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Underrated Artists


kad

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Couldn't resist ;)

 

Here are a few that come to mind...

 

Clare Fischer

Alan Holdsworth

Gene Puerling

Rob McConnell (brass arranger)

Roger Kellaway

Monty Alexander

 

 

Reality is like the sun - you can block it out for a time but it ain't goin' away...
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If I could say I wrote one song....for me it would be Clare's

Pensativa..one of my all time favorite jazz compositions. I NEVER get tired of playing this!

 

When I took a lesson w/ Clare many years ago I started playing this for him...I'm a couple bars in and he's yelling.....NO, NO, NO!!!!!!

"You're playing the wrong changes....that REAL BOOK THING IS ALL WRONG, one guy (Freddie Hubbard) records it and everyone says that is gospel". "Here are the right changes"....he hands me a personalized handwritten lead sheet.

 

The second bar instead of G7+11 is actually D flat 7 +5-9/ G flat...third bar A flat 9/ G Flat....on and on....quite different from the real book....my Clare experience. I've never walked out of a lesson feeling I knew so little !!

If anyone wants to see this version please PM me and I'd be glad to mail a copy out...I'm sure Clare would want his masterpiece to live on w/ the "right" changes.

 

Underrated....I'm not sure, but certainly under mentioned in comparison to many jazz pianists today:

 

Bobo Stenson...Swedish pianist who had the misfortune of being on ECM the same time time as this guy named Keith!

 

Richie Beirach....if there's anyone who has stretched the outer limits of modern jazz harmony...he's the pioneer.

 

Don Freidman....NYC based pianist still playing his a... off.

had the bad timing to come up w/ this guy named Bill....they were both on Riverside.

 

Enrico Pieranunzi...to our Italian friends ( Marino)...certainly no stranger, but to a lot of people on this side of the ocean....unknown.

 

Kenny Kirkland.....in the day .......WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Jim McNeely.....what a great big-band (and I hate big-bands for the most part !) writer and composer....great pianist also!

 

Jimmy Rowles....perhaps the greatest "tunesmith" of all time !

 

Terry Trotter.....my teacher and mentor in the early '80's....if he hadn't said no to this guy Myles in the early '60's ...we might have been saying Herbie who ???

 

David Kikoski...if there's a more impressive trio recording of "Giant Steps" (Epicure-Sony '94 #64441...Al Foster/Essiet Essiet)

I'd like to hear it!!

 

Joey Calderazzo.....maybe the baddest ever ?

 

NY classical pianist Paul Jacobs.....recorded some Debussy for the Nonesuch label in the '70's......the Etudes are my favorite.

 

These are just a few that come to mind.

 

https://soundcloud.com/dave-ferris

https://www.youtube.com/@daveferris2709

 

 2005 NY Steinway D

Yamaha AvantGrand N3X, CP88, P515

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Everytime I watch a jazz master somewhere, I realize how underrated they are. Only a handful draw the crowds and attention. The rest are underrated IMO.

Hamburg Steinway O, Crumar Mojo, Nord Electro 4 HP 73, EV ZXA1

 

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One more has to be mentioned....

 

Bill Dobbins...pianist/composer/educator/author.....

 

His book "A creative approach to jazz piano harmony" (Advance Music)

is arguably the only book you would ever need...a lifetime study.

It's based loosely on Clare Fisher's harmonic concepts....this is what Clare was teaching but Bill was able to put it in understandable terms in this book.

 

HIGHLY RECOMENDED !!!!!.......if you pick it up, go immediately to chapter VII...." Thoughts on musical Creativity".

A greater discourse on this subject has not been written!! ...very inspiring!

 

It's late ....a list of Bill's accomplishments are to be talked about at a later date.......

 

Anyone who's gone to Eastman, has a friend that went, knows about

Bill Dobbins!!

https://soundcloud.com/dave-ferris

https://www.youtube.com/@daveferris2709

 

 2005 NY Steinway D

Yamaha AvantGrand N3X, CP88, P515

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Thought I should mention..

 

John Taylor and Django Bates,

as a contribution from the British scene

 

John has some recordings on ecm, and plays with peter eskine on his ecm cds.

His recent cd 'angel of the presence' camj 7778-2 is astounding.

