Seriously, if you could only have one CD/LP

[Rooster_Ties]

What would it be???

I just started this very same topic on a 'classical music' bulletin-board, similar to this one (http://classicalmusicguide.com/phpBB2/)

Now obviously, I answered my own question there, on a classical board, with a 'classical' CD (and my answer is reproduced below, along with a plug for the Organissimo board!!). I'll answer the question from a 'jazz' perspective after I give it some more thought, but I wanted to go ahead and start the thread here.

What one disc/album means the most to you???

==========

A strong contender for me would be...

Hans Werner Henze: Requiem

(for trumpet, piano, and chamber orchestra)

This was one of the first large-scale 20th Century works I ever purchased. I came at classical music from multiple odd directions, including Frank Zappa. When I heard Zappa's "The Yellow Shark" with the Ensemble Modern ('EM'), I became totally smitten with this chamber orchestra (about 26 members, plus or minus). I started to buy recordings by this group specifically, and about the 4th or 5th 'EM' disc I purchased was this huge work by Henze.

Although I liked it quite a bit at first, it took me quite a long time to get my ears around it. Really, it might have been a couple years before I had heard it frequently enough to be able to anticipate some of the music, and to get a sense of where it was going. (I was pretty new to 'classical' music back then (early 90's), so even a Brahms symphony would have taken me 6 months to really get my ears around.)

Then, over the last 5 or 6 years - the Henze "Trumpet Requem" (as I like to call it) has become a sort of 'home base' for me, when I'm looking for something to listen to, to "clean out the cobwebs in my ears" (as another friend of mine puts it). Now, it's both become familiar - and is nearly always fresh to my ears - all at the same time.

I've since grown to like Henze and his music a great deal, although I always seem to return to his Requiem as being what I think is his best work, or at least the one that speaks to me the most. In general, I find Henze's music to have aspects of many of my other favorite 20th Century composers: Ives/Ruggles, Schoenberg, Roger Sessions, Stravinsky, Ernst Toch, Roberto Gerhard, Ernst Krenek, Hindemith, Varèse, and Zappa.

What is your one desert-island disc, and why???

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PS: Some of you might know me (also as “Rooster_Ties”) from the old “Blue Note” jazz bulletin board, which closed about 6 months ago (long story). I am most active now on the “Organissimo” bulletin board (where most of the “Blue Note” refugees went, after it closed”), and I also post some on the “All About Jazz” board --- all under the same name: “Rooster_Ties”.

If by any chance any of you are fans of Andrew Hill’s music (progressive jazz pianist from the mid-60’s and beyond), let me say that there are quite a number of Andrew Hill nuts (like myself!) on the Organissimo board ( http://organissimo.org/forum or just http://www.organissimo.org) - you ought to check it out!!!

[pryan]

Not one disc, but I'd have to go for (at the moment) Lester Young THE COMPLETE ALADDIN RECORDINGS, which is a two-cd set. Words are insufficient to describe how much this music means to me, in so many different ways. You simply have to hear and experience it for yourself.

Edited 30 Jul 2003 by pryan

[Rooster_Ties]

By the way, I'm considering Andrew Hill's "Passing Ships" as my choice for when I have my jazz hat on.

[WD45]

John Coltrane: Africa Brass

[Jim Dye]

I seriously don't think I could take just one. If given that choice, I would not take anything. I think all the music in my head could sustain me.

Listening to one cd over and over and over.....

No matter how much I dig the record, I believe it would eventually drive me insane.

Edited 30 Jul 2003 by Jim Dye

[jazzbo]

I'd have to agree that I would act as Jim has suggested.

I'd rather have no discs and bang on rocks and whistle and hum and howl the music out of my head. . . when not silently just playing back what I have in memory.

[mgraham333]

If I could only have one CD for the rest of my life, it would have to be a recording of James Earl Jones reading a list of 1001 ways to kill yourself with items commonly found on a desert island.

[king ubu]

how 'bout this puppy?

