Music You MUST Hear

pete

pete

Brassica Oleracea
Staff member
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I've been thinking about this.

I'm a fan of something called "anime" -- basically, Japanese animation. There have been a couple three series that I've seen that I tell folks that they simply MUST see (top three: "Full Metal Alchemist", "Neon Genesis: Evangelion", and "Cowboy Bebop". "Elfen Lied" is very, very good -- but also very, VERY graphic). However, even though I'm the (formerly) big-time-saxophone guy, I can't tell you that there's music you just MUST listen to; like "one of the 50 pieces of music you must listen to before you die". And I'm not that big of a fan of sax music.

However, I do have some suggestions of some good tunes. I'd also like you to share yours. If you've got links to (legal) MP3s, please post. I'll try to listen to them, too.

* Peter Schickele, Monochrome III
(Schickele pieces I can't find that are also extraordinary are "Elegies for Clarinet and Piano" and "Spring Serenade". The latter has been out of print for YEARS.)
* The Seatbelts, Cat Blues
* The Delgados, The Light Before We Land (this is a short version)
* The Dave Brubeck Quartet, Take Five

I've got several more. It's just getting late :).
 
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Ray Charles, Georgia on my Mind
Billie Holliday, Strange Fruit
(There's more impact if you know what this song's about)
Louis Armstrong, Wonderful World
Benny Goodman, Sing, Sing, Sing
(This is just a short version; there's a long biography with the full piece -- I think -- at http://www.pbs.org/jazz/biography/artis ... _benny.htm)
George Gershwin, Rhapsody in Blue
(Not the best recording, but allegedly the first use of the symphonic version. Also of interest are the piano roll recordings that Gershwin made himself)
George Gershwin, Summertime
(This is the Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong version. The high operatic versions, such as from Leontyne Price, are also extremely good -- and I've heard full productions like this)

This also gives me a moment to note that the two greatest websites evar are YouTube and Google.

Calvin Hampton, Variations on "Amazing Grace"
(Which I first heard performed on Conn-O-Sax and organ on Paul Cohen's Vintage Saxophones Revisited CD. BTB, if you care at all about sax history, you need to buy this CD.)
 
From the world of pop/rock/r&b:

The Eagles - Desperado - A well crafted song
Marvin Gaye - What's Going On - A great social commentary wrapped in a wonderful song
John Lennon - Imagine
Steve Goodman - Penny Evans - a powerful song from an amazing songwriter
The Beach Boys - God Only Knows - The pinnacle of what Brian Wilson achieved in the studio
Elton John - Your Song
The Beatles - In My Life - You can't have modern pop music without The Beatles
Jim Croce - Operator - Great songs show their greatness when played with minimal arrangement. Jim Croce was one of the great story tellers.
Harry Chapin - Cats In The Cradle - The song that stabs every father in the heart. Another of the great story writers.
Paul Hardcastle - Nineteen
Randy Newman - Real Emotional Girl - Randy Newman writes stories about the unsavory and addresses society's ills with bluntness most of the time. Sometimes he shows his sensitive side in gems like this.
Jackson Browne - Late For Sky - From sensitive to politics and back again Jackson Browne is one of the most important songwriters of the late 20th century.
John Prine - In Spite of Ourselves - He's was called the next Dylan. You probably know his song Hello In There that Bette Midler covered.
John Prine - Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore - Proving that old songs get to come back around and be relevant since people don't seem to learn from history

I like singer songwriters and sparse arrangements. I also really enjoy what people can do in the studio and used to listen to music on my headphones as a kid and plot out how they recorded stuff.
 
Bartok's piece is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OszsgGwM_iA

I know most of the music already mentioned, including the Bartok.

The Beatles were very good because their music is ... musical. I've heard some MP3s by an acapella group called "The King's Singers". It actually sounds pretty darn decent.

More later.
 
I think that the influence of George Martin really took The Beatles to another level musically.
 
Continuing:

The point is, finding some piece of music that you have to turn around and tell someone, "You've gotta hear THIS." Maybe it's because of my g-g-g-generation, but while I appreciate 60's pop, there's an awful lot of it I don't like. Hey, there are only about three songs by The Zombies I like. Two by the Righteous Brothers. None by Elvis. And an awful lot of Beatles tunes just ... aren't to my taste. Always listenable, but nothing that I wanna call up someone and say, "Dude! Listen to this track."

And I genuinely feel that way about the ones I've posted, so far.

=============

Considering we're in a classical mode, I'll post a couple tunes that were quite shockingly good when I first heard them and I still like them, even though they're overplayed:

Dvorak, Symphony #9 in E Minor (From the New World)
Copland, Fanfare for the Common Man. Yes, the theme song from the Olympics several years ago.
Debussy, The Sunken Cathedral. C'mon. Even the title's great.
Mussorgsky, Pictures at an Exhibition
Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring (Le Sacre du printemps) (yes, this is the Fantasia video)

Which reminds me:

Mussorgsky, Night on Bald Mountain and Schubert, Ave Maria. I loved this combination in Fantasia.
Resphigi, The Pines of Rome (excerpt, finale).
A former director friend of mine, who plays trumpet, almost ran me over to get to the video store when I said that this was in Fantasia 2000. I've listened to some other stuff by Resphigi and it's very brass oriented :).

