On Fri, 19 Jan 2001, Justin Schwartz wrote:
> No, I thing Ellington would belong among the greatest composers of the 20th
> century. And Armstrong, pop or jazz, however you want to slice it, is the
> most influential musician of the century.
You're a jazz zealot, Justin. But we need people like you too. You can only do so much composing in 3 and 6 minute pieces, and you can only push the boundaries so far when you need crowds to come listen night after night. Ellington is a giant, he excelled in so many areas of musicianship and personal character. But to rank him simply as a composer against Bartok or Berio or Ives is ... well, unfair to Ellington. He innovated enormously given the limits of the song form; he composed in a great deal of complexity given that his purpose was to free his musicians to improvise both freely and harmoniously. But a performance-based composition can't be as complex qua composition as a composition-based composition. It would destroy itself by dictating too much.
We can also give Ellington credit as one of the fathers of the healthy modern attitude towards culture for his timeless quote "If it sounds good, it is good."
As for Armstrong being the most influential musician of the 20th century, you're simply ignoring the fact that the overwhelming majority of people living in America today have never been moved by his music or by anybody that's been directly influenced by him. You have to be a jazz hound cum old-style structuralist (i.e., what people think they feel is irrelevant, and the first in a series of causes is the most important) to see his influence pervading most people's musical experience today. Or 40 years ago. Ray Charles has had a more lasting influence that Louis Armstrong, never mind Elvis or the Beatles.
Michael
__________________________________________________________________________ Michael Pollak................New York City..............mpollak at panix.com