BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

NickG’s Desert Island Disks

John Mayall – The Turning Point
Ben Webster – Soulville
Neil Young – Greatest Hits
Traffic – Low Spark
Herbie Hancock, – Gershwin’s World
Eva Cassidy – Live at Blues Alley (will this ever be available on LP)?
Joni Mitchell – Miles of Aisles
Roxy Music – Avalon
Tom Waits – The Heart of Saturday Night
Santana – III
Yes – Classics

Bob Walters’ Desert Island Disks

This is the music that has moved me, in the order that it comes to mind:

• The Blue Coast Collection – Emblematic of the best in acoustical recordings.
• Joni Mitchell: Court & Spark – Who wouldn’t want to be a free man in Paris, unfettered and alive?
• Simon & Garfunkel: Bookends – “America” indeed. Balladeers extraordinaire, smoother than Dylan/Joplin but just as poetic.
• Beatles: White Album – Any one of the Fab Four’s disks would probably do.
• Rodrigo y Gabriela: Rodrigo y Gabriela – Unreal guitar-playing duo. Classically-trained but rockers-at-heart. I’ll let this ‘Stairway’ substitute for ‘Zozo.’
• Concert for Bangladesh – George Harrison and friends (Bob Dylan, et.al.) get together and jam. Dylan is extraordinary.
• Dave Matthews Band: Under the Table and Dreamin’ – I just can’t get enough of this when the mood strikes me. Masterful.
• Bruce Springsteen: Born To Run – The Phil Spector “wall of sound,” revived and modernized. Reminds me of all the summers I spent on the ‘Jersey shore!
• Music@Menlo: The ‘Live’ Disks – I’ve never heard better classical chamber music recordings, 20 or so CD’s made right in our own back yard.
• Shine (Soundtrack) – Piano at its best, from a decent Chopin ‘Polonais’ (my fav piano piece) to the dreaded ‘Rach 3′! Great recording.
• Kendra Shank: Afterglow – One of the many fine Mapleshade CD’s (their ‘Ballads’ compilation is really nice). Kendra’s powerful, resonant voice is both awesome to behold and a great system test.
• Patty Larkin: Regrooving the Dream – Great songs and singing, and a sonic showcase disk for any system. Well engineered.
• Yuri Honing Trio: Alive – How does he do this stuff?
• Counting Crows: August and Everything After – ‘Mr. Jones’ is seminal song-writing and a statement piece for this East Bay group.
• Jennifer Warnes: Famous Blue Raincoat – ‘The Hunter’ may be the current audiophile choice, but it all started for me with ‘Raincoat.’ The Joan of Arc piece is particularly cool (not)!
• David Bowie: Heathen - For me, the pinnacle of a genius’ career (so far).
• Erik Truffaz: The Mask – Sophisticated Jazz fusion recorded superbly. Top notch in both art and engineering.
• Michael Wolf: Intoxicate – Raw, biting jazz captured expertly. ‘Bells’ will show off your system (or not) and then reverb in your head for hours. Stunning.
• Miles Davis: In a Silent Way – As ‘new age’ as masterful Miles goes. Intoxicating genius.
• Dead Can Dance: Into the Labyrinth – Oregon with edge and darkness? For me, their best.
• Traffic: Low Spark of High Heeled Boys – As close to jazz as I came as a teen. Great disk.
• Beck: Sea Change – Can you tell that I like it when artists stretch to “something new”?
• Henryk Gorecki: Symphony #3 (London Sinfonietta) – I love this disk. Simple themes build from silence, and become an emersive sonic feast. Very cool.
• Sidsel Endresen: Undertow – Scandinavian siren with a hypnotic delivery. Sophisticated and alluring. And another good system test.
• Vanilla Sky (Soundtrack) – From REM to The Monkeys, something for everybody on this well-produced disk. Title cut by McCartney.

