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A Classical and Early Jazz A-ZJul 20 '05 (Updated Feb 11 '07) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line While I listen to all kinds of music, mainly it's loosely defined "Classical" and "Early Jazz." Make sure not to follow any links: they're there just to waste my time.
Some time ago, I published my Pantheon, the top 500 artists and thinkers who made an influence on me. One of the features of that essay was to show the level of influence each artist had on me (which is another way of saying how highly I regard everyone in comparison to the rest). But what that essay lacks is an explanation of why I love those artists, and which of their creations I most admire. JAGUARDOG’s Favorite Musical Artists A-Z Write-Off gives me a chance to go into depth about my choices. Perhaps too much depth: this runs roughly 4,300 words. If you finish the whole thing, you know the routine: give yourself a Scooby Snack or Ice Cream Sandwich and put it on my tab. A Anonymous. There are countless anonymous composers, for my interests dating from the 13th century on, who penned glorious and strange and wonderful music. Some standouts: the music collected in the Ludus Daniel (c. 1230) and Llibre Vermell de Montserrat (14th Century) manuscripts. Louis Armstrong (1901-1971). Known world over for his singing and trumpeting, it is his very early work (pre-1930), first in ensembles like that of King Oliver, and then on his own, that I really love. He innovates in one of my favorite periods, that of “hot jazz”. Other: Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909), Donald Ashwander (1929-1994, ragtime composer and my predecessor at The Paper Bag Players), George Antheil (1900-1959, avant garde composer of Ballet Méchanique and later of neo-classical works). B Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). If I only had the music of one composer to take with me to the proverbial desert island, it would be the complete works of J.S. Bach, consummate master of fugues (one of my favorite musical processes), but also of virtually all other genres of classical music (with the exception of opera, though arguably the b-minor Mass and the Passions are sacred dramatic operas of a sort). One of the amazing things about Bach is that in his total oeuvre, and even within a single piece such as the final, incomplete fugue from The Art of Fugue, he will look hundreds of years back in time to earlier styles (the stile antico of Palestrina), to the present trends and fashions (Buxtehude’s stylus phantasticus and the emerging galant style), and way into the future with intensely chromatic and dissonant works (e.g. the last fugue of Book I of the Well Tempered Clavier) that are reminiscent of the twelve-tone system of Arnold Schoenberg. He will take not only these disparate styles throughout time, but also national styles (especially that of the Italian concerto, but also French overture and English counterpoint), mix with prototypes of German abstraction and Lutheran devotion, and achieve a synthesis of all of the elements involved that far transcends time and place. Equally a genius of music of the mind and heart, intellect and emotions, Bach stands on the highest pinnacle of Music. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827). Like Bach, Beethoven straddles musical eras, in this case Classical and Romantic, looking forward and backward and reaching a rarefied synthesis of styles that is satisfying as much for the intellect as it is for the emotions. For architectural integrity and sheer beauty and genius of design, Bach’s music surpasses all, but Beethoven is no slouch in these departments, his Late Period (the later Quartets, Piano Sonatas and Symphonies) especially lifting his stature to empyreal heights. One glimpses both heaven and hell in Beethoven’s music, often within the same movement or work, betokening a sometimes tormented spirit (egged on by progressive and then total deafness by the age of 44), but one that is indomitable and, heartrendingly, optimistic. Johannes Brahms (1833-1897). Taking the reins from Beethoven, Brahms deepens and enriches the spirit of the Romantic Movement (widening further the pool of chromaticism and dissonance in tonal music) while maintaining a grip on neoclassical and Baroque structures. While his Symphonies and Concertos are massive testaments to Brahms’ dramatic gifts, it is his many chamber works (e.g. Sextets, the Piano Quartets and Quintet, Clarinet Quintet, Cello and Violin Sonatas) that appeal to me the