Re: [Harp-L] The best



Mister Ross is right, of course.....but even "favorite" gets
complicated....For example, do I distinguish between my favorite to
watch/listen to live vs. my favorite to listen to on cd? Where do I draw the
line between Rock, Blues, Jazz, etc? Who gets to go in what category?

My students, when they find out I'm also a musician, inevitably ask me who
my "favorite" of something is. My standard response is to tell them, "Wrong
question. The closest question that I can come to fairly answering is 'Who
are you listening to these days?'  (actual answer, as far as Harp's
concerned, Carlos D.J. is kicking my ass right now......six months ago it
was my belated discovery of Adam Gussow....prior to that it was Jason...then
Paul De Lay....etc...)

I dunno. For me the power in Brad's piece was in Jason's frustration. As
someone who admires, respects, and personally likes Jason, I find it to be a
moving article written with passion and lucidity.

- Blake


On 9/4/06, Jonathan Ross <jross38@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

So, who's the best classical composer ever? Today? Who's the best blues guitarist ever? Today? The best blues harp player ever? Today? Who's the best dog ever? The best dog alive today? Etc...

The answers to all of the above are: no-one.  The question is flawed,
and actually rather idiotic.  A much, much better question is: who's
your favorite...?  That can actually be answered.

Frankly, I was disappointed but not surprised to see the word "best"
come up in this way in a newspaper article.  If they had said
"amongst the best" it might mean something (slightly--as in a general
consensus), but "the best" in any artistic field (and most others,
for that matter) is not even a concept worth considering.  I suppose
it follows from sports: Jordan is the best basketball player ever
(though he never played against Russell, Wilt, etc...), Tiger the
best golfer, etc...  Even in fairly measurable fields like sports,
the thing is still idiotic, though it sells and thus is used again
and again.  For arts, it's beyond idiotic and rather insulting
really--art isn't a contest, and when reduced to such usually ends up
lessened as a result.

Aside from that it was an interesting article.  I do wonder about
some things (are the fees for him, or the band as a whole), but a
nice read.  It's not easy following a dream job, and many of them
don't have monetary rewards, that's for sure.  But, if you want
something, often you have to make such choices.



()()    JR "Bulldogge" Ross
()  ()   & Snuffy, too:)
`----'



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