John Mayer - Genius? - I say yes, my friend thinks I am wack

My friend James Gregory read my post about John Mayer where I said this,

"As I write this right now I am listening to the first track of John Mayer's new life CD/DVD - "Where The Light Is". Words are failing... So inspiring. This guy truly is a musical prodigy/genius. Guys like this only come around every few hundred years or so. Just listen to the 30 sec clip in iTunes or AmazonMP3 of just him and his guitar. I think you'll get the point. Combine his skill on his guitar (which is unreal, but there are many other guys who can do what he does there), with his great voice, and his beautifully poetic and his wise WAY beyond his age lyrics and I think you get why I think this guy is so unique."

and he isn't buying it.

He wrote to me in an email:

I certainly didn't care for Mayer when he debuted; when I heard his first single on the radio I thought I was tuned in to a CCM station, mainly due to the busy and melodic bass playing and the compressed sound of the track. I heard a lot of hype about the first live trio record but didn't care for the sound of it when I listened, and wasn't really interested in that particular jam-oriented type of format very much anyway, so I couldn't bring myself to do much more than scan through it.

The Continuum record caught my ear for its great sounding recording (I have heard that bass and drums were cut on analogue tape, which would at least partly account for the album's warm and punchy sound) and the excellent playing from Jordan and Palladino; to use the term "world class" to describe that rhythm section would be an understatement. In his long career as a bass player Pino has continued to develop, from his unique voice on the fretless bass in the music of the Pop artists he worked with in the 80s and early 90s, to the re-inventing of himself on D'Angelo's Voodoo record and the subsequent groove-oriented work that has followed; Palladino has placed himself among the current greats on the electric bass. No less than Anthony Jackson, one of the greatest, if not arguably the greatest living electric bass player, has credited Palladino as a highly respected rival (Palladino also gives Jackson the highest of praise). Both Steve Jordan and PIno Palladino have shown themselves to be students of many styles of music, and masters of their respective instruments. A guitar player finding himself in a trio setting with these musicians would naturally be inspired and challenged, as Mayer must surely be night after night with those two backing him up.

On Continuum I was pleased that John Mayer seemed to have lost at least a bit of his smirk, and if some of it remains maybe it is just his vocal style–I suppose one can't really be sure. He's certainly a very good guitar player, but to call him a "genius" the like of which only comes around "every few hundred years or so" seems a glaring overstatement. Would you skip right from Bach to Mayer, skipping over all of the Classical, Romantic, and Impressionist composers, skipping over Bird and The Beatles? (Perhaps I misunderstand your intentions in the way you are making your statement . . . )

Mayer channels Hendrix and Clapton and seems to have the chops to pull it all off; it's no small thing to play the guitar parts which Mayer does and still be the lead vocalist of the band. However, I fail to make the leap required to call Mayer a "genius", a term that necessitates some noteworthy level of innovation in the artist to whom it is applied. Despite the fact that in our ephemeral culture we look too often for the new and novel instead of simply for the good, I think it is still a fair requirement that those artists which we label "geniuses" be innovative in some real way. Mayer's music is certainly way more than competent in its writing and performance, but I fail to see him making any real breakthroughs.

Maybe it's just that, in addition to that missing "innovative" component in Mayer's music, I just don't see enough warmth and vulnerability to put Mayer in the class of Hendrix, Lennon/McCartney, or Marvin Gaye, to mention a few of the important Pop artists of the Pop era. Compared to the brave and brilliant exploration of the electric guitar and of the studio itself by Hendrix on an album like Electric Ladyland, the human warmth of a song like "Eleanor Rigby", or the brokenness and vulnerability of an album like What's Going On, I just don't think that the didactic–and yes, smirky–"Daughters" can stand.

My response:

James, I would challenge you to check out the DVD (it's only $14) and see if having viewed it changes your comments. Watch this guy move through three totally different sets of music: From a solo set with just acoustic guitar, to a blues set with two other world class musicians, to a pop/rock set that showcases his amazing songwriting and then tell me what you think. Basically this DVD encapsulates much of what John Mayer is as an artist (I don't doubt though there is more to him that we have not seen, which he himself talks about in the DVD).

Perhaps my using the term, "genius", was a bit hasty and I suppose we could haggle over definitions all day long, but I am just trying to make the point that this guy is extremely unique. See if you can think of another artist that has this resume´.

The combination of:
1. A great singer
2. An amazing guitar player in so many styles (acoustic, blues, rock, jazz, etc)
3. Profound lyricist who writes lines like, "I'm dizzy from the shopping mall, I searched for my joy, but I bought it all."
4. Amazing songcrafter in a diversity of styles

Now maybe none of this points to "innovation" as you have mentioned above, but certainly he needs some type of unique identification just based on his pedigree.

I hear what you are saying about "Daughters" and I would add to it "Your Body Is A Wonderland" as the two songs that most people know him by that might make the stomach churn a bit, but we have to look at his total body of work and those kinds of songs are certainly not the norm. They are just the songs that have made him famous. As you know, the business side of the music industry oftentimes does not lend itself well towards the really beauty and originality of true artists that truly have something special to offer.

All this said, perhaps he is not in the name category of the likes of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, or Charlie Parker, etc. Time will tell. But based on the evidence presented above I think he is well on his way.