Most influencial

[boagie]

The all time most recorded artist, the late great, Hank Williams Sr. great crossover records as well. Influences, country gospel and blues with a little bit of the minstrel to boot, he could paint a picture with words and music, to make a stone cry. I am so lonesome I could cry. The Hillbilly Shakespeare!! A Tear Drop On A Rose, Your Cheating Heart, Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine, they just keep rollin on folks!!

[Justin]

His is a Polish pianist and composer. Much of his music can be found in Bugs Bunny. For any of you who haven't heard Paderewski here's a couple videos:

Ignacy Jan Paderewski/Liszt - Hungarian Rhapsodie No2 (doc.)

Beethoven Moonlight Sonata 2nd and 3rd Movements Paderewski

Paderewski plays Chopin

[Crazeddemon]

Glad to see Tool made it in this list quickly. The polyrhythms that this band can produce is unreal. It is what has made me great at odd time signatures and finding weird rhythms in seemingly boring riffs on bass guitar. While I have now come to the conclusion that the lyrics are a little over dramatic at times (i figure so that it can reach more people in more ways by being slightly more general), but beyond the lyrics is the voice and the sound it produces as it interacts with the music. They open my mind up to new ideas sonically which gets me thinking about music in a different way, which helps me to transform that idea into thinking about other things under different lights.

[philosopherqueen]

Originally Posted by Didymos Thomas

Robert Johnson.

Basically, everyone mentioned in this thread depends upon his genius. And you would be hard pressed to find a better example of solo blues performance.

But there are so many to chose from!

Robert Johnson is a heavy influence to me even without his own recordings. Imagine the careers of Eric Clapton or the members of Led Zeppelin without those Johnson tunes. No Crossroads, no Traveling Riverside Blues. Next to Robert Johnson, Led Zeppelin would be my primary influence. As a drummer, hearing John Bonham for the first time was mind-blowing. When I imagine what a band should be, Zeppelin is the archetype.

For more modern examples, the choice is a split decision between 311 and Sublime.

He was at the Blues festival, two years ago, and he was at Memphis in May this year. I saw him. The Blues festival in Helena, Ar really ticked him off. They were actually trying to get him to turn his music down for someone else.

[Didymos Thomas]

Ah, Memphis in May. What a wonderful event. Good music, great hallucinogens.

But I have to ask, who did you see there? The line up this year was wonderful - the Roots, Doyle Bramhall, Magic Slim, Buddy Guy, Lou Reed and then some. I ask because no one I mentioned played - at least to my knowledge.

As for Tool, yeah, they have a good thing going and would probably upstage Dream Theater - no small feat. But if you want mind blowing polyrhythms, jazz is the place to go. Art Blakey practically invented polyrhythms in modern western music, and Elvin Jones takes them to another level. I'd recommend any record with Elvin, which includes a lot of great Coltrane.

[boagie]

Thomas,

Buddy Guy I thought he was dead, he use to play with the late Junior Wells----- chicago blues band. Are you sure he is still on the go?

[Didymos Thomas]

Junior Wells also played with Muddy Waters and Magic Slim. Talk about great Chicago blues.

And yeah, Buddy Guy is still out there entertaining the public. Like I said, if you'd been at Memphis in May, you could have seen him play.

Bo Diddley died the other day, maybe you were thinking of him?

[de_budding]

Originally Posted by Didymos Thomas

Ah, Memphis in May. What a wonderful event. Good music, great hallucinogens.

But I have to ask, who did you see there? The line up this year was wonderful - the Roots, Doyle Bramhall, Magic Slim, Buddy Guy, Lou Reed and then some. I ask because no one I mentioned played - at least to my knowledge.

As for Tool, yeah, they have a good thing going and would probably upstage Dream Theater - no small feat. But if you want mind blowing polyrhythms, jazz is the place to go. Art Blakey practically invented polyrhythms in modern western music, and Elvin Jones takes them to another level. I'd recommend any record with Elvin, which includes a lot of great Coltrane.

I love a little jazz, don't know who's who though >.>. I like Benny Goodman thought Dave Brubeck, I hear he is quite good with polyrhytms.

[Seres]

Juanes


Amazing lyrics, extremely catchy, not to mention a great voice...


He's got some great meaning songs (La Vida es un Ratico, Que Pasa, La Historia de Juan) and some very politically minded songs about the civil unrest in Colombia promoting peace (Suenos, Que Pasa)

[Didymos Thomas]

I love a little jazz, don't know who's who though >.>. I like Benny Goodman thought Dave Brubeck, I hear he is quite good with polyrhytms.

Yeah, jazz is great. I should probably start a thread before we get any further off topic, but just to reply to what you've said - you really can't go wrong with the big names like Coltrane or Miles. Benny Goodman was more big band oriented if I recall; big band jazz is amazing, especially Buddy Rich and records with Louie Bellson. Brubeck is great too, his "Take Five" is extremely popular - you'd recognize the tune. The drummer, Joe Morello, is another one of those legendary players and master of ployrhythms.

Seres - I don't know very much about South American music, but I always like to see musicians use their platform to address social issues. Thanks for the suggestion