A few hours late, but ready to go: the Hall of Acclaim’s 1966 election.

Select the ten most deserving artists, based on records released through the end of 1965.

To see a list of noteworthy candidates, as well as our discussion of them see the 1966 discussion thread. For a reminder of who’s already been inducted, see the results thread.

For your ballot to be eligible, you must submit a ranked list of your ten most deserving artists.

***IMPORTANT!***
Also, for your top FIVE artists (at least), you must explain why they deserve to be in the HOA. You may recycle your comments from past elections if you wish, but I want us to have a context for WHY we're selecting these artists. Ballots without comments for the top five will not be counted.

In addition, you may nominate up to three people for the Backstage Wing. This is optional; your ballot will still be eligible even if you don’t vote for Backstage candidates.

Deadline for ballots is 12:00 noon GMT (6:00 am where I am), Tuesday, September 30.

Voting is now open.

1. Thelonious Monk, yada, yada, yada (see earlier votes)
2. Charles Mingus, yada, yada, yada (see earlier votes)
3. Bill Monroe, yada, yada, yada (see earlier votes)
4. George Jones, Greatest voice in the history of country music, bar none.
5. Fats Domino, One of the cornerstones of New Orleans music, which is one of the cornerstones of American music, which is one of the cornerstones of popular music.
6. Ella Fitzgerald
7. Patsy Cline
8. Howlin’ Wolf
9. Jimmie Rodgers
10. Woody Guthrie

1. HOWLIN' WOLF - With Muddy the greatest blues singer of all time. And as a major influence on The Stones, the hottest new band to come out of the UK, he's probably among the most influential acts around these days.
2. THE RONETTES - Last time, I completely forgot to vote for them. In the early sixties, before the Brits Invaded, the most interesting music came from girl groups. It's time that should get acknowledged in the HOA. "Be My Baby" should be enough to get The Ronettes in.
3. ELLA FITZGERALD - One of the finest singers. She brings so much pleasure in her singing, that she could even make the lousiest number sound interesting.
4. FATS DOMINO - Based on his popularity and musicality, he was one of the most dominant rock n roll acts of the fifties, probably only surpassed by Elvis.
5. JACQUES BREL - With a voice like his, no wonder the French are so proud of their language. Brilliant singer-songwriter of well-thought, powerful chansons.
6. THE DRIFTERS
7. THELONIOUS MONK
8. THE ROLLING STONES
9. SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES
10. OTIS REDDING

Backstage Wing
1. JOHN HAMMOND - Legendary producer and talent scout, who made his mark on the history of jazz and other genres. Among his most important discoveries are Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Aretha Franklin, but also Bob Dylan. He also fought racism in the music bizz as early as '38, creating the first mixed jazz group to perform in a large American music hall (Benny Goodman & Teddy Wilson, Carnegie Hall, '38) and fighting for respect for black music with his 'Spirituals to Swing' concerts.
2. WILLIE DIXON
3. AHMET ERTEGÜN

Dinah and Django dropping from lack of interest.

1. Ella Fitzgerald -- Stealing from Wikipdia: "Man, woman or child, Ella is the greatest of them all." - Bing Crosby; "I call her the High Priestess of Song." - Mel Tormé; "I didn't realize our songs were so good until Ella sang them." - Ira Gershwin; "She had a vocal range so wide you needed an elevator to go from the top to the bottom. There's nobody to take her place." - David Brinkley; "Her artistry brings to mind the words of the maestro, Mr. Toscanini, who said concerning singers, 'Either you're a good musician or you're not.' In terms of musicianship, Ella Fitzgerald was beyond category." - Duke Ellington; "She was the best there ever was. Amongst all of us who sing, she was the best." - Johnny Mathis; "She made the mark for all female singers, especially black female singers, in our industry." - Dionne Warwick; "Her recordings will live forever... she'll sound as modern 200 years from now." - Tony Bennett; "Play an Ella ballad with a cat in the room, and the animal will invariably go up to the speaker, lie down and purr." - Geoffrey Fidelman (author of the Ella Fitzgerald biography, First Lady of Song)

2. Thelonious Monk -- Greatest band name of all time: Felonious Punk. Discuss.

3. Otis Redding -- Ella is all about joy, even when she sings a sad song. Otis is all about pain... I was going to say even when he sings a happy song, but I can't realy find any prominent examples. As he will go on to sing, "I keep singin' them sad sad song y'all/Sad song is all I know" Why does he make me so happy, then?

