10 of My Favorite Artists

10.

Miles Davis has always been a musical master all the way from the early 50s but never ceased to evolve. As his visions changed with time his playing went from busy beboppery to jagged rock phrases to suave pop sensibility, all while maintaining the same unrelenting attitude.

9.

Turntable surgeon J Dilla is unparalleled in beatmaking for me. His work was sometimes just too much for anyone to rap over and stand alone still with equal ability to move a listener.

Often frugal in what he actually does with his samples, he still treats them them so as to let them truly belt, Donuts feeling like it lives and even respirates on listen because of seamless chops and and one good ear for crafting instrumentals.

8.

Richard Dawson's gone through a large array of sounds, even barring side projects. From a buried contemporary folk kind of debut in 2005, to visceral and fantastical folktale infused a capella, to the vile stuff in the clip below before his most recognizable work Peasant.

Increasingly maximal in orchestration with time on projects like Peasant and 2020, his lyricism is of equal impression for its own immenseness in every department. Verbosity for gory detail of even the most mundane, Dawson expresses humanity with an alien sort of sympathy

7.

With utterly enveloping production with every turn, whether or not his own, MIKE is a most accurate pen in the depiction of youth and a more nuanced look on experience. The complexity of the past, present, and future collide in his lyricism.

6.

Milton Nascimento is the "epitome" of a lot for me. His lyrics are utterly, lyrical, and his singing really does sing, and it can really resonate with me sometimes. Nada Será Como Antes feels exactly like the title, reminiscing as it's clear, Nothing Will Be the Same.

Nigh unmatched consistency, just fantastic performances and music. Even with the music he plays on record that he doesn't write, it's some good ass music, and the lot that he has written is just remarkable to place him as a favorite songwriter of all time.

5.

Ornette Coleman is somebody you really want to get in the brain of. Inventive at the highest level, and really ahead of his time. I mean, the people we call ahead usually define their time, but this was an artist the world was not ready for in any period of time he resided.

4.

From a young age Eric Dolphy was acknowledged for his achievements in classical territory, especially adding an originality to his musical personality. Noted not only of his mastery of a wide range of music but the distance he took modern jazz music.

3.

Perhaps the most influential to this direction of avant-jazz, Albert Ayler directed from an avenue in black music quite removed from the more typical bebop-derived free jazz and closer to blues oriented melodism.

Often his music is undeniably moving, both great in mass and velocity. It's just of such incredible force.

2.

Pharoah Sanders consistently took his horn far and ahead, exploring the nooks and crannies of sonic possibility. Sincerity and soul are sung riotously in his unrelenting timbral tendencies that would illicit controversy. His was a career boasting great color and personality.

1.

John Coltrane possessed almost unparalleled study, discipline, virtuosity and all-around monstrous ability. Critics never could catch up on time, subjecting him to unkind treatment in a deal of journals. His audiences were left equally polarized. But his titanship remained.

His music moved with a passion often conflated with fury, each benchmark in his career tantamount to a rude awakening of the potential of modern jazz. No longer just a far out direction to define invention, but simultaneous multi-directional travel.

And there you have it, ten artists I place highly as of Jan 2021. Perhaps I'll come to find more that reach this caliber for me in the coming years.