatantly conspicuous with his many influences, he brought classical music into a place hitherto unknown.

Rhapsody in Blue


Bob Marley – My personal favourite, he alongside a few slowed down ska and created reggae. He transcended his genre through his lyrical and musical genius. Unfortunately for his legacy, modern marketing shows him too much as the ganja smoking Rastafarian instead of the modern musical genius singing of African unity and mental freedom of the African Diaspora he was. Three musical pieces:

Time will tell
Redemption Song
I shot the sheriff


Bob Dylan -- My favourite poet. I admire and respect his poetry more than I respect and admire that of Shakespeare. For me, one cannot discuss modern musical masters without a mention of Dylan. He was a major influence on three of the artists on this list.


Masters of war
Wigwam
Desolation Row


Jimi Hendrix – As with Lennon, much has been said about Hendrix. I will simply add that he was much, much more than a remarkable guitarist.


Little wing
Electric Ladyland
1987 (A merman I should be…)


Jim Morrison. Genius. ‘nuff said.


Peace Frog
People are Strange
Five in One


Max Steiner In the mention of musical masterminds, many will not include composer for films and that is a terrible shame, for almost no great movie is possible without great music. The art form of moviemaking has been around for over a century and it started with music being the main form of communication. In the century that has since elapsed, music in movies has grown alongside it, and helping was Max Steiner. His music is time immemorial, and with the many great movies his music graces, he shall live on.


Score “Casablanca”
Score “The Jazz Singer”
Score “Battle Cry”


Duke Ellington A musical genius; learn about him. ‘nuff said.


Mood Indigo
Solitude
Score, “Anatomy of a Murder”


So that’s it. I will send a letter of thanks to the one artist that still lives, and thank the rest in my peace. If anyone else is willing share their list, I will gladly read.

Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, two founders of the Blues

Muddy Water’s and John Lee Williamson, two more very important Blues muscians

Billie Holiday, gave jazz pizzaz!

Little Richard and Jery Lee Lewis, for starting the rock and roll music

Beethoven, nuff said

Pink Floyd for starting a new dimension in Rock music

Dylan, as you said

The Beatles for really opening many aspects of music to everyone

Miles Davis , another innovator of great jazz

Roy Orbison, letting his heart be shown in his music

Johnny Cash, some great country music that everyone can enjoy

Pete Seger and Woody Guthrie for
folk music

Just to name a few that I like, there are 100's more that I could go on about but that's a short list.

Well, as every composer mentioned has been around in the last couple of hundred years, it ain't a very thorough survey.
To begin with: Orpheus...

Well, as every composer mentioned has been around in the last couple of hundred years, it ain't a very thorough survey.
To begin with: Orpheus...
Well you speak of mythology. Music only started to be transferrable after written music was developed. Other kinds of music were allowed the same treatment with the invention of the phonograph. So really, music as can be herad now has a very limited time frame. Please do not bring to fore Greek myths of a great musician who could woo crowds with his music. I'm not interested unless I can hear his music.


Cosmic:

The idea was to create a purely subjective list based on musicians I have experienced. Regarding your list:


Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith, two founders of the Blues

Muddy Water’s and John Lee Williamson, two more very important Blues muscians

Billie Holiday, gave jazz pizzaz!

Little Richard and Jery Lee Lewis, for starting the rock and roll music

Beethoven, nuff said

Pink Floyd for starting a new dimension in Rock music

Dylan, as you said

The Beatles for really opening many aspects of music to everyone

Miles Davis , another innovator of great jazz

Roy Orbison, letting his heart be shown in his music

Johnny Cash, some great country music that everyone can enjoy

Pete Seger and Woody Guthrie for
folk music

I know of Billie Holiday, and she was what I would call a singer and not a musician. Miles was/is great but I think with the exception of the records, Sketches in Spain and Birth of the Cool, his seminal works included Coltrane. Besides, I only chose to provide 10 musicians. I know Muddy, John Lee, Richard, Pink Floyd -- Waters, Johnny Cash, and Bessie Smith, but in looking at the spread of music, I simply could not include them in the list.

The one musician I think I should've included is B.B. King or perhaps Louis Armstrong.

I chose Lennon from the Beatles. To me he is clearly the inspiration behind their best music.

Lennon would have been very little without the rest of the group. You can't have great music without the colaboration of the rest of the Beatles that is why I liked them as a group although each was very talented in his own rights.

The list I generated was from my listening to great music for many decades and after listening to many groups/ singers perform , I liked those as the ones that I enjoyed the most for true unique sounds.

Yes, unless a one-person band, every musician needs the help of others, in this I agree. That said, there is always a leader, the composer, the musician who directs the other members in the creation of music. From such a viewpoint, I chose Lennon as he clearly seemed to me, that musician. This in no diminishes the influences of Paul and the rest. Afterall I think if the list were expanded to 20, I'd include Paul.


