I "met" Miles Davis in 1989. I was on my way out of Heathrow Airport in England and he was coming in. We were directly in each other's path. I stopped for a second, with the thought "OMG, that's Miles Davis!" in my head. I moved out of his way, needless to say. My father later speculated he was there to see Ramsey Lewis perform later in London. I never put much water to that theory.In regards to fusion, one need only look at who his sidemen were on those projects. So many major careers came out of those recordings. They were game changers, which Davis had so many times in his career dating back to 1949 and Birth of the Cool. With his fusion records it was a matter of him doing it again. Not bad for the Juilliard-trained son of an East St.Louis dentist

Exactly why I think ZZ Top are one of the worst inductees. However, when it comes to the Cleveland Hall, most wouldn't think that there's been too many mistakes inducted. It's just that there's been far too many artists nominated or inducted that didn't deserve to be in there just yet while others are overlooked. Over at the Future Rock Legends web site, we held mock elections through a fictional 2026 ceremony (eligibles who first recorded in the year 2000). Every Cleveland performer was inducted with the exception of The Dells, The Moonglows, Lloyd Price & Percy Sledge. Price, meanwhile, has a strong chance of going in this September in our first annual election, a fictional 2027 class.Performers We Felt Should Have Been Inducted In The Future:Tom Waits - 2013La Vern Baker - 2014Righteous Brothers - 2014Ronettes - 2014Jimmy Cliff - 2016Hollies - 2017Gene Pitney - 2018Del Shannon - 2018Lovin' Spoonful - 2019Brenda Lee - 2021Ventures - 2022Bonnie Raitt - 2023The Flamingos - 2024Little Anthony & The Imperials - 2023Also, Darlene Love & Dr. John were inducted as sidemen in our project. Nobody really doubts their contributions as a whole, but just based on their solo recording track record, I don't think either would have garnered many votes in the Performer category, especially Darlene Love who should easily be on anybody's list of the bottom half-dozen (subjectively, I love her, mind you).

Here's what the overall Top 98 of our list looked like, ranking of all the eligible performers that we inducted in our mock elections.1. Kraftwerk2. Deep Purple3. Beastie Boys 4. King Crimson 5. MC5 6. T.Rex 7. Joy Division8. Roxy Music9. The Smiths10. New York Dolls11. Rush 12. Sonic Youth 13. Peter Gabriel 14. The Moody Blues 15. The Cure 16. Yes 17. Depeche Mode 18. Stevie Ray Vaughn 19. The Zombies 20. Judas Preist 21. Big Star 22. Dick Dale 23. Chicago 24. Guns N' Roses 25. Link Wray 26. The Cars 27. The Replacements 28. KISS 29. The Monkees 30. Jethro Tull 31. Johnny Burnette & The Rock and Roll Trio32. Motorhead 33. Emerson, Lake & Palmer34. Red Hot Chili Peppers35. New Order36. Iron Maiden 37. Soundgarden 38. Electric Light Ochestra 39. Duran Duran40. Def Leppard41. Gram Parsons42. Cheap Trick43. Thin Lizzy44. Husker Du45. Donna Summer46. Devo47. B-52s48. Donovan49. Steve Miller Band50. Spinners51. Cat Stevens52. The Jam53. Afrika Bambaataa54. Nick Drake55. Love56. Randy Newman57. Heart58. LL Cool J59. Dead Kennedys60. Can61. Dire Straits62. Warren Zevon63. The Carpenters64. Faith No More65. Eurythmics66. The Marvelettes67. Sparks68. Chic69. Linda Rondstadt70. Journey71. Hall & Oates72. Bad Company73. Janet Jackson74. The Buzzcocks75. War76. Black Flag77. Peter, Paul and Mary78. Eric B. and Rakim79. Connie Francis80. My Bloody Valentine81. Silver Apples82. Doobie Brothers83. Mary Wells84. Jan & Dean85. Slayer86. Procol Harum87. Kate Bush88. Megadeth89. Barry White90. XTC91. Scott Walker92. INXS93. X94. Stone Roses95. M

That's pretty cool about "meeting" Miles. Regarding all the musicians who played on In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew, that's exactly the point I've made elsewhere on this site. I don't want to beat this poor horse to death, but it bears repeating: Those musicians, who went on to form the various '70s fusion bands (Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return to Forever, Headhunters, Lifetime), brought an unmistakable rock-funk sensibility to their sounds. This again is the influence of rock on jazz. Notice that I didn't list Weather Report. That's because I think it bore the lightest rock imprint of them all; it never employed a regular guitarist, for example. The two leading lights in Weather Report, Joe Zawinul and Wayne Shorter, were already established jazzers by the time they hooked up with Miles. They kept that straight-ahead mentality for the first couple of albums, although by Sweetnighter they were getting pretty funky ["125th Street Congress," "Boogie Woogie Waltz"], an approach reinforced by subsequent bassists Alfonzo Johnson and Jaco Pastorius. But, again, the point is that jazz took a major turn into rock, an indication of how rock has become the dominant musical influence.So, yeah, not bad for Miles. And you're right: Unlike many blues and jazz artists of Davis's generation, he actually had a middle-class upbringing and not the hardscrabble life typical of sharecroppers' or laborers' sons who chose music as a way off the farm or out of the ghetto. Davis was also married to film actress Cicely Tyson (Sounder).It occurred to me that in all this discussion about jazzers, what influence they had--if any--and whether they belong in the RRHoF, I haven't seen the name Mose Allison mentioned anywhere. I don't think that Allison, who probably wouldn't get into a jazz HoF, let alone the rock one, is much remembered these days (although I believe he's not only still alive but still performing). But Allison, whose music, a blending of piano/vocal jazz and R&B, is delightful (with a line like "Your mind is on vacation and your mouth is working overtime," how could it not be?), is also an influence on British '60s musicians such as Pete Townshend and John Mayall. The Who famously--and ferociously--covered Allison's "Young Man's Blues" on Live at Leeds, while Mayall covered Allison's "Parchman Farm," which Blue Cheer(!) also picked up on. Later, bassist Jack Bruce (Cream) worked with Allison.

Those are valid points DDT. The issue I have is the whole influence thing. I believe the rock rationalizes choices by using this very subjective criteria. And to be honest they have made that the largest criteria in determing electees so in my opinion they can elect anyone they want. And leave out others. Sure the Velvet Underground are influential. But to who? The 25 people who have ever listened to their albums. And Miles Davis is influential for sure. But to who? Jazz musicians. Because these artists are revered by critics and elites they justify their election with the 'influence' button. In no way do I believe that theses artists had as big of an influence on the perpetuation of rock (I know the rock definition thing again) as artists that are not in. Realistically has Miles Davis or VU influenced anywhere near as many rock artists as one riff did from Deep Purple? Or has any group outside of the Beatles made kids want to pick up a guitar (or paint their faces) as much as KISS? That is real influence. Not some elitists sitting around a coffee shop debating what is the meaning of a song off a VU album that nobody has ever heard. BTW sorry for throwing VU in with the Miles Davis argument DDT but their induction is almost as frustrating to me as his. Sidenote on the list above. How in the heck is GNR 24? Easily the most deserving band for induction on that list and that includes Rush and KISS.