This could end up being a long list but here are some special favourites:
For different reasons, these are all inspirational figures in my musical life.
- Captain Beefheart
- Frank Zappa
- Tom Verlaine
- Louis Armstrong
- Jelly Roll Morton
- Duke Ellington
- Charles Mingus
- Eric Dolphy
- Miles Davis
- Carla Bley
- Steve Swallow
- Robert Wyatt
- Django Bates
- Iain Ballamy
- Enrico Rava
- Roberto Bonati
- Eberhard Weber
- Chris McGregor
- Abdullah Ibrahim
- Mozart, Haydn, Berg, Schoenberg, Webern
- Cage, Nancarrow, Shostakovich, Bartok, Ligeti
For different reasons, these are all inspirational figures in my musical life.