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Okay, I'll bite. Five non-classical acts which have meant a great deal to me:
Cesaria Evora Billie Holiday Tears For Fears Fats Waller Jefferson Airplane
Thanks to my mum for introducing me to the Airplane. (She was sorta 'there' at the time, if a bit youngish.)
IMO, the Jefferson Airplane were a lot more sophisticated musically than any of the British invasion bands, with perhaps the exception of Cream. (I realize some still take Sir Mick Jagger and the Stones seriously, though I've never met any educated person who is the least bit impressed by Jagger's masturbatory persona.)
If Joplin counts -- or maybe I should say if he doesn't count .....then he's on the list:
1. Scott Joplin 2. Frankie Valli/The Four Seasons 3. Leon Redbone (you could say he's not really "music," but whatever he is, he's on here) 4. Loudon Wainwright (ditto perhaps -- he is music, but his main message is something other than music....but maybe that's how it is with any real good music) 5. The Platters
....and like what Joel said, on another day or at another moment, I would have listed others.
This is cheating, but the score to the film version of Hello Dolly! would be #6 on my list. Every track is written so well and orchestrated so perfectly. Jerry Herman's harmonic language is amazing.
I love Joplin, but I consider him classical the way I consider Gerhswin classical. I believe Joplin thought of himself as a classicalist too.
Oh, to be sure! He composed a number of pieces that are firmly in the European tradition. Ragtime sits in this no-man's land between light classical music and popular music of the 20th century.
Joplin's music has all of these beautiful details. It's very delicate and all too easy to crush.
Piazzolla, also, is arguably classical. But like Joplin, he's also kind of not. I guess I like the grey zones of instrumental music--but, hrrrrng, Latin sensual rhythmic pulse. I think that's what underlies my tastes. (Hint: please suggest artists)
I've been listening to a lot of Peter Mulvey, David Byrne, and TMBG lately.
"If we continually try to force a child to do what he is afraid to do, he will become more timid, and will use his brains and energy, not to explore the unknown, but to find ways to avoid the pressures we put on him." (John Holt)
Ragtime sits in this no-man's land between light classical music and popular music of the 20th century.
His ragtime!
Yah, there's a lot of dreck. May be wishful thinking, but I imagine the same is true of Baroque, Classical, Romantic... we've just mostly forgotten those forgettable pieces; whereas, some of the banal ragtime stuff we've now got decent records of.
(Note: Lamb's got pieces that I think can be timeless too. Well, not timeless--since they're tied to a very specific time, but enduring.)
Ragtime sits in this no-man's land between light classical music and popular music of the 20th century.
His ragtime!
Yah, there's a lot of dreck. May be wishful thinking, but I imagine the same is true of Baroque, Classical, Romantic... we've just mostly forgotten those forgettable pieces; whereas, some of the banal ragtime stuff we've now got decent records of.
(Note: Lamb's got pieces that I think can be timeless too. Well, not timeless--since they're tied to a very specific time, but enduring.)
Yeah. It's like when young people today feel that all good music is in the past. They don't realize that there was a LOT of bs back the too, just the good stuff survives the test of time. Same with Classical music too.
I haven't heard much from Lamb, but I listened to one of his pieces a few years ago and got the impression that his music is not as refined as Joplin's.
George Gershwin Frank Sinatra Cole Porter Hoagy Carmichael Fats Waller *
* “His playing once put him at risk of injury. Waller was kidnapped in Chicago leaving a performance in 1926. Four men bundled him into a car and took him to the Hawthorne Inn, owned by Al Capone. Waller was ordered inside the building, and found a party in full swing. Gun to his back, he was pushed towards a piano, and told to play. A terrified Waller realized he was the "surprise guest" at Capone's birthday party, and took comfort that the gangsters did not intend to kill him. According to rumour, Waller played for three days. When he left the Hawthorne Inn, he was very drunk, extremely tired, and had earned thousands of dollars in cash from Capone and other party-goers as tips.â€
“Capone was convicted on federal charges of tax evasion in 1931 and sentenced to federal prison ; he was released on parole in 1939. His incarceration included a term at the then - new Alcatraz federal prison. In the final years of Capone's life, he suffered mental and physical deterioration due to late-stage neurosyphilis, which he had contracted in his youth. On January 25, 1947, he died from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.“
I haven't heard much from Lamb, but I listened to one of his pieces a few years ago and got the impression that his music is not as refined as Joplin's.
Here's a beautiful Lamb rag, played quite well, if not perfectly (and not by me).
.....then he's on the list:
May be wishful thinking, but I imagine the same is true of Baroque, Classical, Romantic... we've just mostly forgotten those forgettable pieces; whereas, some of the banal ragtime stuff we've now got decent records of.
