Name your lame duck artist........

buffett at the top of the list followed closely by john cowen

Grateful Dead - ok, I'll spot them the first go-'round cause it was the 60's and all. Free love, drugs, communal living, 2 hour extended jams, etc.

But, by the time we got to the 80's and they were the top grossing tour year in, year out, staying strictly at the Four Seasons hotels and flying in by jet helicopter, while a new generation of upper middle class kids were sleeping in the parking lot pretending at the 60's, the hippy thing was a $70 million a year sham. Unwashed Spinners ripe with the biting smell of acrid sweat and Petruli oil is enough to make anyone with a nose vomit.

And the $24.99 Jerry Garcia ties at Macy's and JC Penny?

Wait, I haven't even discussed their music...Then again, why would I? I loved taking acid and mesc, nitros balloons, etc. as much as the next guy, but their music still bored me. How many different ways does the world really need "Dark Star".

And was Jimmy Buffet ever actually good? He should be taken out behind the woodshed just for making Tommy Bahama shirts popular.

J Buffet has always been lame, and I have never understood the attraction. But back to an earlier post regarding Norah Jones-Diana Krall-et all(very similar). Yes their music is boring, I agree, but the first Norah Jones album was something different to me, especially with the crap that's been on the radio the last 15 or so years. I still enjoy her first album, and it made me pick up Diana Krall (really like The Girl in the Other Room, her other albums are elevator music), Madeliene Peyroux (love Careless Love), Jane Monheit (not a fan at all), Melody Gardot (nice, like her) Teirney Sutton (one great album, Dancing in the Dark, what a voice, the rest has been forgetable) and that led me to other places:

Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Frank Sinatra, Nina Simone, and on and on. Man, my parents and grandparents had some great singers. I would have never found these recordings without their lesser modern day equivilants.

So yes, many of these contemporary light jazz singers are pretty limited, and just re-hasing material previously released by the masters, but in many instances it can lead you to the well of great material.

I really didn't know much about Ella or Billie Holliday before Norah Jones or Diana Krall, and now they are constant and well loved companions.

You've got a good point, Mac, considering those unfamiliar with the classic artists will never get a chance to hear them on popular radio. So, anyone that opens the door to these by paying tribute, has to be given some credit.

That's why I've never been too hard on Harry Connick, jr. He always gave credit where, and helped introduce a new generation to jazz, no matter how lite his own stuff may be.