The Hungarian King of the Road

My Grandpa Roger died two weeks ago.

I've only had two jobs in my life: the one I currently hold and working on Grandpa's "farm." In the summers I would weed, mow, plant, re-weed (I'm not a detail-oriented guy), and in my last two summers at home I helped him with beekeeping. Grandpa sat with my dad at nearly every football game I ever played in. If I looked up in the stands, he and my dad stood in the back row next to the other blue-collar guys who favored the high vantage point, and honestly couldn't be trusted to behave themselves closer to the field. Grandpa once showed up by himself to watch me play baseball in the snow. I struck out to end the game (my teammates thanked me as we were being crushed mercilessly and freezing) and he patted me on the back and probably grunted.

To say he was rough around the edges is an understatement. He was the first adult I ever heard use the "F-word" (notably, about how I directed his truck into the planter we had just built: "Well, that was a **** up"). He once told me I had a good career ahead of me as a fireman (who, in Cleveland, work 24 hours then have 48 off): "You work for 10 minutes and then take a 20 minute break." He was a boxer when he was younger, and until he had hip surgery in his late 60s I wouldn't have wanted to face off with him in a fight (after the surgery I figured I had a chance to knock him off balance). When he hammered a nail he hit it once.

But I feel the following list of words are also understatements when describing him: Tough; I used to sting his back with bees a couple times a week because the arthritis in his hips was so bad. At first it was once a week, eventually more, and up to 4 or 5 bees at a time.The guy didn't flinch, even the time I accidentally dropped one down his pants. Smart; he invented a bunch of stuff. Some of his ideas and products were stolen by a shady business partner, some he used just around his house. A solar powered wax-melter was the one I remember the most clearly. Creative; he made Chief Wahoo windmills, taught himself small engine repair, and made beeswax candles. Mischievous; if he opened his mouth to talk he was probably messing with you. The last time I saw him was in the hospital, pretty hopped up on pain meds. When the nurse came in to take his vitals, Grandpa confused the hell out of him for five minutes because his humor is so dry. I'm not sure my wife ever had a conversation with him where she was sure if he was kidding or serious.

In some ways it felt that I was the least close to him of all my grandparents. He was not a very talkative guy. I can't imagine the onomatopoeia required to relate much of his language- grunting really is the best description, but different sounds meant different things. In truth, he was my closest relative outside of my nuclear family. I spent countless hours at his house; as a kid I would spend at least one weekend a year sleeping over, watching a movie or the Indians, working the land (an exaggeration in many ways, but that's how it felt) and making a cool 20 bucks. In high school I think I got $120 a week in the summer for three 8-hour days. When the church bells rang at noon lunch was provided. We would sit in the majesty of his air-conditioned house, first sitting together at the breakfast bar and eating ham salad sandwiches and pickles, then moving to the living room, he in his recliner, me on the couch. We'd watch the local 12 o'clock newscast silently, and when the hour was up, he'd get up wordlessly and I would follow.

If it rained I would "Rain-X" his car, or vacuum the garage... I honestly can't remember much else about rainy days, except that he would sit in the other recliner, in the garage, and I would do busy work and listen to his radio. WTAM 1100 was playing all day in the garage, first Paul Harvey, rolling into Rush Limbaugh, finishing with Mike Trivisonno talking sports. He never played music during the day while we worked. The most musical moment I can recall is that when I rode with him in the Caddy in the evening he might have played some country.

At the wake, my aunt made a slide show. I must have watched parts of it 20 times as it played throughout the day and at least 5 times all the way through. The pictures from before my birth were fascinating to me, and there were plenty from my childhood that brought back amazing memories. Roger Miller's "King of the Road" was the first song featured as background music. About the 15th time I was catching part of the video someone asked my aunt if he liked that song. I was surprised to hear her say it was one of his favorites. I had no idea that he had favorites. The last two times I saw him I planned on asking what music he liked and then chickened out: it just seemed like such an awkward question. I cornered my aunt and started asking about Grandpa's musical tastes. "Oh yeah," she said, "he would put on his little Bose real loud and sit in his chair." I had seen the Bose, but I'm not sure I ever saw it turned on. What did he listen to? "Frank Sinatra, Roger Miller, Glenn Miller... he was into that big band stuff and the Rat Pack. A lot of times he would play classical in the evenings. Oh yeah, he was really into his music."

