Don;t forget "the Piano Man"
Posted on 02/05/2010 7:55:13 AM PST by Jakarta ex-pat
OK. So which male artists NOT associated with duo, group etc would make your top 10. Here's mine..in no particular order..Non opera please!
I’d be remiss if I didn’t include Gordon Lightfoot- my uncle discovered him and was his manager in the 1970s.
Bing Crosby is the man. In this day when good lower voices are sort of scorned, he is a welcome breath of fresh air.
Frank Sinatra was style encapsulated.
And did we forget the rest of the ratpack?
Dean Martin - What a voice!
Sammy Davis Jr. - Big things come in small packages.
Nat King Cole’s been mentioned, but I love him.
I know a lot of people would disagree, but I always loved John Denver’s high, clear tenor.
Mel Torme - they say he hated the term “The Velvet Fog” but he could sing!
So many of the great Italian vocalists like Jerry Vale.
And how about some of the great country singers, like George Jones and Randy Travis.
And even though he IS in a group, I have to mention the incredible Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant. As a little bit of a vocalist myself, I am always amazed at the incredible control he has over his voice. He sounds like he is just “letting it rip”, but there isn’t a sound that comes out of his mouth that is not timed and intended. A master of true rock.
There are so many other great singers. I’d be here all day. This is my list from things I own.
I never could understand Buddy Holly being so great, I was a teen in the 50’s early 60’s and never heard of him until years after he died...must have been local..
Don;t forget "the Piano Man"
Cockburn was OK until his songs went full-on marxist.
Shotgun blast order:
Johnny Cash
Elton John
Gordon Lightfoot
Cat Stevens
John Denver
Bruce Springsteen (For The Nebraska album alone)
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Elvis
James Taylor
Trace Bundy
It’s a shame Sonny Boy didn’t live a little longer. It would have been hugely interesting to hear what he would have done with the quintet who became the Band . . .
Well, if you listen to what they did with “The Hawk” Ronnie Hawkins, you get a good idea, but I don’t know...he was pretty old and sick...and the Band was no doubt a great back up band for him...if I had to pick out something that could have been great, I would go with the old original Muddy Waters band staying together longer and see what they could have become...
Jerry Lee was big for a time, but when he married his 13 year old cousin, he became nobody almost overnight...
great call..love the music
For pure musical talent no list is complete without the little man in purple from Minnesota....Prince Rogers Nelson.
Gordon Lightfoot
Jim Croce
Peter Gabriel
Neil Diamond
Billy Joel
Ozzy Osbourne
Bob Dylan
David Allan Coe
James Taylor
Rod Stewart
Warren Zevon
Willie Nelson
Josh Grobin?
Add Bob Seger to the list.
I would add Clapton to my list of all time great guitar players.He'd be on my list, too.
Some recordings I still love to listen to when I get the chance: his blues duets with Jimmy Page (then a session musician primarily). I've probably heard him play better, but I can't think of too many times when he was more relaxed and more at peace with his music than those.
And I'll throw one to Mike Bloomfield, too. Beautiful player. If it hadn't been for Bloomfield and Eric Clapton, the Les Paul guitar as we all know it probably wouldn't have been resurrected. (Gibson had actually stopped making the classic Les Paul circa 1960; the SG was intended to replace it, notwithstanding that Les Paul himself wasn't crazy about the new model, but Bloomfield turned up playing one in his final days with the Butterfield Blues Band and Clapton turned up playing one with John Mayall and in the earliest Cream days---his original Les Paul was stolen, it was said, during the sessions for Fresh Cream, and he replaced it with the Les Paul SG that he eventually had painted into the famous psychedelic job---and, with the influence those two wielded, plus Peter Green on the crack Mayall set A Hard Road and with the early Fleetwood Mac, guitar players started hunting down the guitars and Gibson got wise . . . I could be wrong, but they started making the guitars again to stay in 1968.)
A couple of other names that need to be nominated for consideration -
Bob Dylan
Joe Cocker
James Brown
Johnny Mathis
Marvin Gaye
One of the greatest shows I ever saw put on (in person) was the Paul Butterfield Band in about three different clubs...once with a smaller group, once with the horns and once with Better Days...Butter could sing AND play his harp as good as anyone before or since, but it wasn’t only about the music wioth hi; he moaned and cried and shouted and sang through the harp and with his voice...plus, his band was just a revolving door of greats...I missed Elvis and Jerry Lee, but I would put Eddie Cochran up there in the REAL rock performer category, too...and no one’s mentioned him yet...
Bloomfield and don’t mention Butterfield’s Band? SHAME!
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