What kind of insane musical culture do we live in when an “eminent rock critic” (as described by the New York Times) can refer to James Brown as “the greatest musician of the post-World War II era”? It seems to me this was also a period in which Stravinsky, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, and Leonard Bernstein were all at work, to pull a few names from a hat.
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James Primosch, composer 
I have nothing against James Brown; I like a lot of his records, but you are certainly right, this is completely over the top.
I find this sort of thing amusing, like all those 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time!!!!! (I may be off by a few exclamation points) articles in Rolling Stone that don’t have room for Andres Segovia or any of the Assad brothers anywhere in the top echelon. Yes, Dimebag Darrell is awesome, but I’m just not sure how we can rate him higher than Pat Metheney and Wes Montgomery. In this case, sure, James Brown was fantastic and his career spanned a shocking length of time and styles, but such accolades seem to diminish rather than heighten his stature.
– David
I believe that honor belongs to David Diamond, the “Dean of American composers.”
Yipes.
Try googling “David Diamond dean of American composers”.
I think this is a thread I would prefer to not continue…