In the spirit of basketball’s March Madness, the primary season, and Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary, we created an online poll to try and get you to argue about the best musicians from Pittsburgh.
And yes, we intentionally made some huge omissions such as drumming legends Art Blakey and Kenny Clarke, the world-renowned Pittsburgh Symphony, grouchy and talented Oscar Levant, Lou “Lightnin’ Strikes Again” Christie, protest folkie Anne Feeney, 80s punks Half-Life, they’re-bigger-in-Europe-than-here rockers The Cynics, vocoder party starters Black Moth Super Rainbow, Lorin Maazel who just got back from conducting the New York Philharmonic in North Korea, pianist Mary Lou Williams, rap goofballs Grand Buffet, and on and on and on.
These omissions are good for two reasons. One, they mean that Pittsburgh has produced so many fantastic musicians that no poll or contest, no matter how large, could contain them. Two, I hope there are some folks on the lists that you’ve never heard of or that you perhaps have heard but didn’t realize had a Pittsburgh connection.
Go here to vote! Go here to explore some more of our resources on Pittsburgh music.
– Tim
