Is there anybody around we could truly call a musical genius?

After hearing Jarrett's set, this casual classical fan was surprised that these pieces weren't more prominent in the canon. They seemed very musical and some were emotionally compelling, like a Beethoven sonata in miniature. Why weren't these standard fare at piano recitals? But when I bought other versions, I was surprised how different the interpretations were, and how much more academic they sounded.

 

probably not, but I think the whole thread is a stupid argument anyway !!

 

...anybody "around"...? From among the living, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney would be near the top of a very short list.

 

If you're thinking Monk you have to have Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Tony Williams and others.

 

The vibe is Monk and classical musicians only. Which I disagree vehemently

 

I don't listen to European classical music, so I can't say about those folks, but there's some rock /blues/reggae/bluegrass/soul geniuses.

 

Prince.

 

I Googled "World's Smartest Rock Musicians", first thing to come up was an article from Time. Judging by their article there is no question that Brian May of Queen belongs in the "Genius" category. I can't say I think of him as a "Genius Musician" thought that might be due to not being the world's biggest fan of the group. But no question that Bohemian Rhapsody is a classical composition/parody in Rock drag, as if such a thing is possible, and it takea a lot of musical knowledge to come up with such a musical composition.

"Scaramouche, Scaramouche, will you do the Fandango?"

http://entertainment.time.com/2012/09/07/school-of-rock-10-super-smart-musicians/slide/brian-may/

 

14 of the 46 "Geniuses" on this post are musicians:

http://www.greatkat.com/03/geniuses.html

The "Rankopedia" list has a listing of "Top Musical Geniuses of All Time" as voted on by their readers, with 593 votes so far:

http://www.rankopedia.com/Top-Musical-Geniuses-of-All-Time/Step1/3846/.htm

 

This touches upon the larger discussion of genius in general. There are people who have superior intelligence that can broadly be defined as "genius", then there are people who have a superior instinct for music that can be broadly defined as "musical genius". Sometimes the two categories entwine (i.e. some classical composers), other times they don't. But it should be remembered that music is an art form and is often moved forward by people who don't necessarily have genius IQs, rather genius instincts for music.

This list seems to be taking the "in history" part to mean no one from the last 50 years. Except the website's highly credible subject, of course.

Not bad, though it seems a little skewed toward generally popular artists.

 

Martin Gore is a music genius. I think even non-fans of Depeche Mode could agree on this. He has also received the Ivor Novello Award.

 

Bohemian Rhapsody is a classical composition. Well in the Progressive Rock genre has many outstanding Classical/ Rock compositions Tarkus & Pictures At An Exhibition by Emerson Lake & Palmer. Gentle Giant has many Classical/ Rock compositions as do Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Genesis ( Peter Gabriel era) Premiata Forneria Marconi, Banco and many others in the symphonic rock genre.

 

So this guy's had many different identities that is really bizarre. His current name fits him well talk about spaced out wow what some people will do to press there agenda. Then they find out about him and the process starts all over crazy man!

 

Vince Clark. The man has had a huge influence on modern pop and dance music.

 

NP... I hadn't seen that and was going just by the title. Thanks

 

And now your moment of genius:

 

It's obvious from reading this thread, but a musical genius to most people is someone who touches them in that extra special way- for lack of a better term. There's a lot of people mentioned in this thread that I totally disagree with, but they have touched someone in that way.

For me Bach, Beethoven and Mozart are unassailable geniuses. I don't know if it's been mentioned before in this thread but here's a fact to make you sound smart at a party. Mozart composed Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star when he was 5 years old. If that's not a genius. I don't know what is.

Modern music, it's Hendrix. Way ahead of his time.

Others that have been touched by genius IMO
Pete Townshend. Unfortunately I've seen more than one interview where he's more than happy to tell you the same thing
Lennon-McCartney together and separately
Uncle Frank Zappa

 

Do you have a source for this? Everything I'm reading suggests he composed variations on a known rhyme and that was when he was 25.

 

Actually, I learned that in a college music class. I also got the question right in a game of Trivial Pursuit once so the info is out there. Maybe it's on Wikipedia.

 

According to Wikipedia, Mozart was 25 and he didn't originate the melody so much as interpret it.

 

Right, and as such it doesn't come off well as an anecdote. Beisdes which, "Ah! vous dirais-je, Maman" isn't all that much of a song to begin with. Meaningful indications of Mozart being a prodigy include his documented memorization/transcription of Allegri's Miserere [see post #465] at age 14. The G minor symphony—#25— he wrote at the age of 17 is another indication, a minor-mode work that anticipates Beethoven's minor-mode Symphonies in terms of power and aggression.

 

Steve Winwood (I sure wish he would write a book of his memoirs).
Paul Weller.
Donovan.

 

This would be great fodder for the EDM/musician thread!

 

Wiki can be edited by anyone so it's not the ultimate authority on anything, if you think about it. OTOH, maybe the Mozart story is the first pre-urban legend.

 

Other than Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart not sure who is, but I do know that anyone who changes his name to a squiggly symbol is definitely not.