I had a lot of fun listening to the first half of this list last night! In particular the 17-minute Dave Holland track melted my face into a puddle on the couch. Weather Report surprised me by holding my attention for 7+ minutes of fairly "out" sounds. And I'd never even heard of Malcolm Arnold (classical isn't my wheelhouse) but the Keith Johnson recording was typically sublime.
When I'm demonstrating the system to someone uninitiated, I explain that we'll progess like a wine or beer tasting -- simpler fare to start, palate-wreckers at the end. So I'll lead off with Getz/Gilberto "Girl from Ipanema." They all know the song; it soothes the ears and the mind. A couple of minutes into the track, when Stan starts to blow, they're usually hooked.
After that I might toss out mid-tawdry chestnuts like
Paul Simon -- Rhythm of the Saints -- "Can't Run But"
Muddy Waters -- Folk Singer -- "Country Boy"
Sonny Rollins -- Way out West -- "I'm an Old Cowhand"
Steely Dan -- Gaucho -- "Babylon Sisters"
Once I've connected on any of these, I'll just hand them the iPad and let them drive to their heart's content. They'll eventually play their favorite Black Keys track, then look at me with sad eyes to ask why it sounds so bad. We'll talk for a minute about dynamic range compression.
We might eventually bring the house down with something like
Sara Bareilles -- Brave Enough -- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
Yes -- Fragile -- "Heart of the Sunrise" or
The Bad Plus -- Give -- "1979 Semi-Finalist."
When I'm demonstrating the system to someone uninitiated, I explain that we'll progess like a wine or beer tasting -- simpler fare to start, palate-wreckers at the end. So I'll lead off with Getz/Gilberto "Girl from Ipanema." They all know the song; it soothes the ears and the mind. A couple of minutes into the track, when Stan starts to blow, they're usually hooked.
After that I might toss out mid-tawdry chestnuts like
Paul Simon -- Rhythm of the Saints -- "Can't Run But"
Muddy Waters -- Folk Singer -- "Country Boy"
Sonny Rollins -- Way out West -- "I'm an Old Cowhand"
Steely Dan -- Gaucho -- "Babylon Sisters"
Once I've connected on any of these, I'll just hand them the iPad and let them drive to their heart's content. They'll eventually play their favorite Black Keys track, then look at me with sad eyes to ask why it sounds so bad. We'll talk for a minute about dynamic range compression.
We might eventually bring the house down with something like
Sara Bareilles -- Brave Enough -- "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road"
Yes -- Fragile -- "Heart of the Sunrise" or
The Bad Plus -- Give -- "1979 Semi-Finalist."