I think the blood probably ran from my face right there, because when my wife told me to call him and ask, that I would regret it if I didn't, I really, truly, honestly did not think there was a chance in hell that I would regret it. He didn't listen to music, so what I would regret would be an awkward last conversation where I blabbed at him about music. I regret it. Maybe it would have been awkward: so many of my interactions with him were (always messing with people) but maybe I missed a golden opportunity to talk with a man, a provider of a quarter of my genetic code, who was as connected to music as I am. My mom has since confirmed that "Yes, he listened to music a lot." In the grand scheme of regrets, I can think of worse; I saw him many times in his last year even though I live out of town, spent so many of my formative years watching his example. I can't get too hung up on one missed opportunity. But I'm skipping around in the book now, and I'm branching well outside the list to hear the music my Grandpa considered his favorites.

Out of all the artists listed below I could have named one song at most from each (I recognize many after further listening, though). I'm glad that I at least am able to hear these songs and honor him in that way. He was a hell of a guy and I feel blessed to have had so much time with him.

1000 Recordings Entries
Frank Sinatra - Songs for Swingin' Lovers
Frank Sinatra - Sings Only for the Lonely
Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim - S/T
Sammy Davis, Jr. - I Gotta Right to Swing
Nat King Cole and His Trio - The Complete After Midnight Sessions


Just Grandpa's List
Roger Miller
Dean Martin
Lou Rawls
Kenny Rogers
Vic Dana
Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
Tom Jones
Englebert Humperdinck

Kind of Blue: Revolutionary or Comfortable?

Courtesy of Pichars.org

My seventh wedding anniversary was on Monday. We cooked quinoa and corn, had a glass of Moscato, and watched The Office. My wife was in bed by 9:30. Lame, you say? Nah, it was just fine. Easy, comfortable, and familiar. I'll get back to that, later. Let's talk about jazz.

Jazz seems so hard to understand. Okay, lots of it is pleasant to listen to (although lots of it isn't), but what's the difference between great jazz and mediocre jazz? To someone just getting started in the world of jazz, there doesn't seem to be much. After hearing dozens of jazz recordings since starting this project, from free to bebop to New Orleans, my ears have started to pick up on the workings of a jazz song (with some thanks to the 1000 Recordings Podcast guys who walk listeners through some of the jazz recordings). Also, based on the recommendation of the 1000 Recordings Podcast I've started watching Ken Burns' Jazz on Netflix. I'm only on the first episode, but I can already tell that the story of jazz is interesting and important, even if I don't understand it, yet.

All of this brings me to what is widely considered the most influential piece of jazz (and, some would say, music) of the 20th Century, the highest selling jazz recording of all time, Kind of Blue by Miles Davis.



Artist: Miles Davis
Album: Kind of Blue
Recording #220ish
Stream here or here

Revolutionary, the critics say. Influential to the nth degree. Featuring Coltrane, Bill Evans, "Cannonball" Adderly (all featured elsewhere on the 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die), this album will melt your brain, evidently.

Dinner music is what I call it.

I first arrived at this thought a few months back when my best friend, John, visited from New York. He moved there to go to culinary school, and instead got involved with a startup sandwich shop where he frequently invents sandwiches for their menu and runs one of the stores. When I lived in Texas he came to visit and destroyed my kitchen cooking us a watery coconut tofu dish, burning a piece of tofu to the bottom of my oven so bad that I'm not sure we ever got it off. He offered to cook us dinner on his most recent visit: I was, understandably, wary.

After a delicious meal of bone marrow, lemon-butter seafood pasta, and brandied pears I finally had to let go of my nearly-decade long grudge for John's previous cooking discrepancies. Letting him cook for us was more fun and easier than trying to take an eighteen-month old out to a nice dinner. Which brings me, again, back to the idea of comfortableness.