most. Those, and his gemlike, gorgeously constructed solo piano works: such poignancy, pathos, and Apollonian passion. Heinrich von Biber (1664-1704) was a phenomenal violinist whose compositions for the instrument are gloriously strange, haunting and powerful. Biber is one of those figures in early music history, like Machaut, Gesualdo and Janequin, who stand out for their free-thinking, innovation and quirkiness. Other: Béla Bartok (1881-1945), Alban Berg (1885-1935), Antoine Busnoys (1432-1492), William Byrd (c. 1539-1623), William Bolcom (b. 1938), Eubie Blake (1883-1983), Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707), John Bull (c. 1562-1628) and Benjamin Britten (1913-1976). C Fréderic Chopin (1810-1849). Growing up with piano lessons, Chopin was my bread and butter (along with Beethoven, Schubert and Bach), and though I rarely listen to his works or play them these days, when I do it feels like coming home. The Ballades, Preludes, Nocturnes, Sonatas, Waltzes and Mazurkas: so many moods and ineffable sentiments embedded within these miniature worlds. No one else wrote so idiomatically for the piano, which is both a compliment, and from my present vantage point, feint praise. François Couperin (1668-1733). A French Baroque composer chiefly remembered for his contributions to the solo keyboard (harpsichord) repertoire, Couperin leaps onto my list of favorites by virtue mainly of his Leçons de Ténèbres, especially the third, some of the most exquisitely moving and beautiful music ever written. John Cage (1912-1992). Oddly, it is Cage’s theories and essays and overall innovation that appeal to me more than the majority of his music, but I do love several of his compositions: the Sonatas and Interludes, some of the percussion works, and his very early Debussy-like compositions that any true Cage fan would find risible. Wilton Crawley (1900-1948), Zez Confrey (1895-1971), Cab Calloway (1907-1994), Charles ‘Doc’ Cooke (1891-1958), Oscar ‘Papa’ Celestin (1884-1954). Some well-known and lesser-known greats of the early jazz, ragtime, and stride eras. All of these artists (and in the case of Calloway, Celestin and Cooke, band leaders) produced raucously syncopated marvels that brim with life, even when (or one might say especially when) playing the blues. Other: Johannes Ciconia (c. 1335-1411), Eustache du Caurroy (1549-1609), Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643-1704), Giulio Caccini (c. 1545-1618), Aaron Copland (1900-1990). D John Dowland (1563-1626) is at the top of my list of all-time most exquisitely depressive and depressed artists, in any field. Whether his incredibly poignant and affecting music was the expression of autobiographical woes is debatable, and ultimately beside the point. The results— given their fullest fruition in his Lachrymae or Seven Tears are an astonishing paean to Pathos and Melancholy. Dowland was the Pink Floyd of Shakespeare’s era. Other: Claude Debussy (1862-1918), Anton Dvorak (1841-1904). E Edward ‘Duke’ Ellington (1899-1974). A jazz legend and cultural embassador known mainly for his swing and experimental jazz post-1940s, it is his earliest decade of recordings I love most, particularly those made for OKeh label in the late 20s and early 1930s. It is there one finds Ellington’s extraordinary gifts for harmony, rhythmic nuance, and expressiveness superimposed over the New Orleans ragtime 2/4 beat that was being phased out. At this dizzy precipice suspended between 2/4 and 4/4, rag and swing, Ellington unfurls some of his most elegant and exhilarating instrumentals, typified by his solo piano playing on the unbelievably sophisticated and suave Black Beauty (1928). Have a listen to the entire song: http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/ellington/blackbeauty.ram F Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). I was introduced to Fauré's Requiem at age 22 and have been an avid fan of this piece ever since, seeking out performances, rare though they be in the New York. The work is a mass of contradictions held in dizzying and philosophically profound balance. At the heart of its poignancy lies the fact that despite being a mass for the dead, it is often radiantly joyous, partaking much more of the peace (presumably of the afterlife) than of the sadness of the bereft left behind on earth. Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643). A great influence on J.S. Bach, Renaissance composer Frescobaldi wrote works of stunning counterpoint for keyboard (harpsichord and organ). I’m particularly fond of the ricecare, toccatas, and capricci. Other: Antoine Forqueray (1672-1745), Alfonso Ferrabosco Senior (1543-1588) and Junior (1578-1628). G Glenn Gould (1932-1982) was many things: genius pianist, composer, philosopher, humorist, iconoclast, technology guru, and essayist. He was one of the few performers who meets the composer as an equal, with his titanic mind, artistry and technique up to the interpretive task of re-creating the music at hand. George Gershwin (1898-1937). I just adore Gershwin’s deft mixture of classical and jazz idioms, creating a blend so seamless that the results (particularly the concert music such as Rhapsody in Blue, An American in Paris and Three Preludes) defy categorization. There is endless invention in his harmonies, melodies, and brilliant play with rhythms. Carlo Gesualdo (1560-1613). Gesualdo’s secular madrigals as well as sacred choral works such as the Tenebrae are shot through with violence and turmoil— sudden, thoroughly unexpected modulations of key, equally sudden alternations from slow to fast passages, intense build-up of dissonances, and most famously, a robust chromaticism that was hundreds of years ahead of its time. Listening to Gesualdo, you enter some very bizarre and beautiful company. Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599). Guerrero’s music possesses a great contrapuntal dexterity that weaves the sequentially appearing themes shared among the vocal lines into sumptuous tapestries of sound. The music shines in a generally bright color that is given contrast by flashes of minor mode melancholy, shades of darkness that give the light more poignancy and clarity. His Motets cover a vast array of emotions, including suffering, ecstasy, yearning, joy, serenity, humility, passion and triumph. They is calming and exciting at once, yet ever gentle and soothing to the mind and ear. Other: Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625), Philip Glass (b. 1937). H George F. Handel (1685-1759) was a prolific and preternaturally gifted composer of oratorios, operas, and chamber music. He excelled in fugal writing (an element of the “Old School”) while possessing a tremendous facility for tuneful melody in the popular, gallant style. I’m mainly drawn to his fugues (many equaling if not surpassing those of Bach), the Suites for Harpsichord, Trio and Violin Sonatas, Concerto Grossi, and above all the glorious oratorio, L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato. Hildegarde von Bingen (1098-1179) was a nun and mystic whose innovations in numerous fields have won her international renown and reverence. Her mysterious, haunting music incorporates unison movement typical of the period but also ranges into deeply expressive passages that employ a constant pedal drone above which voices float in contracting pulses of harmony and dissonance. Other: Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), Billie Holliday (1915-1959). I Charles Ives (1874-1954), like Harry Partch, approached American “classical” music from well outside the mainstream. I admire the way Ives weaves American folk and popular songs into the fabric of his orchestral and chamber works, especially in the case of the massive, complex and wildly inventive Concord Sonata. J Clément Janequin (1485-1560), master of artful, delicate ‘chansons’ penned splendid compositions in sacred and secular settings. He wrote sublimely when serious, but for me it is his humorous almost avant-garde imitation of real sounds (e.g. the chattering of women, a hunt, birdsong) in some of his compositions that makes Janequin a pillar of creativity and boldness. Scott Joplin (c. 1867-1917). If you’ve actually been reading this tome thoroughly (if not, shame on you), you’ll have realized I am a huge fan of ragtime music. Joplin was of course king of the form, as well of syncopated waltzes such as the charming Bethena. The simplicity of his melodies is deceptive, and occasionally one finds haunting pathos in unexpected places, such as in Solace: A Mexican Serenade. Other: Leos Janacek (1854-1928). K Giovanni Kapsberger (1580-1651) was a brilliant lute and theorbo player and composer working in the Italian style. His dynamic fourth and last book of music for theorbo (essentially a long-necked lute) demonstrates his forward looking style that is highly expressive and imaginative. Certain works sound uncannily like rock and roll tunes with their chord progressions, while others explore harmonies that are more likely to be found in Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. L Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687). Quintessential