Most Influential American Musician of All Time?

T-Bone Walker was more influential than Muddy Waters. His writing, singing, guitar playing and dancing were a major influence on Muddy, B.B. King and Chuck Berry. Jimi Hendrix wasn't the first to play the guitar behind his head.

That said, my vote goes to Mr. Louis Armstrong. He invented modern popular singing. 2nd place goes to Nat King Cole. Every piano lounge player is channeling Nat. 3rd place - tie between Elvis and Frank S.

I have to agree with my colleagues:

Gershwin and Ellington without a doubt. Their music extends way past the time and idiom in which it was written. And I think that many on the thread confuse great performers and performances with great music composition and its influence, especially on other musicians.

I don't want to exclude anyone but without those two creators the canon of American music gets pretty thin, pretty fast.

On a more humorous note, i am reminded of the SNL skit from 1975 when Chevy Chase announces that the first message from intelligent life from outer space has been received in response to our Pioneer One spacecraft that had our location, periodic table, prime numbers, and selections of music by Mozart, Chuck Berry, and poetry by Robert Frost embedded in a gold recorded disc.

"And the message is a simple four word message: 'Send More Chuck Berry'"

a classic.

h.

Nina Simone
http://www.ninasimone.com/nina.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone

Charlie Parker?