Playing the Devils advocate, could it be said his music rather narrow, rather limited?
John’s music was indeed narrow in terms of the number of different keys he played in, the number of different tempos he worked in, the harmonic palette. But the compensation was that its depth was extraordinary. He would regard songs as platforms for improvisation, and would return to his favourite ones many times over – each time attempting to bring something new to them or find something new within them. As a vocal improviser he was a giant – the only peers I could think of would be the Jamaican singer Winston Rodney, known as Burning Spear, or in pop, Van Morrison. There has never been anybody like John for communicating complex emotions with only the sound of his voice. There was never anybody to match him at that and I doubt now there ever will be.