4. Django Reinhardt - Dropping, but not out of it yet. I stil have (false) hope of converting a few of you.

5. The Impressions -- Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff.

6. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

7. The Who -- Paul, I am using idealistic voting.

8. The Shangri-Las

9. The Platters - I am reconsidering Fats Domino, but for my own taste, I just can't see putting him above the Platters and Patsy Cline. Now I know some of you are saying... what about the Shangri-Las. Well, Mary Weiss is like the girlfriend who dumped me for someone better. I know that in time I will have to let her go, (like I did for Dinah this time out) but for now I would prefer to moon over her spunky recordings a little while longer.

10. Patsy Cline



Backstage:

1. George Gershwin
2. Alan Lomax
3. Wexler/Ertegun.

"Otis is all about pain... I was going to say even when he sings a happy song, but I can't realy find any prominent examples."

The Happy Song

Hee. I forgot about that one....

Schwah -

Nothing wrong with idealistic voting or the Who. I was just trying to drum up a little support for my jazz guys, which you also provided.

I like the name Felonious Punk. Good stuff.

1. THE WHO. With the sea change taking place in the eligibles list right now, the top two for this year are easy (obviously, I’m not taking a “realist” stance here). Even though their output at this point is only one single and one album, I happen to think that the single (“I Can’t Explain”) is the best they will ever release, and the album, My Generation, is a masterpiece. So good, in fact, that for me they’re ahead of the Stones, at least this year—though that won’t last.

2. OTIS REDDING. It almost doesn’t matter in what order his records came out—what you’re paying your money for here isn’t the songs but the feel. Whether it’s a masterpiece like “I’ve Been Loving You Too Long” or some of the sillier songs on Otis Blue, they’re all shot through with raw, unadulterated emotion…yes, Schwah, mostly pain. Makes James Brown sound like Karen Carpenter. (Come to think of it, I wonder if JB saw that Otis had him licked in the soul department and therefore decided to invent funk?)

3. THE ROLLING STONES. Yeah, yeah, “Satisfaction” is overrated. But the Stones’ 1965 work establishes their songwriting chops, which is one of the pillars of their success—along with their white blues cred, which no other act will ever approach (though many will embarrass themselves trying). Even if their best work is still several years ahead, I’m happy to put them in now.

4. JIMMIE RODGERS. I don’t have much hope for Jimmie anymore.

5. SMOKEY ROBINSON AND THE MIRACLES. A lot of my comment about Otis Redding applies here as well, although the tone conveyed by the two singers could not be more different (and the Miracles have better songcraft at this point). Most rock singers have to leap into falsetto to get the women really screaming; Smokey just parked his voice at the very top of the tenor range and effortlessly achieved the same effect in song after song after song.

6. FATS DOMINO

7. THE CARTER FAMILY

8. BILL MONROE

9. CHARLES MINGUS

10. THE TEMPTATIONS

Backstage: GEORGE MARTIN, and he’s the only person I’m voting for until he gets in. Not that he wasn’t important before Rubber Soul, but from 1965 on, nobody on the planet was changing the sound of rock more than this former producer of comedy records.