[Claude]

Mahler´s Ninth Symphony

Some recordings fit on one CD (Barbirolli 1964)

[Rooster_Ties]

how 'bout this puppy?

Might well be my second choice (classically speaking) after the Henze. Amazing music!!!!

[undergroundagent]

Jimi Hendrix "Electric Ladyland"

[John L]

A rewritable CDR.

[jazzbo]

[JSngry]

Because music comes and goes, but hunger is forever.

[JSngry]

A rewritable CDR.

To do what with?

[Jim R]

Okay, everybody grab a pillow. No, not to cover your face in fear. So you can doze off comfortably while I answer this question.

I have one CD in my collection that I would probably select over all others if forced into that position. First of all, it's very rare, so there's virtually no hope that I'd ever find another one should I be rescued from the island (I originally bought two copies, inspired by having heard a cassette, and one of them was stolen from my car many years ago, so I ain't parting with the remaining copy). Secondly, it contains a track that is probably my all-time favorite musical recording of any kind, which hits me very deeply no matter how often I listen to it. Thirdly, the artist, who I was fortunate enough to meet in SF a few years ago while he was on tour with George Shearing's quintet, is somewhat of an idol of mine, and someone whose music I have tried to promote for a number of years now. It's not just that I hold him in such high regard myself, but I believe that he's been widely underappreciated for many years simply due to underexposure in this country (and his own lack of self-promotion). I'm talking about the great Irish guitarist Louis Stewart, and the CD in question is called "String Time", a session Louis recorded in Norway. The song in question is "The Dolphin" (also recorded by Stan Getz, Bill Evans, and others), which was written by the late and great Brazilian pianist and composer (and leader of the Tamba Trio) Luiz Eça. Who woulda thunk it- a Brazilian tune recorded by an Irish guitarist in Norway (with Norwegian musicians).

Well, that's my little story... guys? GUYS? Ah, I shouldn't have suggested the pillows.

Edited 30 Jul 2003 by Jim R

[RDK]

You didn't specify jazz or not. I'm sorry to say (at least here), but if I could only take one disc it probably wouldn't be jazz. Probably "Blonde on Blonde" or "Highway 61 Revisited." Couldn't live without Dylan.

That's, of course, if I were alone on the island. If I had some female companionship, I might have to choose something like Roxy Music's "Avalon" instead.

For jazz picks, it would have to be "Mingus Ah Um" if I were solo or "Coltrane for Lovers" if I was looking to hook up with the natives.

Edited 30 Jul 2003 by RDK

[Chuck Nessa]

No question, Lester Bowie's "Numbers 1 & 2". This was the first record on my label, and I remember incredible details of this date and EVERYTHING leading up to it (Oliver, Armstrong, Ellington, Bird, Monk, Trane, Cecil, Albert, etc).

It would also remind me of all coming after.

[Chuck Nessa]

If we restrict it to classical music (or include one of those too) I would choose the 1950s recording (for Vox) of Mahler's first symphony. This led me into the world of Jascha Horenstein - another passion.

Do you dig my sentence construction?

[rockefeller center]

Edited 31 Jul 2003 by rockefeller center

[BruceH]

Seriously, with only one CD or LP it would be wrist-slitting time for me.

[John L]

A rewritable CDR.

To do what with?

For duck hunting?

Well, nobody said anything about any kind of desert island. Did they?

[Jazzmoose]

This is going to sound really nuts, but if I had to listen to just one CD for the rest of my life, I think I'd go with Eno's Evening Star. Hell, I hear all kinds of stuff on it that isn't there half the time anyway, so why not?

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

That's a no-brainer..........Chuz Alfred's 'Jazz-Young Blood" w/Vinnie Burke & Kenny Clarke.

Just kidding....nice LP though!

[JSngry]

Well, nobody said anything about any kind of desert island. Did they?

Hmmm...guess not. The question was not asked in the form of a desert island.

In THAT case, you got the right answer!