While we cooked and ate, I thought we needed a little mood music. John was a hipster music snob before the word hipster existed, my wife gladly listens to Top 40 radio, and I'm somewhere in between. Kind of Blue was something we could all agree on, which for an album with as many accolades as it has, is impressive. If you want to sit down with a pair of high quality headphones and pick this album apart, you can do that. It's incredible. I say have at it. Write a dissertation on it. But as background dinner music, it can't be beat. Modality is a word I've never written before, but if I understand it correctly, it's what makes this album so damn listenable. The subtle shifts in the songs were mindblowing at some point, but now they've become the premise behind easy listening.

This weekend I am taking my wife out for our nice anniversary dinner, to a french restaurant, white tablecloths, multiple courses and all that. I think there's a 50/50 chance my son will wake up and we'll have to abandon our high-class plans and return home early to a screaming child and a frazzled babysitter. I'm still looking forward to it, but sometimes easy and comfortable can be so much more than they seem.

Related posts:

• ...And We're Back
• Cool Struttin'
• Chardon, Portishead, and the Loss of Innocence

1000 Recordings Sampler Episode 3

If the third installment of the 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die sampler has a theme, it might be "rainy day," with jazz pianist Brad Mehldau's "When it Rains," the introspective stylings of Malasian artist Toumani Diabate, Chopin's Nocturnes, and the weepy, epic guitar solo of Funkadelic's Eddie Hazel (according to legend, George Clinton told Hazel to "play like your mother just died"). As before, though, I have tried to highlight a wide swath of genres while picking out tracks I enjoy and hope that you'll enjoy as well!

Play here on Spotify

1. Brad Mehldau - "When it Rains" (Jazz/Rock)
2. Sigur Ros - "Hjartao Hamast" (Indie Rock)
3. Rory Gallagher - "As the Crow Flies" (Blues/Rock)
4. Patsy Cline - "Lovesick Blues" (Country)
5. Toumani Diabate with Ballake Sissoko - "Bi Lambam" (Mali/Strings)
6. Frederic Chopin - "Nocturne No. 1 in B flat minor, Op.9 No.1" [Maria Joao Pires] (Classical/Piano)
7. Funkadelic - "Maggot Brain" (Funk/Epic guitar solo)

If you like the music, buy the tracks on Amazon: Mehldau, Sigur Ros, Gallagher, Cline, Diabate, Chopin, Funkadelic

Related posts:

• 1000 Recordings Sampler Episode 2
• One Week's Worth of Recordings
• Country Music Playing on the Radio

1000 Recordings Sampler Episode 2

Here's the second installment of my 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die sampler, where I get to mix in a few of my favorite songs from Tom Moon's list. In the first episode I did a tribute to the recent deaths in the music industry, which meant the playlist was heavy on the pop music. This sample is a bit more scattered: although I grew up on rock and pop, I have been introduced to so much great music through the book that I think it's important to help folks find a place to start (especially if, like me, you are not well-versed in jazz, classical, and world). Here's the playlist for this week, you may know a few of these, but hopefully some will be new:

Play here on Spotify

1. Paul Simon - "I Know What I Know" (classic rock/South African)
2. Tom T. Hall - "Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs" (country)
3. Mahavishnu Orchestra with John McLaughlin - "The Inner Mounting Flame" (jazz)
4. Curtis Mayfield - "Billy Jack" (R & B, soul)
5. Philip Glass - "Knee 1" (opera/weird)
6. John Fahey - "Orinda-Moraga" (folk)
7. King Sunny Ade - "Sunny Ti De" (Nigerian/juju)

If you like the music, buy the tracks on Amazon: Simon, Hall, Mahavishnu, Mayfield, Glass, Fahey, Ade

Related posts:

• 1000 Recordings Sampler Episode 1
• Like Vanilla Ice Cream for Your Shave Ice
• Chicago Gets No Love From My Parents

Charlie Christian, the Genius of the Electric Guitar

As I alluded to in my last post, my son is in that wonderful stage of development where he really likes repetition. An example: while grocery shopping I tapped his head with a package of tortillas and said "bonk" before throwing them in the shopping cart. This was met with hysterical giggles, and then, complete with puppy dog eyes, a pleading "mooooooore?" After about 10 "bonks" I finally decided I had to quit if I didn't want all my frozen goods to melt. Not too long ago, after we took down our Christmas lights, he pointed to the area on our back window where they used to hang and said "lights." I explained they were gone now. He then pointed to the front window: "lights." "All gone." Then the dining room light, blazing away, "lights." "Yep," I said, "lights." Back to the back window, then front, then dining room, over and over and over. My wife couldn't believe my patience with this game.

