This isn't going to be your standard blog. It will probably only have two posts (although I reserve the right to change my mind about that), and this post, which will be edited and added to regularly, is the heart of it. Read on.
What follows is a list of some of my favourite pieces of recorded music (in alphabetical order by performer). It's starting with the list I included in my book The Spirituality of Music, due out in October. Most (but not quite all) of the tunes, by the way, are available online through itunes.
But of course, as soon as the pages had been sent to the printer I began to think of other pieces of music I would like to add. For example, how did I ever leave off at least one version of Little Liza Jane, perhaps by Bob Wills, or by Nina Simone
I'm also hoping that you folks out there will add your favourites to the list--by adding comments to the post. Because of course, this is totally personal, and therefore totally limited to my own experience and interests. So please make it your list too. We can all benefit by being introduced to new music by one another.
And I, too, will come back here occasionally to add new selections (like the ones noted above), and to gradually add annotations for those more obscure songs.
Cheers,
John
The List:
Jerry Alfred & The Medicine Beat - Salaw
Jerry Alfred & The Medicine Beat - The Grandfather Song/Etsi Shon
ADD: Jerry Alfred is a First Nations singer/songwriter/musician from the Northern Tuchtone nation in Canada's Yukon Territory. His music mixes some elements of aboriginal drumming and chanting with what I would call a country rock sound, and his themes are definitely both spiritual and related to healing and recovery of tradition. These two are definitely among his standout songs.
Louis Armstrong - La Vie en Rose
ADD: This is a lushly romantic song, made famous by French chanteuse Edith Piaf. I first heard this version, sung by the inimitable Louis A., on my first trip to Europe when I was 21 (so nearly 35 years ago), on my honeymoon for my first marriage. We were staying in a kind of run-down hotel on the cobble-stone market square in a little Belgian market town, and this was on the jukebox. I played it once, then again and again, I liked it so much. Years later, for the wedding for my second marriage, we asked my brother and sister-in-law to perform it for us as part of the service. Louis' version is still my favourite, such joy in his voice.
Ludwig van Beethoven - Symphony No. 6 in F Major, Op. 68 'Pastoral'
ADD: My mother bought a recording of this symphony from a grocery store special collection offering when I was a teenager, and I listened to it over and over on the family stereo while lying on the living room rug and reading the extensive liner notes. It has remained one of my favourite classical pieces ever since, perhaps partly because of the nature themes, and because part of it is based on a folk dance.
Jorge Ben - Errare Humanum Est
ADD: One raw January evening in Toronto about 30 years ago, I went to a theatre to see the Brazilian film, Bye-bye Brazil, by Carlos Diegues. It warmed me right up and I came out of the theatre dancing. I went right to Sam the Record Man to see if I could buy the soundtrack. Alas, I don't think it was ever released. Instead, while browsing the smallish Brazilian music collection I came across an album by Jorge Ben. Something about the look of it appealed to me, and I bought it. I'm not sure what the style is called; it's more hard driving than bossa nova, probably related to samba, but is mostly powered by rhythmic strumming on an acoustic guitar and a nice conga and bongo drum groove. Another song that has had a long life as one of my favourites. I don't speak or understand Portuguese--and this title might actually be in Latin (help, someone)--but I get the point, to err is human.
Rory Block - Walk in Jerusalem
ADD: I first heard Rory Block about 12 years ago on U of T's radio station, CIUT, while driving in Toronto. I rushed off to Sam the Record Man (alas no longer with us, I see--and I mean the store; Sam, himself, is even longer gone I believe) to see if I could find a CD by her. I was astounded to discover that she was/is white; she sounded so like a black woman on the radio. I couldn't find a recording of the piece I'd heard (and I can't remember what it was now, but bought another cassette tape that had this gospel number on it). It's very moving and powerful, not least because her son joins her well into the song, and its sense of yearning is so strong and palpable. I'd like this one played at my funeral--and not just the song, but this recording.
Choir Of Westminster Abbey, Ely Cathedral & Gerald Gifford - Brother James' Air
ADD: Just a beautiful version of a beautiful piece of choral music. Don't recall anymore where or when I first became aware of it.
Bruce Cockburn - Wondering Where the Lions Are
ADD: Bruce is a marvellous musician and composer, a Canadian treasure. Love his Goin' To The Country and Lovers In a Dangerous Time, among others, but this is definitely my favourite song of his. I especially like the reggae-esque feel, but mainly it seems to capture that sensation of religious euphoria I have occasionally experienced in the natural world.
