At 01:49 AM 4/21/99 -0400, Tera wrote:
>Yes, I know what you mean - however...Crosby was influenced enough by Jolson
>to forego his previously scheduled future to pursue a career in music.
>After Crosby began singing he took other influences into account and thus
>established his own style. I'd say Jolson was the greatest influence for
>Crosby as Jolson was responsible
>for kick-starting a career which may not have been otherwise.
Personally, I'd call this more inspiration than influence. Maybe i'm
unusual (watch it, now Tera!) but when I talk about musical influences I
tend to think not only the person or thing that inspired or motivated an
artist to create art in the first place but primarily the persons or things
that actually influenced or helped shape the KIND of art that was made. In
Crosby's case, that figure was largely Armstrong.
To use a far less significant example to illustrate this distinction, the
writer who first got me thinking that, hey, I want to be a writer too was,
no snickering, J.R.R. Tolkien. It would be a lie, however, if I said he had
been an actual influence on the kind of writing i do or the way i do it.
>Well, it seems to me that Jolson was responsible for changing the way in
>which music was presented.
as well as a whole lot else, as Tera articulated quite well. Like I say, he
was hugely important. But my only point is that the things Jolsen did,
while significant, tended to end with him. Crosby came along, basically
refuted the Jolsen model--Crosby's singing and acting is diametrically
opposed to Jolsen's in nearly every way--and helped create (no exageration)
the world and musical style we tend to think of as being "Twentieth
Century"--that is, the world we live in and the musical styles we still
use. Jolsen, by contrast, was merely the high point of a world we long ago
left behind.
>Tera (and you still skirted around the issue of great female
>influentials...harummph! Can I hear a Ma Rainey or a Bessie Smith?)
You can hear a Bessie Smith, and I'll repeat Mahalia Jackson, and add
Aretha Franklin. All three would be "top ten most influential" candidates.
But I'm standing pat with my Satchmo/King then JB/Bing Top 4. --david cantwell
