I don't consider myself particularly well informed about classical music, sometimes mistaking one composer for another (or unable to identify) when I hear a piece. What I do have is a passion for all kinds of music, old and new.
My listening tastes run from old pop such as the Everly Brothers, Ray Charles, Booker T & MG's, Elvis, Bobby Darin, Les Paul and Mary Ford, Nat King Cole and countless others. I like to rock with the Doors, Beatles, Peter Green, Jimi Hendrix, Early Fleetwood Mac, Led Zep, Stones, Dylan, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Elvis Costello, Roger Waters, Robert Fripp, and countless others.
Vocals by Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, June Christy, Rosemary Clooney, Helen Humes, Nancy Wilson, Anita O'day, Carmen McRae, Mahalia Jackson, Della Reese, Peggy Lee, Jeri Adams, Polly Bergen and Dakota Station.
Male vocals like Peter Himmelman, Tom Waits and Daniel Lanois. Country by Emmylou Harris, Patsy Cline and Hank Williams. 80's pop by XTC, Dead Can Dance and Cocteau Twins. I absolutely love Bjork and Radiohead. Have lots of Nirvana, Neil Young, CSN&Y, Eric Clapton, James Brown, Jimmy Reed, Elmer Snowden, Etta James, Stevie Wonder and Al Green.
I have a whole section of jazz and blues including hundreds of the Fantasy titles (Contemporary, Pablo, Galaxy, Prestige). Dozens of Mosaic box sets, including Miles Davis, Don Cherry, Ike Quebec, Bill Evans, Lightning Hopkins and too many others to list.
I have a nice Jazz collection from Concord (California), and shelves of ECM, Impulse, Blue Note, Roulette, A&M Horizon and a mass of Capital, Columbia, RCA and other popular labels. For those who are familiar with Jazz artists on these labels, you know how varied the sound is. All but the last mentioned (Capital, Columbia and RCA) tend to have a "house" sound and artists that are associated with that sound, especially Blue Note and ECM.
I have dozens of classical titles on London, Decca and the RCA shaded dogs. I have a few DG and Mercury as well.
I have a section dedicated to classical female vocals, including Frederica von Stade, Cecilia Bartoli, Dawn Upshaw, Kathy Battle and Mady Mesple.
I also listen to Eminem, The Streets, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Coldplay, Yello, The Shins, The Eels and The Postal Service.
I have a section of movie sound tracks, Broadway plays, spoken word and such. I have some old country from folks like Faron Youg and Roy Acuff and modern bluegrass such as Alison Krauss and Martina McBride and all of the incredible releases by Johnny Cash on American Recordings.
I have several pieces of electronic music by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Laurie Anderson, Phillip Glass, Jan Jelinek and the Nascent french jazz movement by artists such as Michel Portal, Barre Phillips and others.
I am constantly in search of music. As far as I'm concerned, for every piece of new music I find, buy and learn to love, the value of my life and my music system increases.