1. Fats Domino – No one ever made great music sound more effortless than the portly, courtly New Orleans master.
2. Charles Mingus – My personal favorite jazz artist, as I’ve written in this forum before. His music is dauntingly complex but always sounds like it was sheer joy to create, and that joy is transmitted to the listener.
3. The Rolling Stones – By the end of 1965, they’ve established themselves as the world’s greatest white R&B band, and then branched out with their own powerfully original sound and distinctive worldview. The classic albums are yet to come, but they’ve already released two or three of the greatest singles ever recorded. Bom-bom, bom-bom-BOM …
4. Ella Fitzgerald – The SONGBOOK series alone makes her one of the pivotal figures of 20th century music: a massively ambitious, multi-album and multi-year project dedicated to preserving dozens of gems of American popular song via a single human voice.
5. Bill Evans – Monk is more influential and certainly belongs in the HOA, but on a personal level I prefer Evans, a brilliant artist who communicates equally well on an intellectual and an emotional level – and a man who was as deeply troubled and as unconvinced of his enormous talent as any self-destructive rock genius.
6. Otis Redding
7. Thelonius Monk
8. Howlin’ Wolf
9. The Who
10. The Kinks

BACKSTAGE WING
1. George Martin
2. Rudy Van Gelder
3. Hal Blaine

1. Charles Mingus- If any jazz artist should get in on a rock oriented forum it should be him.

2. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles- My favorite Motown act.

3. Bill Evans- Still voting for Village Vanguard and Waltz For Debbie.

4. Art Blakely- Back into the top 5 but probably for the last time.

5. Nat King Cole- Well, it looks like Nat won't get in but he's back in the top 5 for this year.

6. Harry Belafonte
7. Coasters
8. Jackie Wilson

Oh and a couple votes for backstage:

1. George Martin
2. Brian Epstein

1. Jacques Brel : 1965 sees Brel at the height of his popularity

2. Fats Domino : Let Antoine in !

3. Leadbelly : The day after Leadbelly died, Tom Waits (one of his biggest fans) was born

4. The Rolling Stones : "Satisfaction" is one of the best singles ever recorded. Even if their best was yet to come, they already deserve to be inducted. Plus, if they are, that will make room for a crowd of great artists from after 1965 (pragmatic vote)

5. Eddie Cochran : AMG says it all " Somehow, time has not accorded Eddie Cochran quite the same respect as other early rockabilly pioneers like Buddy Holly, or even Ricky Nelson or Gene Vincent. This is partially attributable to his very brief lifespan as a star: he only had a couple of big hits before dying in a car crash during a British tour in 1960. He was in the same league as the best rockabilly stars, though, with a brash, fat guitar sound that helped lay the groundwork for the power chord. He was also a good songwriter and singer, celebrating the joys of teenage life — the parties, the music, the adolescent rebellion — with an economic wit that bore some similarities to Chuck Berry. Cochran was more lighthearted and less ironic than Berry, though, and if his work was less consistent and not as penetrating, it was almost always exuberant."
Do you know someone else who died at 21 and was so influent on rock music (the Beatles, the Who, but also the Pistols and Clash : look at his hairdo and Strummer's

6. Georges Brassens
7. Reverend Gary Davis
8. Otis Redding
9. Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee
10. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles

Backstage
1. George Martin
2. Berry Gordy

1. CHARLES MINGUS
2. THELONIOUS MONK
3. ORNETTE COLEMAN
4. CHARLIE PARKER
5. THE SHANGRI-LA’S
6. ELLA FITZGERALD
7. WOODY GUTHRIE
8. THE RONETTES
9. BILL EVANS
10. HOWLIN’ WOLF

1. Woody Guthrie - see previous
2. Bill Monroe - previous
3. George Jones - previous
4. Fats Domino - new orleans music is about to return in grand style in a few years, and fats is sort of the beginning and icon of that
5. Howlin' Wolf - his influence extends behind the blues to experimentalists like beefheart and waits

6. Ella Fitzgerald
7. Jimmie Rodgers
8. Otis Redding
9. Smokey Robinson & the Miracles
10. The Who

Backstage

1. Burt Bacharach
2. Alan Lomax
3. George Martin

I am snowed under at work, so the results won't go up until tonight.

