Listening to Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. What a piece of music.
Then: Aaron Copland’s “Fanfare for the common man”. Years ago (in the ’80s), a jazz group called “KittyHawk” did an upbeat electronic version of this piece, on an album called “Fanfare”. Silly thing is iTunes has this album but this particular piece is missing from it. If you want to listen to it, look for it on their “Collection” album in iTunes.
Then there is Lorie Line, solo piano, “Norwegian wood”. Very, very soothing music. Another version of this tune is done by Sergio Mendes and Brazil 66. They do a great job as well, with an upbeat, toe tapping version, with vocals.
Leading me into the same group, playing “Scarborough fair”. This comes from their album called “Celebration, a musical journey”, which also includes other numerous hits such as “(sitting on) the dock of the bay”, “Wichita Lineman”, “The look of love” and “Going out of my head”. All great tunes of the ’60s. I recommend getting this album if you like this kind of music from that period.
Let us not forget “Birdland”, not entirely sure who originated this tune, but I’m listening to versions by “Weather Report” (“Heavy weather” album), another by Maynard Ferguson. And Manhattan Transfer has a vocal version which I always enjoy listening to.
Which kinda brings me to “MacArthur Park” (my version from Maynard Ferguson).
I guess I could go on and on, writing a blog (not just a single blog post, but an entire blog with hundreds of posts), sharing the music I’ve listened to over the past fifty years, stuff that’s influenced me, shaped me, and calmed me, etc. I could choose one CD each week, and write about the music within. Man, this project would take twenty to thirty years to complete. And, it would be never ending, since, I would be listening to even more “new” music during that period. (Crap, I should have started this project from day one, or at least ten – twenty yrs ago!)
Music is and always has been a big part of my world. Do you feel the same way as I do? Feel free to comment.
Oops. The music has gone silent on me – gotta cue a new album up. Which one to choose? So many to choose from.
(bear with me, I’m an old fart: “album” = “CD”. So, what do the “Millennials” call a set of music that they buy and download or stream?? What’s the new word for record album, Tape, CD, etc.?)