Of course, this trend also happens with respect to music. Soon after falling in love with "C'mon 'N Ride it" he found renewed interest in "Dis Doss" (Kris Kross). As soon as "Jump" ends, he calls for me to play it again. And again. And again. Sometimes he mixes it up, by asking for "Pain... House" halfway through the song (this is his way of asking me to switch to House of Pain's "Jump Around") and then, after a minute, asking for more Dis Doss. I used to know the lyrics to "Jump" fairly well, but now I can rattle off "Some of them try to rhyme but they can't rhyme like this" like the Micro Machines guy (by the way, ever notice that nothing rhymes in that lyric?). I worry about the affects of so much jumping on my son's body, because he seriously wants to jump for the entire length of the song (or, more likely, wants me to hold him and jump, because he doesn't really have that skill down yet-- it's more of a squat/fall).

I let my son get away with this because he's a toddler, and, well, he's my son. Tom Moon recently tried to get away with this repetition game, and I'm sorry Tom, but I just can't cut you too much slack.

Artist: Charlie Christian
Album: The Genius of the Electric Guitar
Recording #513


Stream the album here

Based on the title, I was really excited for this recording the first time I came across it about a year and a half ago. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the recording anywhere. Thankfully, I just discovered Spotify, and the entire 4-disc box set is on there. Woohoo! I shouted, prematurely. Because although the overall theme of this record is pretty nice - bebop and old school late '30s jazz, which is a type of jazz I can appreciate as a jazz newbie - there is a severe problem with this recording. Four discs of jazz is a lot for me in any setting, because my ears are just becoming used to it, but when I hear the song "Six Appeal" as the original, 3 alternate takes, and 2 false starts, I'm a little put off. "Breakfast Fued" was pretty enjoyable the first time; SEVEN alternate takes!? Plus 2 false starts? The entire 4th disc consists mostly of outtakes and practices, often interspersed with chatting about timing and technique. This might be interesting stuff to a real Benny Goodman or Charlie Christian fan, but does this really have the staying power to make it worthy to be one of the 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die? With so many other single-disc collections to choose from, I am truly confused by Moon's choice here. Especially since Moon points out that due to Christian's untimely death he only recorded for 3 years.

OK, but enough about the format; I will say that the guitar work is superb. Not my favorite genre, but considering the early timeframe of these recordings (1939-41), these sound way ahead of their time because of the guitar. Again, because I am not an aficionado of jazz, I have to listen closely to hear the guitar and recognize the forward thinking, but when I really focus on the smooth lines of Christian, it's damn impressive. Again, I think Moon's selection here takes away from the focus on Christian: after 4 discs I really start to space out and only notice the big picture "jazz" instead of taking the time to hone in on the guitar, which is supposed to be the star. It's too bad that there aren't more recordings focused just on his guitar, and maybe Moon's intention was to give you every opportunity to hear everything Christian recorded, but I think he failed in that decision. Check out the first disc and a half to get a taste, unless you are a completionist like myself.

Read Moon's entry here.

