A thread about musicians that have huge talent, but are widely unknown …
Let me start out with a guy that was Frank/Nat/Sammy/Dean all rolled into one (and a level of musicality that probably surpasses all of them)
… yet he never quite made it - even though he recorded a whole disk with a little known sax player:
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Ladies and Gentlemen, here is Johnny Harmann (and John Coletrane)
what have you got - unknown to most, but outstanding (and let’s keep the “outstanding” bar high)?
William Kapell had a promising career as a concert pianist until he died in an airplane crash at the age of 31. Here’s his performance of a Shostakovich piano prelude.
JJ Cale
Any jazz music lover knows who Johnny Hartman was. A rich baritone voice, for sure.
James Jamerson was an astonishingly great bass player. He was part of the (now) famous Funk Brothers who arranged and played backup music for a whole lot of Motown stars. He had his own fan club in England.
not passing the “… you NEVER heard of…” part
Neither does Johnny Hartman, for that matter.
Nobody brings the funk and r&b/soul like him! Pretty much all with just one finger on the plucking hand, right? He’s been an influence on a huge number of bass players in all genres, but probably not well known to the general public.
I have a hunch (not much more than a hunch) … that JH is not well known outside of the US …
I am very close to jazz, and have to admit that I learned about him in my late 40ies (non-murican, here) … in my environment (LatAm now), If I ask 50 people about JH, I get at least 49 nopes
Word. And Chris Smither.
but amongst bassists, he is pretty much the Les Paul of bassists … the early godfather of bass - so quite well known
Not sure how many people would know Marcus Miller (and he is about as famous as a bassist can get)
about the one-finger-style … if done right, that seems to be able to cover a looooot of ground (looking at Wes Montgomery)
Somehow I was supposed to know who you’ve heard of?
America’s Premier Surf Combo The Blue Stingrays
Yeah, seems like a minefield to me.
Known among harmonica players, but maybe Sugar Blue? (Known best for the harmonic in the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You.” A killer player.) Howard Levy? (Known from Bela Fleck and the Flecktones; revolutionized diatonic harmonica technique).
It’s gonna be a real short thread if limited to musicians NOBODY has heard of. I was going to nominate my drummer, but all our friends know him.
why gravitate to anecdotes if you can have statistics:
There are around 1.000.000 people who bought his albums … (jep, he sold about 1 mio albums)
And arent Cocaine, After midnight and They call me the breeze staples on classic rock stations?
but let me bow out to avoid further hijacks
The Clapton and Skynyrd versions, yes. I’m not sure I’ve ever heard the JJ Cale tracks on the air. (But I do know his name. I just listened to the original “After Midnight” and, nope never heard of it. I honestly didn’t even know it was a cover until now. Same with the other two. I should be embarrassed as, like I said, I know of him, but apparently not much.)
Docs about the great session players like the Wrecking Crew or the Funk Brothers have shed light on many who would deserve mention in such a thread 20 years ago.
How many people are aware of Ian Stewart, founding member of the Rolling Stones and their studio keyboardist in the 1960s and 70s? He was kept off stage and the official lineup just because he didn’t look the part.
you probably know Rick Beato on YT … he has a lot of segments on both … lots of fun storytelling hourse to be spent