The list I generated was from my listening to great music for many decades and after listening to many groups/ singers perform , I liked those as the ones that I enjoyed the most for true unique sounds.
Well music is mostly a subjective experience so I cannot really challenge your viewpoint except to make the claim that the musicians I listed have all left an indelible mark on music, and before their emergence, nothing remotely close to what they did was being done.

As well as the ones I have listed. Some of those people I listed actually were the originators of the styles of music they performed. That is why I liked them for their abilities to go beyond the norm and create smething new and unique for the rest of us to enjoy.

Wonderful idea for a thread.


I’ve revisited past loves, discovered new loves and generally decided that this is perhaps the most developed art form on the planet.

Yes. Yes. Yes.
I *love* Musik.
I always have a piece playing in my head, it is usually classical. My brain is set to run in music mode all the time. Whatever way I feel, there is a piece there in my head, that in a way "verbalizes" that emotion for me. I listen to the piece, and then I can tell what my emotions are.
(Mind you, I know about a hundred pieces by heart, as if though I had "photographic" memory for music -- although I cannot even read sheet music, and I have to listen to a piece about 5 times to memorize it. But then, it is just there, in my head, just for me. And nobody can take that away from me.)

Okay. My list:


B.E.E.T.H.O.V.E.N.:
Each symphony is dearest to me in a special way.
My dearest symphony is momentarily the Eighth. Die kleine Achte.
The Sixth and The Fifth.
Sonata No. 3 in A, Op. 69, for piano and cello, esp. the second movement, Scherzo. Allegro molto.
Oh, I could go and and on when it comes to B.


Rach. 3.
For some reason, there is this huge myth about it. But it is a jolly piece! Those who fear it, or go mad at it apparently take it too seriously.


J. S. Bach:
Das wohltemperierte Klavier. The magics of contrapunct. My favourite, for now: Book 1: Prelude No. 2 in C minor.
Violin concertos BWV 1041 & 1042 (but I always skip the second mvts.)
Toccata in F major BWV 540 (imagine Bach, on a winter morning, in the church, playing this).


Peter Tchaikovsky:
The fantastic uverture Romeo and Juliet.
The Sixth Symphony.
The Fourth and the Fifth.


Other pieces that are esp. dear to me:

Camille Saint-Saens: Cello concerto Nr. 1 in A minor, Op. 33.
Mozart: Piano sonata in D major, KV 576. (The second movement is one of the saddest things I know.)
Edvard Grieg: The Holberg Suite.
Brahms: The Hungarian folk dances (esp. nos. 5, 6 and 1)
Chopin: Etude G sharp minor, Op. 25, no. 6; Impromptu No. 4 in C sharp minor op. posth.
Mahler: The Eighth Symphony (but I have to admit that I usually listen only to the last mvt., and already that is overwhelming).

And some more.

***
On my seminal list, I will not place any non-classical music. I am a Radiohead fan, and I enjoy many others -- but never can that music compare to the Musik of the classical. The classical music that I love, I love with my heart. The non-classical music I like, I like with my mind. And I don't put high value in the likes of the mind.

I think George Harrison wrote "Something", which is my favourite Beatles song along with "The Ballad of John and Yoko".

On my seminal list, I will not place any non-classical music. I am a Radiohead fan, and I enjoy many others -- but never can that music compare to the Musik of the classical. The classical music that I love, I love with my heart. The non-classical music I like, I like with my mind. And I don't put high value in the likes of the mind.

What do mean you love the music with your "heart"? I also find it surpring that you do not place much value on the "likes of the mind", but then again, I perhaps do not know what you mean.

Peter Tchaikovsky was also a fucking genius.

What do mean you love the music with your "heart"? I also find it surpring that you do not place much value on the "likes of the mind", but then again, I perhaps do not know what you mean.

I think that we like certain music because we like the way it makes us feel, or we dislike a certain music because we don't like the way it makes us feel.

I find jazz, for example, fascinating -- but I hate the way it makes me feel, I hate the way I feel when I feel like (listening to) jazz. I hate that intellectual, rational, smooth feeling it gives me. I hate the faded lukewarm smile I have on my face when listening to jazz, I hate its coolness. -- Such are the likes of the mind.

The loves of the heart are the vibrant, deep, thrusting, ardent emotions, the wide ranges, depths so deep one may be afraid one would drown, heights so high one might think are made only for eagles, and those pleasant, ever so exquisitely pleasant warm emotions. The purest nobility is the one of absolute wildeness. The perfect music -- the one that feels as if it were done and felt in one single strike.

Ah, this probably doesn't make much sense -- I am not very fond of anayltical thinking anyway.

Beethoven helps me: Musik is der einzige unverkörperte Eingang in eine höhere Welt des Wissens, die wohl den Menschen umfasst, dass er aber sie nicht zu fassen vermag.