 

Django is a crazy synth wizard, second only to joe z in my estimation.

check it out

www.djangobates.co.uk

 

Bobo Stenson..yeah, fantastic

Hermeto Pascoal ...he is a god, but i am always amazed that so few people have heard of him.

Pierre-Laurent Aimard...wow

 

 

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In the world of rock and roll...

 

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler. He's a decent pianist, and has employed subtle use of his training in music theory and classical composition in his songs (both parents were instructors).

"Oh yeah, I've got two hands here." (Viv Savage)

"Mr. Blu... Mr. Blutarsky: Zero POINT zero." (Dean Vernon Wormer)

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+1 to what Ed Coury wrote.

 

My impression regarding Stephen Tallarico (yep, the guy's real name folks...) used to be that of a dope full of cocaine with little talent. That changed when I watched a couple of "making of" DVDs on Aerosmith records. The guy sure did lots of bad choices in the past, but seems to have come around it and now is making his talent shine. Incredibly versatile voice, undeniable showman grip and a brilliant melody maker to top it up.

"I'm ready to sing to the world. If you back me up". (Lennon to his bandmates, in an inspired definition of what it's all about).
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+1 for Bill Dobbins. After a hiatus, we're fortunate to have him back here in Rochester @ Eastman. His insights on and arrangements of Monk are brilliant.

 

Same goes for Harold Danko @ Eastman. I miss his column in "Keyboard".

 

On any given night, one or both of them are playing somewhere in town.

 

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I've always felt that Jonathan Cain has been an underrated artist. Sure, we know he can write the power ballads that make the young girls cry, but he actually studied music at Roosevelt University in Chicago, and has far more advanced chops than evidenced by his contributions with Journey. Just pick up one of his solo albums (e.g., "Bare Bones" or "Piano With a View"). FWIW, he also plays guitar and harmonica.

"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing."

- George Bernard Shaw

 

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For my money the most underrated act of all time was Cold Blood with Lydia Pense. They are still out there but here was a band with a singer who was a contemporary of Janis Joplin and, in my book, better (go listen for yourself), horn players that were as good as any in Tower of Power, in fact Cold Blood and Tower actually swapped some players in their early days. Lastly, a great keyboardist in Raul Matute. I have no idea what became of him. Any information would be gratefully received.
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Phish

 

page is incredible at keys, and trey, i cant even describe his guitar playing, wow.

unfortunatley, phish is no more, but im still hoping for a renunion after they get out of jail/rehab.

 

I think they were underrated at one time, then, somewhere around the mid 90s, they shifted to overrated. I will say that Page has a very distinct B3 sound. He has had some mods done by Goff. It's a mid-range heavy sound, but very distinct.

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Omar!

 

John Taylor for sure.

 

I thought most people knew how wondeful Meshell is but maybe I live in a strange sheltered imaginary world. Her last album was great.

 

Bojan Z

Nguyen Le

Everybody on Dave Ferris' post

 

Japan

 

Bassplayers in general (except Jaco) ;)

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Most underrated instrumentalist in rock history: Ringo

 

Maybe not underrated, but under recognized:

 

Piano Players:

Tommy Flanagan

Hampton Hawes

Nicky Hopkins

 

Great rock artists in one way or another overshadowed by the fame of others in their band...

Gene Clark

Ronnie Lane

Richard Manuel

 

 

Unsung heros:

Dan Penn

Jim Burton

Larry Campbell

David Rawlings

Marc Ribot

 

 

Often written off as corny or banal but genuinely great (in some way) for their genre/era:

Buck Owens

Dolly Parton

(Pre-Disco) Bee Gees

Black Sabbath

Elton John

Neil Diamond

Benny Goodman

 

Coulda been contenders:

Emmit Rhodes

Townes Van Zandt

Nick Drake

The Left Banke

 

Miscellaneous:

Richard Thompson, Steve Nieve, Larry Young, Jerry Harrison, Tom Verlaine, Nick Drake, Todd Rundgren....

 

People who are/were really good at some facet of music other than what they are usually recognized for:

Duke Ellington (as an instrumentalist)

The Rolling Stones (as songwriters)

John Paul Jones (on keyboards)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moog The One, VV 64 EP, Wurlies 200A 140 7300, Forte 7, Mojo 61, OB-6, Prophet 6, Polaris, Hammond A100, Farfisa VIP, ,Young Chang 6', Voyager, E7 Clav, Midiboard, Linnstrument, Seaboard
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