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Re: Best American Composer.
Carl Jorgensen (fzjorgen@peseta.ucdavis.edu)
Sun, 9 Apr 1995 00:22:38 -0700
Ellington without a doubt, oh, maybe a doubt, and that doubt is
Stravinsky, Russian born, but, I think, later an American citizen. (I am
not sure.) I suppose Gershwin is also a competitor. Joplin was
innovative and great, but in no way, to my mind does his volume of work
measure up to these three.
By the way, do we Black people, really need to have "the greatest"
American composer. Are Ellington, Joplin and Monk in any way diminished,
is their music in any way less amazing just because on some dimensions,
someone else may be "greatest? All of these musics are European and
African and African American. I can hear the classical influences in
Joplin and the African influences in Stravinsky. They both have the
capacity to send me far, far away. Whichever one is best, his music has
diverse roots.
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