Via rifftides, coverage of the Polar Music Prize from Sweden, this year honoring Sonny Rollins and Steve Reich. Some samples of both artists works are included in said coverage; right now I'm listening to Rollins' The Bridge. It has more drive and intensity than I remember.
I'm also impressed with the list of previous winners:
Valery Gergiev, Led Zeppelin, Gilberto Gil, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, B. B. King, György Ligeti, Keith Jarrett, Sofia Gubaidulina, Miriam Makeba, Burt Bacharach, Robert Moog, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Isaac Stern, Bob Dylan, Iannis Xenakis, Stevie Wonder, Ravi Shankar, Ray Charles, Eric Ericson, Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, Pierre Boulez, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Elton John, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Quincy Jones, Witold Lutoslawski, Dizzy Gillespie, Sir Paul McCartney and The Baltic States.
I can quibble along various dimensions but I think it's an interesting cross-section of the recent Western musical world.
youtube: the bridge. wikipedia: eric ericson miriam makeba.