French Baroque master (well, I suppose such a title could also apply to Rameau and Charpentier), Lully excelled at comic and tragic, always a great combination and test for an artist’s imaginative powers and scope. His comédie-ballets such as Le Bourgeois Gentihomme created in collaboration with Molière, is uproarious, while his many operatic tragedies are profound, beautiful and arresting. Franz Liszt (1811-1886) was the long-haired rock star of the 19th Century. Adoring female fans flocked his concerts and swooned to his rhapsodic, pyrotechnically virtuosic performances on the piano. Later in life, he toned down the Romantic rhetoric a notch, but he will always be associated with extravagantly difficult and passionate music. I used to swoon over his flashy music when I was in my late teens. Personally, I can no longer stomach him, but he may be just the kitchen man for your aesthetic-erotic wet dreams. John Lennon (1940-1980). “One of these things is not like the other; one of these things is not the same.” Yes, Lennon hardly fits in a list of favorite classical and early jazz artists, but it felt wrong to ignore him, as his influence on me throughout formative years and on into late teens was tremendous. My respect for the political activist almost outshines my love of the singer/songwriter. Other: Francesco Landini (c. 1325-1397), Orlando di Lasso (c. 1532-1594), William Lawes (1602-1645), Gyorgy Ligeti (b. 1923). M Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). While I never questioned Mozart’s genius, it was a relatively long time before I “found” him. I still cannot abide a great many of Mozart’s earlier works, but greatly admire the Requiem, the minor key String Quintet and Quartets, the Masses and Masonic music, as well as his string quartet arrangements of several Bach fugues and his own beautiful Fugue in g minor, k. 401, among other works. A pity Mozart stumbled onto Bach and counterpoint so late in his career. Guillaume de Machaut (1300-1377) was both a brilliant poet and composer. In his music, he brought Medieval polyphony to its zenith, paving the way for a myriad of other composers throughout Europe. His Mass of Notre Dame for four voices does indeed replicate the awesome power, magnitude and angularity of a Gothic cathedral. I also love Machaut’s secular works such as the Remède de Fortune. Olivier Messiaen (1908-1992) devoted virtually all of his music to God, via the Roman Catholic church. But in his aesthetic, the devotion is not traditional in the least: bursts of extreme dissonance, pounded at fearsome decibels, tear through his compositions, leaving one’s system (stereo and body) rattled and bristling with energy. It is difficult to describe the tonality of Messiaen: it encompasses so much, and at times, reminds one of nothing that came before or after. I’m most partial to Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time and the piano works such as Vingt Regards a l’Enfant Jésus and Visions de l’Amen. Other: Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), Richard Mico (c. 1590-1661), Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), Marin Marais (1656-1728), Richard Mico (1590-1661), Georg Muffat (1653-1704), Bohuslav Martinu (1890-1959). N Conlon Nancarrow (1912-1997), like Partch and Ives, was a great American composer working on the sidelines. Indeed, Nancarrow more or less defected to Mexico where he spent his life working on (among other things) his Studies for Player Piano. No one holds a candle next to Nancarrow’s innovations and explorations with regard to rhythm. Sometimes superimposing ragtime and tinsly folk tunes over a mathematically rigorous map of darting notes played at superhuman speeds, the Studies cover a huge range of possibilities in the breakdown of time. Randy Newman (b. 1943) in his earlier recordings, especially Sail Away (1972) updated the stride and rag techniques, grafting his gritty and sardonic personality or persona over the classic American forms. “Political Science,” “Burn On,” and “God’s Song” are brilliant pieces of popular music: filled with rage and political irony, delivered softly with disarmingly sweet music. Other: Red Nichols (1905-1965). O Johannes Ockeghem (c. 1410-1497) wrote expressively in the early emergence of polyphonic music. When in the right mood, I turn to Ockeghem (and Byrd, or Guerrero, Busnois, Joquin, or Palestrina) for that taste of otherworldly splendor, longing, sadness and revelation. (That’s quite a taste, too, for an atheist). P