Off the top of my head....
Bill Evans
Jimi Hendrix
Stevie Ray Vaughan
No doubt, there are others. |
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Buddy Holly: He was on that same kind of rocket ship up Dylan was on, full of ideas and ambition... Pretty much everything most folks associate with Buddy was released in a span of a year and a half. He was 22 when the plane crashed. |
louis Prima
Bobby Darin
Nat King Cole
Marvin Gaye
and many more. |
Charlie Christian
Duane Allman
Jaco Pastorius
Jimi Hendrix
Clifford Brown |
A young Louie Armstrong with Earl "Fatha" Hines for one last command performance. |
John Lennon would be at the top of my list. |
Ok, the question was if you could bring back ONE.
This way you have to really make a choice. |
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Buddy Holly has been mentioned more than once and rightly so. Elizabeth took Mozart so for another one that left to early Frederick Chopin |
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Yes, Buddy Holly for sure, what might have been? Also how another 20 years of Mozart might have impacted 19th Century music if he could have continued producing at the same pace, probably unlikely. And what about Gershwin? How many more memorable songs were left unwritten by his untimely death? |
Great question, just too hard for me to answer. |
Beethoven, so he could heal his hearing.
Schubert, so he could cure his VD.
Mozart, so he could cure his cold.
Those bastards left a lot of work unfinished, highly inconsiderate of them not to have better health. |
Lots of great choices, Tommy Bolin |
I wouldn't bring back anyone - they had their time.
The heaviest loss for me was Miles Davis. I would like to hear Paganini play too. |
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Limited to one, Charlie Parker. |
Tiny Tim... A devastating loss. What would have been? |
Inna now that you mention Paganni how about Franz Lizst as performing star. The women in his day supposedly removed and threw their underware on stage during his performances along with the fainting and things that young women go through when their idol is perfoming, a real showman he was with quite a dramatic flair who's inspiration was Paganni. His discipline for practice was also legendary, at times more the 16 hours a day to hone his virtuosic skills. It would be interesting to compare his performances by todays standards. |
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08-22-11: Bifwynne
Tiny Tim Excellent choice !!!!! |
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Ray Brown was probably the most distinctive jazz bassist the world has ever seen. Ray was not only a fantastic musician, but a knowledgable talent scout as well with dicoveries like Jeff Hamilton, Christian McBride, Diana Krall, Gene Higgins and many others. It was obvious Ray wanted to keep jazz alive.
If you don't have it in your collection already check out The Ray Brown Trio "Live At The LOA. |
Joplin is a great choice. I would bring back Nick Drake, though he would probably just hate me for it and kill himself again. |
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Clifford Brown. Such a terrific player. Would love to see what his catalogue would have been had he lived another 30+ years. |
Would like to add both Vince Guaraldi and Wes Montgomery.
Both left way to early. |
A lot of great mentions and I agree with most, but I think it would be nice to see what Eva Cassidy's career would have done had she survived. |
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Hard to know, but by some accounts both Paganini and Listz would have no equals today as they never did. |
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Freddie Mercury--a voice like no other. |
My wife says Scott Joplin! |
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It never seems to fail that when an open post like this one comes up ...the same wanna be comedians chime in and shown their true colors. So, Hendrix was good but, Duane Allman was the best and really would like to have him around today. |
Miles Davis, Dizzy Gilespie, Johnny Cash, Bon Scott, Ronnie James Dio, John Bonham, SRV, Randy Rhodes, Keith Moon, just to name a few. This list is too hard to pick 1. Too many greats have passed on in their prime, leaving a gap that has never been completely filled. I salute those who have tried to fill the shoes of the greats. Stevie Ray Vaughan may be gone, but who doesn't love Joe Bonnamassa? |
Just one choice? dboon of the Minutemen.
For just one encore, Coltrane and Dolphy at the Village Vanguard in 1961.
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Buddy Holly or Beethoven? It is a tough choice. I would only suggest that Beethoven's hits last perhaps a little bit longer. |
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S. Vicious, J. Thunders and Moonie |
Kijanki, having pitched in first for Buddy Holly, It's nice to see some others concur in the thought -- and that Charles Hardin Holly still counts enough to be subtly dissed! But I do take your point; I have a respectable Beethoven collection myself, and appreciate the ironic personal tragedy of his deafness. It's very hard to say what might have been different in the music had his personal circumstances been different. I guess that's why we have 'insightful' music critics.
However, I'm not sure that those who did, after all, have a pretty good run -- even Mozart, given his prolific output -- are as appropriately included here as those who had it all nipped in the bud [RIP, Don Knotts]. Let's face it, a brief flicker in a long night IS the human condition. I personally like accepting that fact as a measure of how I should live. I like it better than magic or making deals. In view of the grandeur (as Darwin put it) of life's constant reinvention here on dust spec Planet Earth -- and it's 42 billion light years to the "horizon" in all directions, you know -- it strikes me as just a little "off" relative to the big picture to feel a need for Symphonies 10, 11, and 12, given the treasures we have. Just a personal perspective, of course. |
Duane Allman and Barry Oakley. Keith Moon, Gustav Mahler..... So much genius has departed this mortal coil, the list could go on forever. |