I have been told that the deluxe edition of Fantasia 2000 has 10 or so hours of additional animation. It'd be something to get. My birthday IS coming up.

And, in some people's opinion, the best piece of all time: Cage, 4' 33".

As you can see, my taste is eclectic.

A couple years back, I got a 2-CD set of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and some choral group doing the original score for Handel's Messiah, because I was studying to do a bass (voice) solo. I had never listened to it all the way through before. I was startled at how much material from just this particular work has been copied by so many other famous composers. I even gave my vocal teacher examples, even. She hadn't heard of about 3/4 of the folks and works I mentioned :).

However, my favorite composer is still Peter Schickele. I really recommend that folks listen to the non-PDQ Bach stuff. It's really good.
 
When it comes to classical nothing beats Mahler in my book. Nine great symphonies. I have some personal favorites such as the Bruno Walter 9th recorded just before the Germans crossed the border. The great 7th conducted by Jascha Horenstein with the New Philharmonia is without peer. Walter, Kublick, and Horenstein all made wonderful recordings of the 1st symphony. If you wish to be moved by a long form symphony play a great Mahler recording.
 
O Mio Babbino Caro - Maria Callas (a slow one, not one of those frantic fast ones)
Freddie Freeloader - Miles Davis (the whole Kind of Blue album should be on the list, this song because of Cannonball's solo)
At Last - Etta James
Lush Life - Joe Henderson (solo, from the "Lush Life: The Music of Billy Strayhorn" album. Won a Grammy, I think)
Pachelbel's Canon in D - pop music would be missing something without this chord progression, for a humerous look at this go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdxkVQy7QLM
Pat Metheny - As Falls Wichita, So Falls Wichita Falls (live version)
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb (don't laugh, the bridge is beautiful)
 
Toby,

I have a CD of Symphonic Pink Floyd that is actually pretty cool. It's by The London Philharmonic and is called Us and Them: Symphonic Pink Floyd. You should be able to find it on Rhapsody as I am playing it right now (beats heading downstairs to the CD case).
 
Pete, I was very surprised by how good the music was to Cowboy Bebop. The show is very good too. I also enjoy the other songs by the Seatbelts such as "Tank" and "Sax Quartet".

Jeff Coffin's work with the Flecktones has really been inspirational to me. This is one of the best saxophone melodies I've heard in recent years. http://youtube.com/watch?v=GGeVaasUDP0
 
SuperAction80 said:
Pete, I was very surprised by how good the music was to Cowboy Bebop. The show is very good too. I also enjoy the other songs by the Seatbelts such as "Tank" and "Sax Quartet".
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Yes, I was, too. Especially when you think that this is a Japanese group. Hey, isn't Bebop American?

The other thing you'll notice, if you listen to more than one of the albums I linked to, is that they pay significant homage to a lot of other jazz classics in their music. It's fun to listen to something and say, "Mmmm. That's Billie Holliday!"

However, I'm very partial to "Gotta Knock a Little Harder" on the Tank! The! Best! CD. I really want more songs like that. They don't make 'em like that, anymore! (Linky later.)

Cowboy Bebop is excellent anime (and watch the movie, too. It's called, Knockin' on Heaven's Door or just, "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie".) The creators of that series went on to do Samurai Champloo, which is also very high quality, but the music is more hip-hop.
 
caught them in 2003 in Baltimore.

I'd love to see a transcription of that run. Coffin is a NTU guy. I remember him from his lab band days. I've long regarded The flecktones as the most musically strong band.

Look at Paul McCandless having fun. Remember him from Oregon?
 
Toby said:
caught them in 2003 in Baltimore.

I'd love to see a transcription of that run. Coffin is a NTU guy. I remember him from his lab band days. I've long regarded The flecktones as the most musically strong band.
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I've been meaning to figure Zona Mona out for a while now, but I haven't gotten around to it yet. Trying to pick apart a run like that is frustrating to say the least. Bela and crew definatly have pushed the envelope in musical technicality. The cool thing is that they still keep it melodic and pleasant. I've heard McCandless in a few other projects. He has a very distinct soprano tone.

John McLaughlin and Dennis Chambers are also pretty sick as far as strange poly rhythms and tonal technicality go. I'd love to hear someone like Coffin or James Carter work with those two.
 
This one was kewl.

I was listening to the rebroadcast of yesterday's A Prairie Home Companion broadcast and they had a group called "The Wailin' Jennys" on (say it fast and you'll get the pun). It's an all-female group.

They just did a fantastic acapella version of "Summertime". It'll hopefully available on the above website soon.
 
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