| Gordon's Musical Wish-List! |
| Music plays a very important place in my life. In fact as a loudspeaker designer, you could legitimately say that music IS my life, in some ways! As could be expected, I have accumulated many albums (mostly "classic" LPs, but a decent quantity of more modern stuff on CD as well) over the years. However, business must come first- my speaker designs, and (hopefully!) future speaker company must be my priority, in money spent. Hence, there's a LOT of albums, I would buy, but just haven't gotten around to yet. However, I thought I'd mention a number of them- just because I haven't gotten them, doesn't mean YOU shouldn't be able to enjoy them! I've included links in some (just cut and paste into a browser window), in case you wish to investigate the artist further... many of these are definitely worth a glance, to see if they're something you'll like! And if anyone wants to do a "Merry Christmas" (hey, any time of the year is fine, I'm not picky :-) ) and send me one or two of these, you'll be my buddy forever. OK- here's a list of specific albums I've found extremely interesting, moving, or just plain entertaining, lately Many of these are blues, with a few other fields thrown in for good measure. In no particular order: Outkast: "Speakerboxx/The Love Below" Simply, IMHO, the most creative rap artists out there now, period. Indigenous: "Indigenous" http://www.grndzero.com/mato.htm Man, THIS is something different. Crunch metal blues? Black Sabbath meets Stevie Ray Vaughn meets ZZ Top? Whatever you call it, it's probably the loudest blues sound you've ever heard. Sheer grin-inducement. Miles Davis: "Birth of the Cool" (the remastered version), "Nefertiti" Do I really need to explain? Ronnie Earl: "I Feel Like Goin' On" http://www.ronnieearl.com/pages/main.html Possibly the most interesting artist in the Stevie Ray Vaughn-style category out there now, IMHO. Plays with serious feeling, always seems to find that chunky groove. Rick Holmstrom:"Hydraulic Groove" http://rickholmstrom.com/ Space blues... really catchy, interesting riffy rhythms and instrumentation. Reminds me a lot of the Cowboy Bebop anime TV series soundtrack... Koko Taylor: "Deluxe Edition" Wish I'd gotten into Koko earlier. Much time missed, must play catchup as quickly as possible... Shemikia Copeland: "Talking to Strangers" Don't know much about Shemikia, other than she's got one serious set of pipes... Mississippi John Hurt "Rediscovered" http://www.vanguardrecords.com/Hurt/home.html THIS is one I just discovered, personally. Ever wonder where the phrase "Lovin' Spoonful" came from? "Nuggets" Garage Band Box Set (featuring The Barbarians, et al) A bunch of dudes playing their a**es off, for little or no money. Some real gems here, if you look hard enough. Antonio Carlos Jobim "The Girl from Ipanema: The Antonio Carlos Jobim Songbook" http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001EBX/002-0941029-8393643?v=glance The man who INVENTED Bossa Nova... though, just simply writing "The Girl from Ipanema" would have been enough to put the world eternally in his debt. John Scofield "Bump", "A Go-Go", "Works for Me" Jazz guitaist, plays with a rock or bop flavor. Occasional collarborator with Medeski, Martin, and Wood (see below!) Bill Frisell "Ghost Town", "Gone Just Like the Train" Another jazz guitarist, plays "country jazz"... not country, but jazz with a country flavor. Music with an open, sometimes even spacy, flavor, with lots of neat effects going on in the background. "Gone Just Like the Train" is especially interesting to me, as it has Jim Keltner (formerly with Steely Dan, Terry Evans, Ry Cooder, etc.) on drums! "Big Band Basie" with Clark Terry, on Reference Recordings IIRC, the DuKane University Jazz Band, with Clark Terry as soloist. Wonderful presentation, extremely great recording of some real classics of the late "classic big-band-jazz" era. Also, there are some compilation sets, or artists whose works I'd like to have EVERY ONE of... they're simply interesting enough to merit having in completion, in my eyes. Here's some examples: Medeski, Martin & Wood http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/stores/artist/glance/-/61477/002-0941029-8393643 THESE cats seriously GET DOWN. Celia Cruz http://www.celiacruzonline.com/ The queen of Salsa, may she rest in peace. One very large legacy... All of the Martin Scorcese or Ken Burns jazz compilation albums (especially the early stuff, pre-1930 artists). Between these two, there's a real gold-mine for anyone whos ever wondered about all the forgotten and/or unsung heroes of the early jazz scene. Additionally, the definitive tally of pretty much anyone who was anything in jazz... The Flaming Lips (especially the early ones, hard to find!) An amazingly quirky, compelling, engrossing sound. Bruce Katz http://www.brucekatzband.com/ http://www.valley-entertainment.com/Artists/Bruce_Katz/ Plainly put, one of the baddest Hammond B3 organ players ever. No slouch on the piano either. Jim Hall (jazz guitarist) and/or Bob Brookmeyer (valve trombone player). Genuinely under-apreciated masters and heroes of the bebop/post-bebop/"big-band-revival" jazz scene. Extremely intellectual, inventive and evocative players. Stan Getz The man responsible for bringing Joao and Astrud Gilberto, and Antonio Carlos Jobim, to the American audience. Even if he hadn't been an amazing sax player, that would have been enough! Muddy Waters/ Pinetop Perkins/ Willie "Big Eyes" Smith/ Calvin "Fuzz" Jones Muddy Waters and his "original" band. Anything by ANY of these guys, together in any combination or seperately, is definitely guaranteed to be toe-tapping rollicking fun. Heck, I'd go so far as to say, almost ANY artist on the Blind Pig Records label would work great! BTW: PLEASE, PLEASE... if you have ideas of other stuff you'd think I'd like, given this stuff above, feel absolutely free to make any suggestions you'd like in the Guest Book! Even if I don't get to buy them, maybe SOMEBODY will be able to find some serious enjoyment! |