To avoid the use of many IMO’s, it is to be understood that all superlatives are strictly my opinion.
10.) Hoagy Carmichael. There have been many great songwriters this century and I was sorely tempted to name Jerome Kern (“Smoke Gets in Your Eyes” is the best ballad ever), Lerner & Lowe (hope I got the spelling right) or Rodgers & Hammerstein. However, anybody who wrote “Stardust,” the most recorded song of the century, definitely deserves to be in the running. Ol’ Hoagy also wrote many other great songs including “Baltimore Oriole,” “Lazy River,” and “In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening.” Finally, he is a Hoosier and I am a Hoosier so I will give him the nod over Kern.
9.) Louis Armstrong. I don’t think much of Satchmo as a vocalist, but nobody, not even Diz and Harry “Sweets” Edison, ever recorded so many great trumpet solos. His work with King Oliver and Jack Teagarden will influence musicians long after most rock bands are forgotten dust. Only the angel Gabriel ever played a horn better.
8.) The Glenn Miller Orchestra. No other group ever made it so much fun to dance.
7.) Lightnin’ Hopkins. The blues is the root of most popular music these days and a bluesman deserves to be in my top 10. Although several others – especially B.B. King, Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters – were considered, I picked Hopkins because he is my favorite and because he maintained an incredible level of quality over a long carer. Check out his performance on “The 1976 Jazz & Heritage Festival.” The old man taught the young men a few things about how to sing the blues.
6.) The John Coltrane Quartet: John Coltrane, soprano sax; McCoy Tyner, piano; Elvin Jones; bass; and Jimmy Garrison, bass. To give only one example of why I choose this band listen to how the quartet transforms “My Favorite Things,” a semi-sappy show tune that borders on sentimentality, into one of the moodiest, most brilliant pieces of jazz ever played, either on album or live.
5.) George Gershwin. Possibly the greatest songwriter of this or any other century and he has plenty of competition. The man wrote “Rhapsody in Blue,” “Summertime,” “Lady Be Good,” “Fascinating Rhythm” and numerous other standards. He also managed the transition into classical music with ease, penning Symphony for Piano and Orchestra in F Major, a wonderful piece. I have heard the Louisville Symphony Orchestra play it live and have a taped version by the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Definitely a virtuoso.
4.) The Motown Stable. James Jamerson is the best bass player who ever slapped the strings, and, sadly, one of the most underrated musicians of this century; Stevie Wonder is one of the most incredible popular musicians of the past 40 years (in 1981 I saw both him and Bruce Springsteen in concert and he easily held his own with the Boss – no mean feat); and Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell are the best duet ever. If I was picking artists for a much longer list those three acts would have individual entries. Add the Temptations (another group that would have an individual entry), Levi Stubbs (the voice of Audrey in the musical version of “Little Shop of Horrors”) & the Four Tops, the Supremes, Martha & the Vandellas, Rare Earth and the other Motown acts and you have one of the best assemblages of talent ever. And, although I have never had much use for his music, Michael Jackson is definitely one of the top-selling acts of all time.
3.) The Duke Ellington Orchestra. The Duke was an incredible songwriter in his own right and could also tickle the ivories. Add in the incredible Billy Strayhorn as ancilliary songwriter, vocalists like Helen Ward and musicians like Paul Gonzalez, Ray Nance and Johnny Hodges and you have a stellar list of talent. Should any of you doubt this, I recommend you listen to the 1958 recording of “Black, Brown and Beige” with the Duke & his Orchestra backing Mahalia Jackson on “Come Sunday.”
2.) I don’t know that this group ever had any formal title. Its lineup was: Jo Jones, drums; Fredie Green, guitar; Walter Page, bass; Teddy Wilson, piano; Buck Clayton, trumpet; Buster Bailey, clarinet; Lester Young, saxophone; and Billie Holiday, vocals. All other comments are superfluous.
1.) Jimi Hendrix. Simply put, the best popular musician of the 20th Century. If I were to explaine why I love Hendrix’s music so much, this post would be as long as a fat novella. Hell, I’m going to really stick my neck out and make this statement: “There are Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Jimi Hendrix. Then there is everybody else.”