Harry Partch (1901-1974) was one of America’s true and great original spirits, a largely self-taught composer whose theories, inventions, and vision of a corporeal “total theater” burned a trail outside the Western musical establishment that has earned him iconic status in alternative music circles. Delusion of the Fury employs Partch’s main innovations: microtonal scales and a bevy of bizarre percussion instruments he invented to play them. It is almost a joke that we call Partch’s music “Classical”— his music is immediately accessible on a visceral level, filled with joyous outpourings of percussion and exuberantly primitive sounds. It is riotous and ritualistic. Serge Prokofiev (1891-1953) was one of my heroes (from ages 16 to 18 or so), and for one period I listened to nothing but his music: the stringent “War Sonatas” (6,7 and 8), the picaresque Visions Fugitives, the virtuosic and beautifully dissonant Piano Concertos (first and third), the charming and Haydnesque “Classical Symphony” and the pungently Romantic score for the ballet, Romeo and Juliet. I still hold much of Prokofiev’s music in the highest regard, though for whatever reason I rarely listen to or play it of late. Henry Purcell (1659-1695) is best known today for his brilliant innovations in the genre of theater music as well as for his prolific and first-rate anthems, songs, duets, sacred and secular cantatas and odes. He tops my list primarily for his early chamber music, especially the Fantasias for Viol, written when the composer was a mere 21 years of age. These introspective works embody a passion of an entirely refined, sophisticated and heartbreaking nature— akin to the oil paintings of Johannes Vermeer, or the poetry of John Donne. Somewhere in the slow, languorous breaths of the viol’s phrases and the jubilant outbursts that break through the heavy, dark passages, a picture of Purcell the young man emerges— a thoughtful, precocious and passionate spirit. Other: Giovanni Palestrina (1525-1594), Cole Porter (1891-1964), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), Arvo Pärt (1935-). Q Hooch Quaynehorn (1895-2002) was a banjo sideman for Bugs Duvalier’s Creeping Critters until he finally broke out on his own at the age of 84, astonishing everyone with his solo performances of dueling banjos, actually playing two banjos at once with hands and feet together. At age 101, six years before his death, he was still entertaining at birthday parties, baptisms, country fairs and political rallies until arthritis forced him back onto a single banjo for the remainder of his extraordinary career. Oddly enough, one of his sons (Buford Quaynehorn) married one of his 78 great-grandchildren. R Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) remains one of my favorite Impressionist composers (after Satie), even though I rarely give them much play any more. I love the Concerto for Left Hand, the Violin Sonata, but above all the short and long solo works from Le tombeau de Couperin and Alborada del Gracioso to the marvelous Gaspard de la nuit. Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) like Couperin, excelled at the keyboard, and his vast and varied contribution to the harpsichord literature is profound. And like Charpentier, Rameau had his hand in numerous genres— operas, church music, motets, and incidental music for ballets, to name a few. His work for me typifies the grandness and nobility of the French Baroque spirit. Django Reinhardt (1910-1953), the three-fingered Gypsy jazz guitarist, epitomized cool swing and hot jazz. With violinist Stephane Grappelli, Reinhardt created some of the most endearing and astonishing jazz in the lazy and virtuosic styles. His recordings liven up any occasion and inspire all kinds of dancing. Other: Luigi Rossi (c. 1597-1653), Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873-1943), Ma Rainey (1886-1939), Alonzo Ross (fl. 1920s). S Erik Satie (1866-1925) was possibly the world’s most gentle, idiosyncratic and inimitable of iconoclasts. Among his greatest gifts were his profoundly silly sense of humor, a Monty Pythonesque flare for the absurd (that was to have a major influence on the Surrealists) long before the absurd was endemic in Western culture, and a fiercely idiosyncratic and childlike imagination. Satie was another hero of mine (at age 15, I rebelled in my piano studies by playing only and all of Satie), but whatever you do, do not under any circumstances follow this link to hardcore Impressionist porn. Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971). I love an artist who reinvents himself every now and then, rather than finding what sells and sticking narrowly to that for the rest of his career. Stravinsky changed course numerous times, from enfant terrible to neoclassicist to serialist (to name a few), always printing his imitable stamp on everything he touched. Some of my favorite works are the ballet score, Agon, the weird and haunting Mass, the percussive Les Noces, the affecting Suite Italienne and Pulcinella, and the propulsive Concerto for Two Pianos and Tango. Domenico Scarlatti (1685-1725) wrote in a variety of forms, but his justifiable claim to fame rests in his harpsichord sonatas, of which he wrote over 500. He achieves coloristic effects and moods rivaled only by Rameau and Couperin, while pushing the dramatic/emotional envelope far beyond his French counterparts. Franz Schubert (1797-1828), along with Beethoven, Chopin and Bach, was my bread and butter as a piano student; how many times did I play those wonderfully dramatic and elegant Impromtus? Later in life, I discovered the chamber works, the Piano Trio in E-flat, Opus 100 being one of my favorite works in that genre. The Symphonies aren’t too shabby, either. Robert Schumann (1810-1856). I love Schumann’s rich harmonies and often-dark textures, his Romanticism still tethered to architecture (before Liszt and Wagner will slap on the extra flab). Among his many moving and beautiful works for piano, the Symphonic Etudes are perhaps my favorite. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) is indisputably one of the most influential and intelligent composers of the 20th Century. He is credited with inventing atonality (the radical departure from Western tonal systems based on key and modulation) and serialism, whereby— in its most strict application— once a given note is played, all others in the chromatic scale must sound before the first reappears. In its innovation and influence, his achievements in composition are akin to Paul Cézanne's liberation of perspective in Western painting and Merce Cunningham's decentralizing of space in modern dance. He went beyond the mere, ultimately arbitrary increase in dissonance that composers were experimenting with while remaining under the tonal rubric. Schoenberg was intent upon loosing the very centeredness of tonality, such that one was never in or out of a certain key. My favorite work of Schoenberg’s is the Suite für Klavier, Opus 25 (especially in the hands of Glenn Gould). Paul Simon (b. 1941) and Art Garfunkel (b. 1941), like my other sore thumb Mr. Lennon, have little to do with Classical or Jazz, but their influence on me was enormous. I listened to their records from the earliest age throughout High School, their smart lyrics and varied approach to folk rock a beacon in my path. If you haven’t read enough about my musical evolution, by all means knock yourself out. Other: Jan Sweelinck (1562-1621), Johann Schein (1586-1630), Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677), M. de Sainte-Colombe (c.1640-1690), Bessie Smith (1894-1937), Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975), Ravi Shankar (b. 1920). T Christopher Tye (1500-1573). With his 31 small-scale instrumental works, Tye is credited with having invented chamber music as we know it. The average duration of each of Tye’s Viol Works is only a little over two minutes; yet within his highly condensed format, the composer ekes out a highly expressive universe of sound and color. One of the great paradoxes of Tye’s counterpoint: music of dizzying motion and intricate sound can approximate fixity and silence. Other: Art Tatum (1909-1956). U Fabio Ubbadubba-Delli (c. 1956-1978). Despite losing his life at age 22 in a tragic speed-eating contest, Ubbadubba-Delli left behind 13 operas, 25 symphonies, and 134 flute concertos, all in the key of C Major. But it is his lesser known song cycle, “Come Proud Sausages” that grants him a spot in my pantheon of greats. V Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) was one of the reigning masters of Italian Baroque music. His more than 450 concertos for solo and multiple instruments provided a codification and apotheosis of the form. Vivaldi was equally adept in choral music and smaller chamber works, everything he touched bearing his stamp of imagination, genius gift for melody and dynamic counterpoint. His Sacred Choral Works are filled with incredibly sublime music— melodies that haunt and linger in the mind with their unpredictable morphing of moods and temperaments. The Cello Sonatas and virtually all