Manitoba Hal - Line and Pole
Harmonizing 4 - Wade In the Water
Stéphane Grappelli & Django Reinhardt - Swing 42
James Hill - Down Rideau Canal
John Lee Hooker - It Serves You Right to Suffer
The Isley Brothers - Summer Breeze
Israel Kamakawiwo’ole - Over the Rainbow/Wonderful World
The Klezmatics with Joshua Nelson and Kathryn Farmer - Elijah Rock
Yungchen Lhamo - Happiness Is...
Gordon Lightfoot - Pussywillows, Cat-Tails
ADD:This song probably goes back the furthest for me, to my early teens. Gordon Lightfoot was a Canadian folksinging legend in the 1960s and for decades to follow. He was from Orillia, just up the highway from where I grew up, and not only is it a tender love song, but the seasonal imagery takes me right back home to my southern Ontario childhood. High romance. From the same singer/songwriter, I would recommend the classics, If You Could Read My Mind, and Did She Mention My Name.
The Lovin' Spoonful - Do You Believe In Magic?
Taj Mahal - Freight Train
Makaha Sons of Ni'ihau (with Israel Kamakawiwo’ole) - Star of Gladness
Miriam Makeba - Pata Pata
Mississippi Fred McDowell - You Got to Move
Sergio Mendes - Waters of March
Van Morrison - Astral Weeks
Van Morrison - Listen to the Lion (live version from album, It's Too Late to Stop Now)
Van Morrison & The Chieftains - She Moved Through The Fair
Nightingale - Tickle Cove Pond/Over the Ice/Culfadda
Anders Osborne - Stuck On My Baby
Penguin Cafe Orchestra - The Ecstasy of Dancing Fleas
Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Air A Danser
The Rascals - Groovin'
Bob Stewart - Fishin' Blues (Featuring Taj Mahal)
ADD:This old song, first written and performed by Texas African-American performer Henry Thomas, has been a favourite of mine since I heard it performed by Taj Mahal as a teenager (and it's still my favourite Taj song). I like this version because Bob Stewart adds a funky tuba to Taj's standard singing to to his grooving, as always, guitar accompaniment. I only recently heard the original, recorded by Henry Thomas back before1930, which Harry Smith included on his famous and influential six-record Anthology of American Folk Music, originally released in 1952, and what do you know, it's available on itunes too.
Tamarack - Shoals of Herring
Ralph Vaughan Williams - The Lark Ascending, Romance for Violin and Orchestra
Doc Watson - Cotton Eyed Joe
Doc Watson - Shady Grove
Paul Winter - Common Ground
Paul Winter - Ancient Voices (Nhmamusasa)
Paul Winter - Icarus
And here are some music-related films that I really like too. Please add your own to this list too.
Paul Balmer - Stéphane Grappelli: A Life in the Jazz Century
Les Blank - J’ai Été au Bal/I went to the Dance
Les Blank - Puamana
The Cowboy Junkies - Long Journey Home
Gregory Coyes - How the Fiddle Flows
Jean Doumanian and Barbara Kopple - Wild Man Blues
Edward Gillan - Desperate Man Blues
Martin Scorsese - The Last Waltz
Martin Scorsese - The Blues
The Mountain Apple Company - IZ: The Man and His Music; Island Music, Island Hearts
And some music-related books:
Beattie, Mac. This Ottawa Valley of Mine. Arnprior, Ont.: Beattie Music Inc., 1982.
Beloff, Jim. The Ukulele: A Visual History (Revised & Expanded). San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2003.
Campbell, Don. The Mozart Effect: Tapping the Power or Music to Heal the Body, Strengthen the Mind and Unlock the Creative Spirit. New York: Avon Books, 1997.
Cannel, Ward and Mrax, Fred. How to Play the Piano Despite Years of Lessons: What Music is and How to Make it at Home. Paterson, N.J.: Crown & Bridge Publishers, 1976.
Handy, W.C. Father of the Blues: An Autobiography. New York: Collier, 1970 (first published 1941).
Hart, Mickey and Stevens, Jay. Drumming at the Edge of Magic: A Journey into the Spirit of Percussion. New York: HarperCollins, 1990.
Hodgkinson, Will. Guitar Man: A Six-string Odyssey. London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2006.
Mahal, Taj and Foehr, Stephen. Taj Mahal: Autobiography of a Bluesman. London: Sanctuary, 2002.
Mezzrow, Mezz, and Wolfe, Bernard, Really the Blues. New York: Dell, 1946.
Reck, David. Music of the Whole Earth. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1977.
Young, Peter. Let’s Dance: A Celebration of Ontario’s Dance Halls and Summer Dance Pavilions. Toronto: Natural Heritage/Natural History Inc., 2002.
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