Over the years my musical tastes and influences have changed quite a bit, so I thought it might be interesting to document my current listening habits.
The Rippingtons
I’ve been a fan since I was at college on the Isle of Wight where I bought their “Live in LA” album. Russ Freeman seems to have a knack of writing anthemic songs with a strong melody. This, coupled with a funky keyboard/guitar solo, and often a virtuosic bass solo from Kim Stone has made them one of my favorite bands. I was lucky enough to see the band on their UK debut appearance at the Jazz Cafe in Camden for my 21st birthday, and also in Atlanta in 2000.
TOTO
Another band that I was turned onto by my good friend Phil Dayton when he played me their “Past to present” album when we were on the Isle of Wight. Since then, I have bought all of TOTO’s albums and been to three of their live concerts in London and Birmingham. The musicianship demonstrated by all members makes them a popular choice for musicians. Favorite tracks include Dave’s gone skiing, Jake to the bone (both of which demonstrate amazing soloing abilities by Steve Lukather and David Paich) and “Georgy Porgy” from their Greatest Hits Live DVD.
Steely Dan
This is another great musicians band, and I think one of the few that have actually managed to pull off the fusion of rock and Jazz successfully. This is a fairly recent addition to my catalog of favorites, and was introduced to me by a work colleague. Favorite tracks include Rikki dont loose that number and anything off of the Aja album. I’m also partial to the tracks from Donald Fagan’s Nightfly album.
Pink Floyd
Here is another band that was introduced to me by a work colleague. Although I love their later work, I know that this isn’t really the Pink Floyd sound that old die hard fans rave on about. Even so, I love David Gilmours lyrical guitar work which helped take the band to their legendary stature. Favorite tracks include Time, Coming back to life, High Hopes plus many more. I wish I had been to their 1994 concert at Earls Court.
Classical Music
I have always liked classical music. My main love is with French romantic organ music – I first discovered this when I was learning organ with my tutor David Bevan. Under his direction, I was able to play pieces by Louis Vierne (Naiades, Carillon De Westminster and Impromptu – all from the Pieces de Fantaisie), Eugene Gigout’s Toccata in B minor and Elfes by Joseph Bonnet amongst others. French romantic music is very challenging to play, and I love listening to it and playing it.
I also love American music, especially that of Copland and Ives. Appalachian Spring as played by the Sanfransico Symphony Orchestra conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas is so close to perfection it is one of my most listened to tracks. When I was first introduced to Ives’ music, I found it a little uncomfortable to listen to – I remember listening to “The unanswered question” for the first time, and not really enjoying it. However, this has become another of my favorite pieces, and I would encourage anyone to preserve with listening to this important music. The music that we hear today I guess would have been very much different if it were not for musicians like Ives.