of the chamber music and concerti provide an equally stunning balance of lyricism and tightly reined counterpoint. Joe Venuti (1903-1978) and Eddie Lang (1902-1933) were another team of violin and guitar virtuosos in the manner of Stephane Grapelli and Django Reinhardt. Their contributions to jazz are considerably less celebrated than those of their European counterparts, but for my money, they match the technique, artistry, and joie de vivre of the famous duet. (Well, maybe not entirely match, but close). Just have a listen to “Apple Blossoms” recorded, against all internal evidence, in the year of the Great Depression, 1929: http://www.redhotjazz.com/songs/venuti/appleblossoms.ram Other: Heitor Villa-Lobos (1887-1959) W Fess Williams (1894-1975) developed ragtime with his insanely hectic and humorous “gaspipe” or Hot Jazz clarinet style. Fats Waller (1904-1943) was the king of stride and charmingly infectious lyrics and melodies. Kurt Weill (1900-1950) of course wrote in many idioms, some of them overtly “serious” (e.g. The Eternal Road) but I love how he lifts ragtime and German cabaret to new heights, with wittily dissonant chords and Brecht’s acerbic lyrics to boot. Tom Waits (b. 1949) often employs the gritty side of ragtime to highlight the losers, creeps and other brilliant characters who populate his universe. Other: S. Leopold Weiss (1687-1750). X, Y, Z Frances, Lydia and Hope Shasten (all three 1912-1964). These conjoined triplet sisters, sharing two bodies, two hearts, and three heads, were some of the most brilliant jazz singers of the 1930s and 40s. After marrying, respectively, Grant Xerxes, Willie Young and David Zellenberg, they became known as the X, Y and Z Sisters after adopting their husbands' names. Their cheerful singing and virtuosic scatting belied their off-tour fighting and misery which ultimately led to their fatal decision to separate. Bonus Section: Ages of Influence In some respect or another, anyone who is on this list I still regard highly, but to be historically accurate, most of them have periods in the spotlight (see how self-centered such lists truly are?) and then drop out for a while, if not for good. As a composer myself, this means more than simply “Who am I listening to, studying or playing most at any given time?”: when someone’s in the spotlight, it also means I am apprenticing myself under their expert guidance, learning from their craft as best I can. Below, I recount the personal spotlights for many of the above-named artists in my own evolution: the “end-date” certainly doesn’t mean I cease to regard them highly. Bold names denote a serious influence. Ages 6 to 12: Simon and Garfunkle. Ages 9 to 15: The Beatles, John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie Age 13: Frédéric Chopin [on and off until age 24], Sergei Rachmaninoff [until age 16], Franz Schubert [on and off until present] Age 14: George Gershwin [until age 18], Scott Joplin [on and off until present] Age 15: Erik Satie [until roughly age 17] Age 16: Sergei Prokofiev [until age 18], Maurice Ravel [until age 20], D. Scarlatti [on and off until present] Age 17: Ludwig van Beethoven [until present, with other highlights at age 21 and 28] and Dmitri Shoshtakovich [until age 22], Franz Liszt [until age 21], Béla Bartok [until age 24] Age 18: J.S. Bach [by far largest influence, never waning and never likely to be surpassed] and Olivier Messiaen [until age 21], Robert Schumann [until age 22] Age 19: Igor Stravinsky [on and off until present], B. Matinu, L. Janacek, Claude Debussy Age 22: Johannes Brahms [until age 25], Gabriel Fauré, Antoine Busnois Age 23: Schein, Charpentier, Lambert, Rameau, Lully Age 24: Hildegard von Bingen, Machaut, Charles Ives, Biber, Pärt [until age 28] Age 25: John Dowland, Gesualdo, Kapsberger Age 26: Conlon Nancarrow, Alban Berg, Britten, Monteverdi Age 27: Francois Couperin [until present], Forqueray, Guerrero Age 28: Glenn Gould [until present], Henry Purcell [until present], Harry Partch, Cole Porter Age 29: Arnold Schoenberg [on and off until present], Frescobaldi, Sweelinck, Tye, Weill Age 30: John Cage, Paul Hindemith, Bessie Smith Age 31: Louis Armstrong [until present] Age 32: Django Rheinhardt, Fess Williams, Wilton Crawley, Age 33: Antonio Vivaldi and G.F. Handel Age 34: W.A. Mozart [and blossoming, late], Puccini and Verdi (chamber music), Zez Confrey, William Byrd, Fats Waller Age 35… Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Venuti and Lang, Ashwander, Papa Celestin, Corelli.  |
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