I’m going to hold off my sadistic desire to argue for Lady Gaga and instead mention that six pages in, nobody has yet to mention John Zorn.
Over 400 recorded pieces;
Collaborates with damn near anyone, all over the world;
Classical? Jazz? Rock? Hip-hop? NOIZE? John Zorn.
Over 19 film scores.
Got the MacArthur Fellows Award.
Owns his own record company that seeks to produce original, experimental, and avant-garde music from all over the world.
And is the only saxophonist I can stand. Just making a saxophone sound good is genius.
—PolarisDiB
“I think Jimi Hendrix may be the greatest musical artist of human history”.
I think not. That would be Mozart or Bach..
“He not only invented rock music”.
Rock music wasn’t invented by Hendrix. Rock and roll dates back to the 1950’s (when whites started singing/playing it), and , further back, to when it was called R&B, and, still further back, when it was called the blues.
If you mean “Rock” (as in late 60’s Classic Rock FM) as opposed to “Rock and Roll” (althought in truth there is no difference, just stylistic changes…50’s r&r, late 60’s rock, late 70’s punk rock….its.all rock and roll , just different eras) then that would be The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Pretty Things….dozens others, all pre-dating Hendrix..
Highway 61 Revisite predates Are You Experience by 2 years, as does Rubber Soul.
Revolver, Freak Out, Get The Pictures, Yardbirds (AKA : Roger the Engineer), etc…..all predate Hendrix
“completely changed and revolutionized music forever”
I think the Beatles have a bigger claim to that than Hendrix. They truly did “change and revolutionized (pop) music”.
Hendrix was a great “musical artist”…a good writer and visionary figure. That first album just exploded from out of nowhere.
Purely as a player, Hendrix was often sloppy, couldn’t keep a guitar in tune for more than a minute. He also was frustrated by the demands of his audience. Toward the end of his life he was forced to abandon the big band sound he’d tried to develop (the Woodstock version of the Band of Gypsies) and reform the original Experience with Noel and Mitch to tour (which is when I saw him live).
The mysterious “X” factor in his playing isn’t a matter of simple virtuosity. It has more to do with the ability to express an internal emotional reality, something that some players with better chops than him fail at, and therefore fail to engage us anywhere near as strongly as he does..
Jazz musicians like Armstrong, Parker, Coltrane, Ellington….would’ve played rings around Hendrix.
There is no one “greatest” musical artist….there are many. But if forced to pick one (sticking with US pop, non-classical)….my vote would go to Louis Armstrong…a “giant” who truly revolutionized music….inventing an entire language.
“If it hadn’t been for him, there would have been none of us. I want to thank Mr. Louis Armstrong for my livelihood.” – Dizzy Gillespie.
“Louis has been through all kinds of styles. You know you can’t play anything on a horn Louis hasn’t played.” – Miles.
THANK YOU ^^
I love Hendrix to death, but I hate when people call him the best musician ever
" Just making a saxophone sound good is genius" – Now that is a great statement!
As we are allowed to list more than one, here goes.
Mozart/Bach, Louis Armstrong/Charles Mingus, Barbra Streisand/Edith Piaf, Rosalyn Tureck/Jehudi Menuhin, and of course
…. Rafael Mendez ….
Robley