I think that we like certain music because we like the way it makes us feel, or we dislike a certain music because we don't like the way it makes us feel.

I cannot disagree with this sentiment.


I find jazz, for example, fascinating -- but I hate the way it makes me feel, I hate the way I feel when I feel like (listening to) jazz. I hate that intellectual, rational, smooth feeling it gives me. I hate the faded lukewarm smile I have on my face when listening to jazz, I hate its coolness. -- Such are the likes of the mind.
Heh. I suppose you are restricting your listening to one sub-genre of jazz. But I can understand what you are implying.


The loves of the heart are the vibrant, deep, thrusting, ardent emotions, the wide ranges, depths so deep one may be afraid one would drown, heights so high one might think are made only for eagles, and those pleasant, ever so exquisitely pleasant warm emotions. The purest nobility is the one of absolute wildeness. The perfect music -- the one that feels as if it were done and felt in one single strike.
Interesting. I listen to classical mostly when I feel like analyzing the music itself-- how the music was made--, but I suppose that is limited to specific composers. For an example of a conter, I listen to Bach simply because of the mood in gets me in: peaceful. I still won't call a musical piece "perfect" simply because of said ability to produce said emotions. I would call a music perfect if it can produce the amalgamation of said emotions, and an ability to be appreciated on an intellectual level. i.e. Rhapsody in Blue, Flamenco Sketches-- Miles Davis.


Ah, this probably doesn't make much sense -- I am not very fond of anayltical thinking anyway.
It does makes sense to some degree, and I diagree with your latter sentiment.


Beethoven helps me: Musik is der einzige unverkörperte Eingang in eine höhere Welt des Wissens, die wohl den Menschen umfasst, dass er aber sie nicht zu fassen vermag.
I only had a year and a half of the language, and you are killing me. But yea, music does seem to elevate us to a higher level of realization otherwise impossible. I think of music as a god.

Interesting. I listen to classical mostly when I feel like analyzing the music itself-- how the music was made--, but I suppose that is limited to specific composers.

You mean like in an orchestral piece you "listen out" the particular melodies of each group of instruments, or follow repetitions of themes, analyze the variations in the canon and such?



For an example of a conter, I listen to Bach simply because of the mood in gets me in: peaceful.

That's what baroque music is "supposed" to be like: peaceful. But Bach actually wasn't that much baroque as some would like it, Bach "had his funs".



I still won't call a musical piece "perfect" simply because of said ability to produce said emotions. I would call a music perfect if it can produce the amalgamation of said emotions, and an ability to be appreciated on an intellectual level. i.e. Rhapsody in Blue, Flamenco Sketches-- Miles Davis.

I am usually bored in the long run by the music I appreciate intellectually.



“ Ah, this probably doesn't make much sense -- I am not very fond of anayltical thinking anyway. ”
It does makes sense to some degree, and I diagree with your latter sentiment.

How can you disagree with my latter statement?! I am not very fond of analytical thinking. Do you think that I *am* fond of analytical thinking? Does it show? Is this something I don't know?



I only had a year and a half of the language, and you are killing me.

Oh, I'm sorry. I had the impression you fluently speak German, from an earlier thread.

The quote went: "Music is the only incorporeal entrance to a higher world of knowledge; this higher world of knowledge may be surrounding us, but we cannot grasp it." (There is a subtle play of words in German though.)


But yea, music does seem to elevate us to a higher level of realization otherwise impossible. I think of music as a god.

Yes, you did say in the beginning "and generally decided that this is perhaps the most developed art form on the planet."

Ah, I see I am not alone in my love of the finist music in the world.
Anyway, here's a list of some of my favorites:
<table border=1 cellpadding=2>
<tr><td>Who</td><td>What</td><td>Specifically</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mozart</td><td>Nozze di Figaro</td><td> Overture, Figaro's Aria and Finale esp.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mozart</td><td>Zauberflote</td><td>Pretty much all of it. Genius.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Mozart</td><td>Piano Cons</td><td>The famous ones.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Beethoven</td><td>Symphonies</td><td>5,7 & 9 mainly (obviously)</td></tr>
<tr><td>BT</td><td>IMA / ESCM and selected others</td><td>Relaxing, fine sounds.</td></tr>
<tr><td>Prodigy</td><td>Jilted/FotL</td><td>I don't really like metal but I love this</td></tr>
</table>

Who cares?

Blue,

I think Figaro is overrated, but know I'm in the minority. Now, the Magic Flute or Die Zauberflote, now that is fucking music. Prodigy were a welcome surprise when I first heard them, but to place them on a list featuring Mozart and Beethoven is quite surprising, but I'm glad to read your list.

Yeah, Figaro is only 'great' in three or four places. But it's where it's good it's fantastic. Zauberflote, as you described with completely justified language, is fucking glorious.