...And We're Back

So it's been awhile since my last post. With grad school and baby duties and work I realized I just wasn't able to keep up. In fact, my obsessive desire to write about my project was slowing down the project itself. I couldn't listen to and write a post every single day, which is about how fast I was listening to the recordings. So the baby is getting bigger and (moderately) easier to take care of, grad school is out the window, and I have settled into a routine at work. The last part of the equation is that I just applied for and got a spot writing for the music blog Cover Me. I realize that if I'm spending time listening to and thinking about these recordings, I might as well keep writing about it. The problem is 156 recordings have gone by at this point since my last post. So for that reason, I'm going to make this more of a highlight reel than a play-by-play, talking about the recordings I find the most interesting. With that in mind, I will move on to the next most interesting recording:

Artist: John Coltrane

Album: Blue Train

Recording #262

I heard this recording back in August of last year. My son was only a couple of months old and my parents had just come out to visit. I remember putting this on at work and not finishing it, but when I got home I realized that it actually made great dinner music. I had heard of Coltrane, but really didn't know anything about the kind of jazz he did and I was pleasantly surprised by this album. Having recently slogging through avant garde noise entries, I found myself melting into the soothing, pulsating backbeat and stellar solos. This isn't exactly smooth jazz, but at the same time the dissonance of most of the modern jazz in this book is, thankfully, missing. I still enjoyed the next recording on the list, Coltrane's more challenging "A Love Supreme," but this just happened to be the perfect sound for a home cooked meal on a lazy summer night. If you need something sweet, but not saccharine, pick this one up.

Recordings I skipped:

#257: Joe Cocker- Mad Dogs and Englishmen: Overall impression was this sounded like a fun concert, similar to Van Morrison, had never heard him before, but I have a few songs now

#258: Codona- Codona 3: Genre hopping jazz. Free jazz to African/World. Final track is nice

#259: Leonard Cohen- Songs of Leonard Cohen: Another artist I knew a little about, but not much. Reminded me of Lou Reed and Simon & Garfunkel. Not real impressed overall

#260: Nat King Cole and His Trio- The Complete After Midnight Sessions: Very relaxed jazz, wonderful dinner/after dinner music

#261: Ornette Coleman- The Shape of Jazz to Come: Experimental, but listenable. Steady rhythm, lots of good, fast sax

Cool Struttin'

After a night like I had last night, Sonny Clark is the perfect jazz to listen to. That's right, I used "perfect" and "jazz" in the same sentence.

Artist: Sonny Clark
Album: Cool Struttin'
Recording #251

Enjoy the Peanuts' Christmas theme music? Does it make you feel relaxed and happy to hear Schroeder laying it down? Well, this has that same feel-good, beat-poet happy jazz feeling. For some reason I had the chance to be asleep last night between midnight and 2:30 AM and I could NOT sleep. This is not a common occurance for me, but today I had to teach class, and it was the first time I ever taught my own material, and everyone else was teaching the same material. I guess I just couldn't stop thinking about different things I had to fix or check up on or add-- so I am beat. But the sweet, smooth trumpet, piano, sax combination of this recording, added to the staccoto drums and walking (strutting, I guess, is more accurate) bassline are making me feel pretty relaxed, even though I feel kind of pissed off. I was going to talk about how this is great dinner music, but it's even better cocktail music-- just use it to take the edge off.

Buy this at amazon

One Week's Worth of Recordings

13 recordings in a week- I love the age of the free streaming on the internet.

Artist: Cecilia Bartoli
Album: The Vivaldi Album
Recording #238
Stream the album here

Another recording from the opera genre that I actually enjoyed. Tom Moon talks about her "agility," and I think that I know what he means-- the way she trills her voice is pretty incredible. And I like the tone of her voice, a little lower, which is different. The last track is the only one I recognized as a famous opera, but this one was pretty nice.

Artist: Paul Bley
Album: Fragments
Recording #239
Stream the album here

Another free jazz album- this was like the background music to a film noir detective film. It was equal parts annoying and weird.

Artist: The Chemical Brothers
Album: Dig Your Own Hole
Recording #240
Stream the album here

Back with another one of those block rockin' beats!" If you were a teen in the 90's you knew this song, even if you didn't know the sample was from Schooly D (I only know him as the rapper who does the intro to the TV show Aqua Teen Hunger Force). The Chemical Brothers, while not my cup of tea, were a force to be reckoned with back then, along with like-minded bands Fatboy Slim and Daft Punk (the latter the only one to still have selling power currently). This album is a bit dated, but just like the title of Daft Punk's album, sometimes you have to do your "homework" to see why electronica is where it is today.

