Anna Mae Winburn (R) led the integrated, all-women International
Sweethearts
of Rhythm—and other incarnations of the same band—for nearly twenty
years.
Son House fretted his guitar with
metal. He played “Death Letter Blues” between the frequencies of urgency and
painfulness, an alarming sorrow that hadn’t yet been communicated. He thumped
the earth with a perfect percussive heel. His prophetic approach would
influence others on this list, notably Robert Johnson. We classify Son House as
a Prophet and Robert Johnson as a Technician but we don’t establish the
importance of Prophets above the importance of Technicians. That distinction,
Dear Reader, we leave up to you.
The classical impulses of Dave
Brubeck may inform some of our decision-making when choosing him to appear
within this framework, yet his ability to conquer intricate time signatures,
the “ebonies and ivories” of 5/4 time, for example, ultimately places him among the Technicians.
We suppose that Technicians can sound prophetic, perhaps owing to the great relationships
they had with their instruments, the nonpareil mastery. “Ella Fitzgerald,” you
may remark, “a Technician?” Oh yes. The voice.
The addition of Bill Evans helped soften the sound of the Miles Davis sextet, and
steer the group towards Kind of Blue, one of the greatest albums in music history.
Imagine Billie Holiday standing
in the spotlight, singing the prayerful “Strange Fruit” while every other sound
vanished, or Lester (“Prez”) Young first equating “bread” with money and “ivey
divey” with cool, all the while cocking his “baby doll” (his saxophone) to the
side, underneath his porkpie hat. The Poets forged new language, true, and in
truth, they wobbled audiences with their beauty and outrage, with the emotional
content of their assertions and their mannerisms. Bud Powell, searching for balance,
perishing from tuberculosis. . . .
If you care, and you will, the
Poet Bill Evans and the Prophet John Coltrane, early in their careers, joined
Miles Davis (plus others) to create Kind
of Blue, one of the greatest achievements (of any kind) in world history. Who
presides over personnel, and the many intervals of creativity, and the virtuosity
of their own abilities but the Emperors or Empresses? Ellington hiring
Strayhorn, Ellington hiring Hodges, Ellington playing with Louis, Ellington
playing with Trane, Ellington in Europe, Ellington at Newport; Duke Ellington led
an Empire for 50 years.
Emperors & Empresses
Owing to his
virtuosity as a trumpeter, band-leading, and gravel-sweet singing,
nobody has had a greater influence on American music than Louis Armstrong.
1. Louis
Armstrong
2. Duke Ellington
3. Miles Davis
4. Bessie Smith
5. Anna Mae
Winburn
6. Sun Ra
6. Sun Ra
Prophets
Known for his bent horn, raspy singing, and puffy cheeks, Dizzy Gillespie
helped to
pioneer bebop and toured the world as
a Jazz Ambassador for the State Department.
1. John Coltrane
2. Charlie Parker
3. Thelonious
Monk
4. Son House
5. Charley Patton
6. Dizzy
Gillespie
7. Art Tatum
8. Sidney Bechet
9. Ornette
Coleman
10. Rev. Gary Davis
10. Rev. Gary Davis
Art Pepper’s 1979 appearances at the Village Vanguard
presented the ultimate tone-poems
that informed his life as a heroin addict, San Quentin prisoner, and magnificent saxophonist.
1. Nina Simone
2. Billie Holiday
3. Lester Young
4. Bill Evans
5. Mississippi John
Hurt
6. Jelly Roll
Morton
7. Lead Belly
8. Bud Powell
9. Art Pepper
10. Buddy Bolden* (*See comments, below)
10. Buddy Bolden* (*See comments, below)
Technicians
Lightnin’ Hopkins bangs away at “Had a Gal Called Sal”
(1954).
1. Count Basie
2. Coleman
Hawkins
3. Sonny Rollins
4. Lightnin’
Hopkins
5. Eric Dolphy
6. Clifford Brown
7. Ella
Fitzgerald
8. Robert Johnson
9. Charles Mingus
10. Dave Brubeck
10. Dave Brubeck
Also considered: Art Blakey (E), Benny Goodman (E), Lionel
Hampton (E), King Oliver (E), Albert Ayler (Pr), Anthony Braxton (Pr), James Reese Europe (Pr), Steve Lacy (Pr), Max
Roach (Pr), Pharoah Sanders (Pr), Wayne Shorter (Pr), Cecil Taylor (Pr),
Rahsaan Roland Kirk (Po), Ma Rainey (Po), Paul Desmond (T), John Lee Hooker
(T), Wes Montgomery (T).
FINIS.
5 comments:
*Re: Buddy Bolden, while he was rumored to have recorded on cylinder, no surviving recordings have ever been found, and yet, we include him here owing to his powerful legend, his undeniable influence, and his tragic decline.
--B.A.
A fascinating read! Some may quibble with the rankings or the categories to which each of these ascending/ascended masters are assigned -- but it would be hard to quibble convincingly about Louis Armstrong's status as Emperor!
A fun game to while away the hours while we lurch towards the final showdown.
Hey Ted,
I'm sure there will be quibbling and disagreements, and that I'll learn from them, which is one reason why I propose these kinds of categories in the first place.
Some musicians deserve to be in every list, and some may be mis-classified. In the end, I tried to choose the primary category for each musician. And of course, some people -- like Eric Dolphy -- were very difficult to place.
Thanks for taking a look!
--B.A.
Thanks, Mark. The final showdown isn't too far off, so we might as well play some tunes, and find the biggest glasses of stouts around, and charge (*pell-mell or other form of charging) toward the far horizon! Thanks for taking a look. ---BA
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