Not to sound pretentious but as a collector I have focused on the "oddball" as a category and can tell you that there are many insanely talented and intriguing people in a plethora of genres who are still languishing in various degrees of obscurity. They include:
1. Shuggie Otis (son of Johnny Otis) 2. Hasaan (jazz pianist) 3. Bernard Peiffer 4. Hector Rivera 5. Hasil Adkins 6. Esquerita 7. James Booker 8. Cass Simpson 9. Mel Brown 10. Lonnie Johnson
These are just 10 artists I can offer off the top of my head who are easily on the level of Betty Davis and in some cases far beyond.
Anyone who has even the slightest interest in finding out about these folks I would be glad to help out. Ping me off-list.
AA
P.S. I was a field investigator for ASCAP for many years, I was the guy that did the undercover investigations of clubs, bars, restaurants, concerts, etc. And by the way, we definitely took people to court...and won.
Don Cox wrote:On 01/08/07, Scott Phillips wrote:
Amazing ! I grew up in this time frame. HOW did I miss her..?? I'm buying in as well.
And me. Thanks to all the existing fans for the recommendation.
I wonder how many other unknowns are hidden in the undergrowth? Three that have, so far as I'm concerned, emerged recently are Raymond Scott, Alec Wilder and The Wild Swans (a British rock band from the same period as Joy Division).
Regards