#15: Arif Mardin
Arif Mardin had one of those careers that musicians tend to speak about with unusual respect. Tasteful, wide-ranging, and never confined to a single style, he worked across jazz, soul, pop, rock, and adult contemporary without sounding scattered. His credits include Aretha Franklin, the Bee Gees, Chaka Khan, Donny Hathaway, Hall & Oates, and Norah Jones, which already tells you how broad his reach was.
