Who would you invite for dinner?

[Johnny Vinyl]

Dead or alive! Choose any person involved in the world of music!

Ludwig van Beethoven (Genius...say no more)
Robert Johnson (I want to ask if there were any unrecorded songs)
John Lennon (his views)
Syd Barrett (The Madcap Never laughs.....I'd like to delve a little deeper into his real psyche)
Kate Bush (a little eye-candy at the dinner table never hurts. Kidding....I would like a woman's perspective and I'm a big fan)

[Bill Hart]

One of the advantages of having dead people to dinner is that you can eat their pudding....

More soon.

[Bill Hart]

Jimi. For so many reasons.

[Rust]

Jimi Hendrix - to discuss what inspired him to expand the range of expression with his guitar and which new direction he might be heading.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Simply because I like more of his music than any other composer.

Wes Montgomery - who wouldn't invite the best jazz guitarist?

Renata Tibaldi - in her prime, the most flawless of Italian sopranos.

Enrico Caruso - not that I especially like male opera singers, but rumor had it he was an exceptional bon vivant and the life of a party.

Willie Dixon - because he wrote much of Led Zeppelins first two albums.

Woodie Guthrie - Americas most prolific writer of folk Americana

George Gershwin - Rhapsody in Blue, one foot rooted in the past, one in the future of composition.

George Clinton - because such a dinner party would have to happen on the mothership.

[1morerecord2clean]

Caruso was an excellent artist. He was great at the 5 minute character sketch. I'm sure he would entertain you with it. I worked for years with someone who had come fromCuban wealth and had lost it all when Castro came to power. During the early part of the 20th century his mother was eating in the Hotel Sevilla and Caruso sat across the room, noticed her and zipped off a sketch on hotel stationary. My coworker brought it to work and showed me. I had a photo stat at one time but i don't know what I did with it. Dover publications had an oversized soft cover book of his sketches.

[Rust]

Caruso was the Elvis of his time, or vice versa. Similarly I understand that Ignacy Jan Paderewski wowed the crowds as a virtuoso pianist, was a composer, an internationally recognized statesman, philanthropist and vintner.

I have to wonder where the genius is hidden today?

[MylesBAstor]

Caruso was the Elvis of his time, or vice versa. Similarly I understand that Ignacy Jan Paderewski wowed the crowds as a virtuoso pianist, was a composer, an internationally recognized statesman, philanthropist and vintner.

I have to wonder where the genius is hidden today?

I think you start by talking to young musicians and who among their peers inspires them.

[Bill Hart]

I think Franz Liszt was a bit of a rock star in his day too, not only for his emotive performing style; he had an endorsement deal with Érard pianos- they had innovated the double escapement action, which is characteristic of most modern pianos.

[MylesBAstor]

Wow great question and required a great amount of thought. Otherwise would need to rent out a ballroom to hold all the people!

So here goes:

Dmitri Shostakovich: Greatest composer of 20th century or hack? I lean to the former. I'd love to know what it was like to be an artist and what he went through and the life and times under Stalin.

George Gershwin: One of my all time favorite composers; It would be interesting to learn about what it was like for New York's elite to travel up to Harlem every Friday and Saturday night and listen to music in Harlem.

Donovan: Reading his biography just made me want to learn more about the man and his experiences.

Norman Granz: Not only one of THE most important people in the development of jazz in this country but a leading civil rights activists in his day. A man of conscience and dedication to his artists.

John Hammond, Sr. : Born to the elite class in New York and the man who promoted and assisted in the careers of oh so many artists, started JATP, not to mention signed so many great artists to recording contracts ranging from Billie Holiday to Count Basie to Bob Dylan to Bruce Springsteen.

John Lennon: What would it be like to be so idealistic and see the world in a totally manner.

[Bill Hart]

Good call on John Hammond, but I think the -Jr.- moniker refers to the blues singer who is still alive; the Hammond you want is the father, no?
N.B. the father was also referred to as Jr. so you are correct, I think.

[MylesBAstor]

Right, corrected.

[1morerecord2clean]

I am revisiting this excellent topic. I probably could come back to it a hundred times. So here are my top 10 picks. BTW, if my guests make it, you are all invited.

1 R Wagner
2 Joseph Scmidtt
3 JS Bach
4 W Furtwangler
5 WA Mozart
6 Jules Pfeiffer
7 sol Hurok
8 P Tchaikovsky
9 Miles Davis
10 GF Handel

Should be.a wild evening.

[bpw]

Dead or alive! Choose any person involved in the world of music!

Ludwig van Beethoven (Genius...say no more))

Agreed, but conversation might be difficult since he was deaf later in life.

[MylesBAstor]