Artist: Clifton Chenier
Album: Bogalusa Boogie
Recording #241
Stream the album here

This is the 2nd cajun album, and this one is much preferred to the first, Buckwheat Zydeco. This album leans a lot more on the blues influence and really feels like a New Orleans party I could get into. If live music with lots of accordion is your thing, check this one out.

Artist: Don Cherry, Dewey Redman, Charlie Haden, and Ed Blackwell
Album: Old and New Dreams
Recording #242
Stream the album here

Oh wow, this is pretty God-awful stuff. More free jazz, and clearly there is skill involved to squeeze the noises out of the instruments like they do, but this was bad. It started out pretty palatable, and quickly became unlistenable. Unless you are a free jazz connoisseur, tread lightly here.

Artist: Vic Chesnutt
Album: Is the Actor Happy?
Recording #243
Stream the album here

I really wanted to like this album-- it's 1995 but it really doesn't sound that dated. In the end though, this alt-rocker left me wanting a little bit more. The album starts out sounding a little like a slow Blues Traveler song, or the Flaming Lips at their most accessible, but eventually it sounds more and more like Patterson Hood's songs for the Drive-By Truckers. Despite the favorable comparison, in the end the songwriting wasn't as solid, even if the lyrics are interesting. Check it out though, if you like alt-country or just the country tinged pop song.

*HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*
Artist: Chic
Album: C'est Chic
Recording #244
Stream the album here, search for the rest on youtube

Well I had heard this band on Saturday Night Disco back on the Q104 when I was a kid ("Le Freak"), but I didn't know the name of the band, let alone that they have some extremely catchy dance music. Disco may be laughed at now, but listen to your Franz Ferdinand or your Bravery or your Phoenix. Where do you think they got those funky basslines? This album comes screaming out of the gates with "Chic Cheer," built around a great guitar riff that just keeps becoming more and more compelling, and next is the more universally recognized "Le Freak." The rest of the album is solid, even if none of the songs are as memorable, and I need to hunt down a copy. If you want to start a dance party, put this one in.

*HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*
Artist: Chicago
Album: The Chicago Transit Authority
Recording #245
Stream this album here

If "You're the Inspiration" is what you think of when you think of Chicago, I was right there with you. But on this debut the band has some muscle-- both with a stellar horn section and blistering guitar work. I did end up recognize a couple songs ("Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and "Beginnings") but most of the songs were new to me. I really liked this one, although the freestyle guitar was a little much, even though it was interesting, and I can see why Jimi Hendrix was a fan of Chicago's guitarist.

Artist: Frederic Chopin
Album: Ballades and Scherzos
Recording #246
Stream the album here

Unfortunately had to skip a couple recordings I couldn't find (including some interesting sounding Hawai'ian guitar) but on the bright side I found out that I enjoy Chopin. These Ballades and Scherzos are pretty and short, filled with lots of tempo and theme changes (the first has a tempo change that comes out of nowhere) and were overall very nice to listen to and a good introduction to this composer's works.

Artist: Frederic Chopin
Album: Nocturnes
Recording #247
Stream the album here

If the last Chopin was easy listening, this one is music for comas. In fact, the 2nd Nocturne is the music that plays on my son's mobile with bird songs. They can be a little slow and "one-note" at times, but they are often pretty. There are some nice piano trills courtesy of Maria Joao Pires, who is nice and steady throughout, but again, sometimes the whole thing is so quiet it's hard to hear much differentiating the songs. This was the perfect soundtrack, however, to a day when my son slept in my arms during an afternoon thunderstorm. So I will have fond memories of this recording, and when I need something to put me at ease, and possibly unconscious, I'll return to this one.

Another Cluster

As my son is trying to slowly erode my life right now through sleep deprivation, I will have to do another group of recordings to catch up (it's amazing how much music you can listen to while holding a baby and walking).

