Jazz, Country, Blues, Rock, R&B, Classical

LOUIS ARMSTRONG (Sidney Bechet, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Billie Holiday)
DUKE ELLINGTON (Count Basie, Jimmie Lunceford, Fletcher Henderson[BG], Charles Mingus)
ART TATUM (Scott Joplin, JR Morton, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Bud Powell, Bill Evans)
CHARLIE PARKER (Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman)
THELONIOUS MONK (Art Blakey, Milt Jackson, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane)

CARTER FAMILY (Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly, Bill Monroe, Stanley Brothers)
JIMMIE RODGERS (Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, Lyle Lovett)
HANK WILLIAMS (George Jones, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson)

ROBERT JOHNSON (Patton, House, BL Jefferson, BW Johnson, Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie)
MUDDY WATERS (Elmore James, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Howlin’ Wolf)
BB KING (T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins, John Lee Hooker, Otis Rush)

CHUCK BERRY (Elvis Presley, Little Richard, Buddy Holly, Phil Spector)
THE BEATLES (Rolling Stones, Beach Boys, The Who, Grateful Dead)
BOB DYLAN (Jimi Hendrix, Van Morrison, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young)
PATTI SMITH (The Clash, REM, Nirvana)

RAY CHARLES (Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Solomon Burke, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin)
MARVIN GAYE (Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, The Supremes, The Temptations)
JAMES BROWN (Sly Stone, Parliament/Funkadelic, Prince)
BOB MARLEY (Toots & the Maytals, Burning Spear, Black Uhuru)

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN (Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Debussy, Stravinsky, Bartok)

Jazz

LOUIS ARMSTRONG BILLIE HOLIDAY COUNT BASIE & LESTER YOUNG DUKE ELLINGTON (w/BLANTON,WEBSTER,HODGES) CHARLIE PARKER & DIZZY GILLESPIE

THELONIOUS MONK SONNY ROLLINS MILES DAVIS & JOHN COLTRANE CHARLES MINGUS ORNETTE COLEMAN

Also: Scott Joplin (1899-1914 rags), Buddy Bolden (1900-7 New Orleans band), James P Johnson (1921-47 stride piano), King Oliver, Sidney Bechet, Jelly Roll Morton, Bix Beiderbecke & Frank Trumbauer, Fats Waller, Earl Hines, Albert Ammons/Pete Johnson/Meade Lux Lewis, Art Tatum, Coleman Hawkins, Benny Carter, Django Reinhardt, Roy Eldridge, Benny Goodman (arr. Fletcher Henderson), Jimmie Lunceford, Charlie Christian, Bud Powell, Woody Herman (w/ Getz, Cohn, Sims), Lennie Tristano, Dave Brubeck, Gerry Mulligan & Lee Konitz, Milt Jackson (Modern Jazz Quartet), Gil Evans/George Russell, Clifford Brown & Max Roach, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Wayne Shorter, Eric Dolphy, Bill Evans, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago. (Consider Willie “The Lion” Smith stride piano, incl. 1939 Commodore.)

Country

JIMMIE RODGERS CARTER FAMILY WOODY GUTHRIE BOB WILLS BILL MONROE

HANK WILLIAMS PATSY CLINE GEORGE JONES MERLE HAGGARD WILLIE NELSON

Also: Roy Acuff, Louvin Brothers, Gene Autry, Sons of the Pioneers, Stanley Brothers, (Flatt & Scruggs independent of Monroe), Kentucky Colonels, Merle Travis, Lefty Frizzell, Hank Snow, Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Buck Owens, (Johnny Cash – see Rock), Gram Parsons (The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers), Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, The Eagles, (Michael Nesmith First National Band), John Prine, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, Rosanne Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle, Mary-Chapin Carpenter, Lyle Lovett, kd lang, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Lucinda Williams, Iris Dement, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Pam Tillis, Junior Brown.
(Promote Johnny Cash, after Willie Nelson up top, despite main listing under rockabilly? Loretta Lynn, after Patsy Cline up top? Austin singer-songwriters, such as Guy Clark or Townes Van Zandt, before or after Lyle Lovett up top? Buck Owens, after Merle Haggard up top? Lefty Frizzell? Alison Krauss & Jerry Douglas, after Stanley Brothers up top? Woody Guthrie & Leadbelly arguably should be in a folk category.)

