Like almarg, I get off on weirdo period instruments of the past. It's one of the things that keeps me returning to my Harmonia Mundi and MA Recordings discs.
Favorite Recordings Featuring Odd Selections of Musical Instruments.
I do a fair job of spoiling my inner child. One area is collecting CDs where the choices
of musical instruments are other than main stream.
An example might include the Modern Jazz Tuba Project. Their CDs include 2001 “Live at the Bottom
Line” and 2003 “Favorite Things”. Howard
Johnson & Gravity also had a tuba jazz trio and may have done it first with
1996 “Gravity” and 1997 “Right Now”. In
all four CDs they select music to optimize the fun of a tuba trio, yea it is
just great fun. Exercise your sub woofers.
Somewhere I have CDs of upright bass trios, I’m having
trouble remembering who and where? Sometimes
I get half-heimers; it is expected at my age now that I am middle aged. Found it! Ray Brown 1997 “Super Bass” (Telarc) and 2001 Super
Bass, Vol. 2” (Telarc) both highly recommended.
The Vol. 2 has a trio of upright basses playing “Papa Was Rolling Stone”
in parts that will kill ya. It is all good. Might leave your sub woofer with stretch marks.
Brent Lewis seems to get more out of percussion-only than one
might reasonably expect. Start with his CD 2004 “Drum
Sex” because it is entertaining to listen to. He is
worth looking up on Youtube so one can try before they buy. I like his stuff. Find a pair of #2 yellow pencils so you can
play along on your desk. Oh,
Brent Lewis
has a percussion Christmas concept CD named 2000 "Jungle Bells" that is a riot. It is actuality done very well. I own his whole catalogue.
Somewhere I picked up 1991 “An Organ Blaster Sampler” from TELARC which has some nice demo organ cuts.
Short of howitzers for the "1812 Overture" do you have any recordings featuring out of the ordinary musical instruments that you can highly recommend?