Intro
here is a list of musicians from wildly different disciplines with no real underlying connection other than that they have been a major source of inspiration for me:
cecil taylor, bill dixon, prince, aretha franklin, eric dolphy, nina simone, ravi shankar, derek bailey, jim o'rourke, alice coltrane, the byrds, nikhil banerjee, charles mingus, stevie wonder, tony williams, larry young, sonny sharrock, miles davis, john coltrane, fela kuti, king sunny ade, franco & ok jazz, wayne shorter, keiji haino, terry riley, rahsaan roland kirk, eliane radigue, donna summer, the necks, chic, diana ross, phill niblock, tony conrad, thelonious monk, joe henderson, pauline oliveros, george lewis, the art ensemble of chicago, don cherry, larry levan, theo parrish, moodymann, merzbow, taj mahal travellers, takehisa kosuigi, julius eastman, rafael toral, tony oxley, creedence clearwater revival, AMM, the band, isaac hayes, curtis mayfield, sun city girls, william parker, joe mcphee, sabir mateen, david s ware, anthony braxton, jimi hendrix, captain beefheart, santana, albert ayler, this heat, fleetwood mac, love, bo diddley, little richard, bob dylan, ray charles, pete cosey, smokey robinson, the four tops, bobby bland, john lee hooker, muddy waters, ornette coleman, james blood ulmer, ronald shannon jackson, iannis xenakis, luc ferrari, david tudor, morton feldman, hamid drake, peter brotzmann, vince guaraldi, wu tang clan, madlib, mf doom, j dilla, drexciya, giacinto scelsi, janet jackson, roland kayn, parliament, funkadelic, herbie hancock, grace jones, chaka khan, kevin drumm, arthur russell, lee scartch perry, king tubby, augustus pablo, ground-zero, john zorn, boredoms, judee sill, burt bacharach, dionne warwick, tortoise, hank williams, johnny cash, willie nelson, orchestra baobab, dolly parton, charley pride, doug sahm, patsy cline, keith hudson, kraftwerk, andrew hill, charles lloyd, jaki byard, conlon nancarrow, merle haggard, celestine ukwu, the fall, wire, minutemen, r.e.m., yo la tengo, the beatles, bee gees, the monkees, henry cow, captain beefheart, soft machine, robert wyatt, autechre, jeff mills, lou reed, john cale, link wray, tina turner, al green, sister rosetta tharpe, big mama thornton, koko taylor, sonic youth, neil young, leroy burgess, dj screw, max roach, lee morgan, cannonball adderley, yusef lateef, chico hamilton, billy higgins, dexter gordon, bobby hutcherson, steely dan, jony mitchell, the beach boys, the zombies, richard & linda thompson, fairport convention, nat king cole, booker t. & the mgs, the meters, jimmy smith, sonny rollins, booker ervin, art blakey, milford graves, elvin jones, mccoy tyner, mal waldron, john abercrombie, roxy music, archie shepp, julius hemphill, paul lytton, han bennink, frode gjerstad, jimmy lyons, talk talk, screamin jay hawkins, the coasters, james brown, king curtis, billy preston, the drifters, carole king, the isley brothers, frankie lymon, mahalia jackson, duke ellington, lester young, coleman hawkins, milt jackson, the staple singers, sam cooke, howlin' wolf, lee konitz, jimmy giuffre, roy haynes, charlie parker, bud powell, mary lou williams, louis armstrong, j.s. bach, bismillah khan, ali akbar khan, ram narayan, ennio morricone, bert jansch, shirley collins, missy elliott, UGK, oren ambarchi, catherine ribeiro, sly and the family stone, robert hood, airto moreira, scott walker, billie holiday, michael chapman, wizz jones, pharoah sanders, david murray, butch morris, akira sakata, john tchicai, frank wright, sunny murray, fred anderson, wadada leo smith, jemeel moondoc, sam rivers, frank lowe, charles brackeen, billy bang, leroy jenkins, charlie haden, denis charles, johnny dyani, louis moholo, mongezi feza, horace tapscott, dewey redman, oum kholtoum, pandit jasraj, the dagar family, arnold dreyblatt, yes, genesis, king crimson, charles ives, bruce langhorne, luigi nono, helmut lachenmann, paal nilssen-love, charlemagne palestine, george russell, kaoru abe, masayuki takayanagi, masahiko togashi, hailu mergia, mahmoud ahmed, mulatu astatke, yoko ono, maleem mahmoud guinia, glenn gould, mississippi fred mcdowell, blind willie johnson, skip james, vince guaraldi, charley patton, marvin gaye, the temptations, paul bley, and many many more