Originally posted by sonhouse That sure could be said for Kurt Cobain, in a Rolling Stones issue a few years ago, they rated the best guitarists, and they put his name higher than Andre Segovia. Of course they are both dead but I thought that was totally over the top, Segovia founded a whole SCHOOL of guitar style and so did Cobain but not anything like the quality of Segovia. Segovia had more talent in his little finger than Cobain had in his whole persona.
Every list Rolling Stone or any other publication has ever done is terrible! Lists are the devil!
Originally posted by gregsflat This topic is an interesting list of candidates. I can see Sonny Rollins because he has a strong tradition of playing with the greats of jazz, he does continue to perform at a high level, no pun intended. He also has acclaim world wide. I'm just not sure a Jazz or legit classical player can sustain enough popularity to overtake the influence rock idols h ...[text shortened]... hose that are able to make a living at their art and continue to strive for excellence.
So you think the sign of a great musician is what he or she did for their art, the impact they made and are making on the world? Take a pianist like Liberace, a pretty good pianist for sure and made a certain mark but sure didn't leave much of a musical legacy, more for his flagrant gay behavior.
How bout Jerry Lee Lewis, also a great pianist in his own right, and started a lot of youngsters playing but you wouldn't call him world shaking, except a whole lot of shakin goin on🙂 About Kurt Cobain, I would venture to say he started off a lot of kids playing but I bet when you add up the drop outs who would find out in a couple of months about the 10,000 hour rule, thats how many hours of real hard work on some subject like the guitar or ice skating or painting or any art to be really good, I bet a lot more people kept at it with classical guitar than were attracted to it by Cobain because they came at it from a much lower level than the classical guitar student, I bet there were also thousands of Cobain dropouts too.
There could be an argument made about him, long lasting work, shaped a whole generation, a LOT greater impact than Kurt Cobain, for instance. I still think Santana is way up there also.
Originally posted by sonhouse There could be an argument made about him, long lasting work, shaped a whole generation, a LOT greater impact than Kurt Cobain, for instance. I still think Santana is way up there also.
I thnk it's the best name so far. I got no love for Santana whatsoever.
I'm making what is (for me) a huge distinction between a great musician and a great songwriter.
Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Elvis, et al are not great musicians. Great songwriters, have a great touch with composition, but there are many truly great musicians out there and regardless of how popular these folks are, they ain't one of 'em.
Originally posted by Badwater I'm making what is (for me) a huge distinction between a great musician and a great songwriter.
Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Elvis, et al are not great musicians. Great songwriters, have a great touch with composition, but there are many truly great musicians out there and regardless of how popular these folks are, they ain't one of 'em.
I definitely agree with that distinction, except that I think a composer is also a musician so they can also be great.
The thing is that I don't value technical ability much. Art is a process of creation, so for me the artist is the composer (which may or may not be the instrumentalist). So when I talk about "the greatest" musician, I name usually people who may not necessarily be the best technically, but they had a great impact through their compositions.
Originally posted by Palynka I definitely agree with that distinction, except that I think a composer is also a musician so they can also be great.
The thing is that I don't value technical ability much. Art is a process of creation, so [b]for me the artist is the composer (which may or may not be the instrumentalist). So when I talk about "the greatest" musician, I name usually ...[text shortened]... necessarily be the best technically, but they had a great impact through their compositions.[/b]
Yes, do we prefer Robert Johnson or Yngwie Malmsteen? That's right, we and the Devil pick Robert Johnson.
Greatest living musician
11 Feb '09 14:151 edit
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