As discussed over in the '66 discussion thread, I have plans to launch the 1967 eligibles list and the 1967 election at the same time, with future election cycles lasting only one week--which I hope will increase interest in the HOA, along with some other bells and whistles I have in mind.

However, now that I'm among the ranks of the suit-and-tied, Tuesdays are a terrible time to crank out all the material necessary to end one election and begin the next...so if it's OK with everybody, HOA elections will now begin and end on Sunday. The 1967 election, therefore, will launch on Sunday, October 5. (although I may be able to get the eligibles list up before then)

Hope I'm not late...

01. THE MIRACLES: Detroit is full of factories but there is one in particular that is filling the world with the best music right now. I’m talking about Tamla Motown label, a music factory with the best composers, producers, musicians and singers that got the secret formula, the exact amount of every ingredient of the perfect pop song. The best vocal band of the label is The Miracles (that recently changed their name to Smokey Robinson & The Miracles), fronted by the genial Smokey Robinson, a prolific songwriter able not only to provide the material for his band but also for Mary Wells or The Temptations.
My favourite album: Going to a Go-Go (1965).
My Top 5 Songs: The Tracks of My Tears (1965), Shop Around (1960), Ooh Baby Baby (1965), Going to a Go-go (1965), You Really Got a Hold on Me (1962).

02. JACQUES BREL: le cœur de la chanson.

03. DJANGO REINHARDT: Schwah, a distinguished writer of our magazine, was losing the hope of converting some of us of voting for this genial guitar player. But Django himself never lose the hope even after losing two fingers in a fire in a gyspy caravan. He created an astonishing style of guitar playing that will be always relevant.
My Top 3 Songs: Nuages (1941), J’attendrai (1938 ), Djangology (1936).

04. FATS DOMINO: the big beat, the easy and warm playing and the authenticity of his delivery are enough reasons to induct the boogie-woogie fat man from New Orleans.
My favourite album: Rock and Rollin’ With Fats Domino (1956).
My Top 3 Songs: Blueberry Hill (1956), Ain’t That a Shame (1964), I’m in Love Again (1956).

05. THE RONETTES: be my babies.

06. ELLA FITZGERALD.
06. THELONIUS MONK.
07. THE ROLLING STONES.
09. WOODY GUTHRIE
10. CHARLES MINGUS.


And at the backstage:
01. BRIAN EPSTEIN: The man at the backstage that set a standard so high that it’s going to be impossible to surpass. There is a lesson to be learned in how he took four rascals from Liverpool and made them worldwide stars. Favourite song: THE BEATLES “She Loves You” (1963).
02. GEORGE MARTIN: If Epstein is the man at the backstage Marin is the man at the recording studio. There is a lesson to be learned too in how he put on tape the sound of the Fab Four in a such clean but powerful way. Favourite song: THE BEATLES “In My Life” (1965).
03. BERRY GORDY: the man behind (and at the top) of Motown, the music factory that is producing pure golden records incessantly. Favourite Song: MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS “Dancing in the Street” (1965).

Sorry, sorry, sorry. It was really like that:
06. ELLA FITZGERALD.
07. THELONIUS MONK.
08. THE ROLLING STONES.
09. WOODY GUTHRIE
10. CHARLES MINGUS.

To Schwah and Honorio

You are right about Django. In fact I didn't know him that much, only thanks to a couple of vinyl that my dad owned and another one I had bought and then lost like 15 years ago.

But I've just been listening to an anthology and the music is awesome.
So I guess next time Django will be high on my list
Sorry to react so late but I wanted to be sure.

Bonus track : "Echoes of France" (You'll recognize that tune, it's France's national anthem)

So what's happening now ?
I'm a bit lost

Schleuse said he will post a compbined discussion and voting thread for 1967 on Sunday.

Meantime, happy to hear some groundswell for Django. He'll pop back up my list next year.