Jimmy Smith
So many greats are gone – some long gone: Trane, Louis, Ella, Ellington, James Brown, Miles. Not just in music, but other intellectuals: da Vinci, Poe, Socrates… Obviously, the list could go on endlessly. We all know that no one is around forever.
What sets some apart, though, is their contribution to the world. All of the names I’ve mentioned above continue to be remembered and their work retold or glorified dozens, hundreds or even thousands of years later.
Why is it still so enjoyable? What makes it continue to be so important? Surely the life experience of someone who lived in Greece more than 400 years BC (Socrates), could not effect the present day person. Could it? Today, we are given more information by the time we reach age 18 than some of our grandparents attain in their entire lives. This makes us no smarter (and that’s too often plain to see) but it seems to make it all the more amazing that great artists and thinkers of generations passed could have been so knowledgeable. Or perhaps its inspiration – that intangible thing that drives one to create.
With all of the great artists (I deliberately use that word) who have tread the Earth, it’s surely impossible to learn of them all, but some of them stand out immeasurably.
Have you ever fantasized what it would be like to have a cappuccino with Leonardo da Vinci? Just the opportunity to hear him speak would have been overwhelming. What if you could go for a beer with Duke Ellington? The stories he would be able to tell…
So I ask you that question that one so often ponders in admiration or curiosity (although imposing some of my own parameters upon it):
If you could have a conversation with any one [now dead] artist (musician/writer/painter/poet/philosopher/dancer/etc.), whom would it be?
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