So #228, #231, and #232 are all Brazilian. I knew Brazil made a lot of music, but that's a pretty hefty chunk of the World music in this book (there are 21 Brazilian entries, compared to 1 Chinese, for example)

Artist: Cascabulho
Album: Hunger Gives You a Headache (Fome da Dor de Cabeca)
Recording #231
Stream album here

I like how this one charges out of the gates, with a very trippy sounding latin-fusion thing going on. Not your typical background World music. Track two, "Xodo do sanfooneiro, changes pace again with a weird Cajun sound. Unfortunately, the interesting songs don't continue through the whole album, and eventually it all starts to sound a bit mushy to me again.

*HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*
Artist: Dorival Caymmi
Album: Caymmi e seu violao
Recording #232
Stream the album here and here

What a difference of sound this is! Still Brazilian folk music, but this guy is a real crooner. His voice reminded me of a Latin Bing Crosby, and the gorgeous acoustic guitar he plays is, in my opinion, too soft, but sounds virtuosic. I don't speak Portuguese, but there is clearly a theme here, which based on the appearance of the word "Mar," is the sea. I highly recommend this one, and I'm going to have to scrounge around and find it to add to my collection

Artist: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Recording: Requiem
Recording #233
Stream the symphony here

With all the awake at night time I am cruising through the IMDB Top 250 movies. I just finished "Amadeus," and it was one of the best yet. According to this movie, Mozart was CRAZY! The actor in the movie was incredible, and the storyline, although considered to be mostly fabricated, really got me interested enough to jump ahead in the book and check out what Wolfy did. Requiem, which was left unfinished due to Mozart's death, is pretty dreary. The voices are so airy, and at the same time eerie. Really, that's the highlight here, those somber, amazing voices. Evidently this was recorded in NYC only weeks after 9/11, and the mood carries over. Of all the recordings I've listened to lately this one really captures the mood around our house, with my son now sleeping for only a half hour at a time. Pretty good music for high-brow wallowing.

Artist: Manu Chao
Album: Clandestino
Recording #234
Stream the album here


This was pretty much as I expected. A french dude doing world music, again it really faded into the background. No high or low points really, just a bit bland.
Artist: Tracy Chapman
Album: Tracy Chapman
Recording #160ish
Stream album here
My wife was excited this one was included in the 1000 Recordings because she loves the song "Fast Car." It really is an incredible song, and I gotta respect Tracy as she is a native of Cleveland. Overall I liked this album, really good folk, and something a little different than other girl and a guitar acts, a different perspective and mood. I need to get this one.
Artist: Ray Charles
Album: The Best of Ray Charles: The Atlantic Years
Recording #235
Stream album here
Well if you haven't heard Ray Charles I'm not sure what rock you've been under. Most people at least knew a few songs before the biopic "Ray" came out, but Jamie Foxx's portrayal and great singing brought these songs to a new audience. This album has a lot of those familiar hits, plus a few you might not know. If you have the movie soundtrack, as I do, this is extraneous, and the soundtrack version of "What'd I Say" is actually better. But this is still a good introduction to the classic Ray Charles stuff you know.
Artist: Ray Charles
Album: Modern Sounds in Country and Western, Vols 1 and 2
Recording #236
Stream the album here
After the rousing Atlantic Recordings, this one is a buzzkill. I'm a little surprised at the popularity of this album, because I found it slow and sappy. It was just boring country, but there are still a few gems here. "Worried Mind" is a really nice version of the song, "Hey Good Lookin'" picks up the pace a little, and "Midnight's" vocal harmonies are hard to resist.
Artist: Louis Armstrong
Album: The Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens
Recording #237
Stream the album here
My second box set, and this is a recording I started back when I first got the book, but after 6 songs I really felt like I needed to move on. Well, I went back, and I still feel the same way. There are some very nice jazz pieces here (most of them much more enjoyable to me than most jazz, probably because this sound so classic) but 4 discs worth is a lot of Louis, even if he does play the trumpet like a maniac. I especially like the songs that highlight the trumpet versus the songs with singing. "Oriental Strut" is all trumpet solo and peppy throughout as an example. If you need some jazz in your life, you can't go wrong picking a few tracks off this one.
Wow, that was a lot of recordings. If I keep this pace I'll be done in a couple years!