Blues

BESSIE SMITH ROBERT JOHNSON MEMPHIS MINNIE JOHN LEE HOOKER MUDDY WATERS

HOWLIN’ WOLF SONNY BOY WILLIAMSON (RICE MILLER) ELMORE JAMES B.B. KING OTIS RUSH

Also: Ma Rainey, Mississippi John Hurt, Leadbelly, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Willie Johnson, Charley Patton, Son House, Skip James, Blind Willie McTell, Big Bill Broonzy, Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris, Louis Jordan, Charles Brown, Percy Mayfield, Lightnin’ Hopkins, T-Bone Walker, Gatemouth Brown, Bobby Blue Bland, Little Walter, Jimmy Reed, Professor Longhair, Clifton Chenier, Slim Harpo, Magic Sam, Buddy Guy & Junior Wells, Freddie King, Albert King, Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Little Milton, Z.Z. Hill.

** Where did GOSPEL names go? Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Dixie Hummingbirds, etc. Did I mean to move them to R&B & lose the thread? Were they in an “Other” category that got dropped?

Rock

ELVIS PRESLEY LITTLE RICHARD CHUCK BERRY BUDDY HOLLY BEACH BOYS

THE BEATLES ROLLING STONES BOB DYLAN GRATEFUL DEAD THE WHO

JIMI HENDRIX VAN MORRISON NEIL YOUNG PATTI SMITH NIRVANA

Also: Fats Domino, (Bo Diddley), Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison (promote?), Phil Spector groups, (The Byrds – see Country>Gram Parsons), Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin, The Doors, The Kinks, Eric Clapton, The Band, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Velvet Underground, Frank Zappa, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Paul Simon, Allman Brothers, Fleetwood Mac, (The Eagles – see Country), Richard Thompson, Bonnie Raitt, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, NRBQ, Tom Waits, Steely Dan, Ramones, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Television, Elvis Costello, Talking Heads, Blondie, Sonic Youth, U2, Los Lobos, REM, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Smashing Pumpkins, The Feelies, Green Day, Beck. (Revisit: The Stooges ’69-73, New York Dolls ’73-74, Roxy Music ’72-82, Aerosmith ’73-89) (The Cure, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails) (MC5)

R&B

RAY CHARLES SAM COOKE JACKIE WILSON JAMES BROWN SOLOMON BURKE

OTIS REDDING STEVIE WONDER SMOKEY ROBINSON MARVIN GAYE ARETHA FRANKLIN

SLY STONE BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC PRINCE ?

Also: Clyde McPhatter, The Drifters, The Coasters, Hank Ballard, Little Willie John, 5 Royales, The Falcons, Garnett Mimms, Arthur Alexander, James Carr, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Percy Sledge, The Supremes, 4 Tops, The Temptations, Michael Jackson, Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler, Al Green, Ann Peebles, Otis Clay, O.V. Wright, Neville Brothers, Tina Turner, Donna Summer, Joan Armatrading, Toots Hibbert, Burning Spear, Black Uhuru, Steel Pulse, Franco & Rochereau, Run-DMC?, Public Enemy.
** ADD Meters (JB, Sly ’68, Meters ’69 Cissy Strut, P/Funk ’70); MOVE Louis Jordan here from BLUES? (Decca 1938-54, jump blues/swing/R&B).

Classical

CLAUDIO MONTEVERDI JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN FRANZ SCHUBERT

FREDERIC CHOPIN RICHARD WAGNER CLAUDE DEBUSSY IGOR STRAVINSKY BELA BARTOK

Also: Guillaume de Machaut, Josquin Des Prez, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, ?Andrea Gabrieli, ?William Byrd, ?Domenic Scarlatti, Henry Purcell, Arcangelo Corelli, Antonio Vivaldi, George Frideric Handel, Joseph Haydn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Felix Mendelssohn, Hector Berlioz, Modest Mussorgsky, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Bedrich Smetana, Antonin Dvorak, Johannes Brahms, Giuseppi Verdi, Giacomo Puccini, ?Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, Anton Webern, Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, ?Sergei Prokofiev, Edgar Varese, Elliott Carter, Olivier Messaien, John Cage, Milton Babbitt, Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, George Crumb, Krzysztof Penderecki, Mario Davidovsky.