I’ll quit now, after leaving off so much – from Rilo Kiley to Three Blind Mice to Yes!  <g>

If interested, you should have no problem finding these via Amazon (most of them) or Google (the rest).

And let me make special mention of the ‘Oritek Sampler Disk’ – special it certainly is! (You’ve heard much of it at our events….)

Miguel’s Desert Island Disks

Yanni Live at the Acropolis – Private Music – 1994
Jordi Savall / Tous les matins du monde / AliaVox – AV9821
Leon Parker /Awakening / Columbia CK68076 – 1998
The Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall / Columbia C2K 61455 – 2001
Michel Legrand / Legrand Jazz / Philips 830 074-2 – 1986
Miles Davis / Kind of Blue / Columbia/Legacy CK 64935
Sammy Davis Sings and Laurindo Almeida Plays / Sandstone D233081-2 – 1991
The Ahmad Jamal Trio / the Awakening / Impule IMPD-226 – 1997
Julie London / Time for Love / Rhino R2 70737 S2 18810 – 1991
The Best of…Weather Report / Columbia/Legacy CK 85400 – 2002
Sonny Rollins / Saxophone Colossus / DCC Jazz GZS-1082 – 1995
Charlie Haden & Pat Metheny / Beyond the Missouri Sky / Verve 314 537 130-2 – 1997
Karrin Allyson / In Blue / Concord Jazz CCD-2106-2 – 2002
Jazz at the Pawnshop / FIM XRCD 012*013
Ramsey Lewis / With One Voice / NARADA Jazz EMI 72438-60699-2-4 – 2005
Johnny Hartman / Unforgettable / Impulse IMPD-152 – 1995
Diane Schurr / Deedles / GRP-9510 – 1984
Shirley Horn / Here’s to Life / Verve 314 511 879-2 – 1992
Ray Charles / Ray Sings Basie Swings / Concord Records/Hear Music CCD-30026-2 – 2006
Oscar Brown Jr. / Sin & Soul …and then some /Columbia/Legacy CK 64994 – 1996
Bill Frisell / Nashville / Nonesuch 79415-2 – 1997
Dexter Gordon / GO! / Blue Note 7243 4 98794 2 3 – 1999
Dexter Gordon / Our Man in Paris / Blue Note 7243 5 80914 2  7 – 2003
The Great Jazz Trio / Collaboration / 441 Records FFO-0028 – 2004
Bob Marley and the Wailers / Legend / TUFFGONG 422-846 210-2 – 1984
Modern Jazz Quartet / Dedicated to Connie / Atlantic Jazz 82763-2 – 1995
Nina Simone / Anthology The Colpix Years R2 72567 – 1996
Sarah Vaughn & The Count Basie Orchestra / Send in the Clowns / JVC Music VICJ-60246 – 1998
Chucho Valdez / Solo – Live in New York / Blue Note 7243 4 93456 2 1
Glenn Gould Edition / Bach: Goldberg Variations, BWV 988 *1955 version / Sony SMK52 594 – 1992
Mozart: Klavierkonzerte #6, 17, & 21 Anda/Camerata Academica des Salzburger Mozarteums Deutsche Gramaphon Gesselshaft 447436-2 1962

BillR’s Desert Island Disks

  1. Music of Bach, Mozart, Scarlatti and Schubert played by Dinu Lipatti (EMI CD CDH 7 69800 2)
2. Glenn Gould playing Rhapsodies, Ballades and Intermezzoi of Brahms ( two CD set) Sony SM2K 52 651
3. Itzhak Perlman and Vladimir Ashkenazy playing the three violin and piano sonatas by Brahms. (EMI CDC 7 474032)
4. Joseph Szigeti playing Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (two CD set) Vanguard OVC 8021/22)
5. Bill Evans Trio: Sunday at the Village Vanguard (Riverside CAPJ 9376 SA)

DaveF’s Desert Island Disks

Here goes: Not in any order!!!

My List for the Desert Island; Rock/Pop & Jazz

1. Pink Floyd – Wish you were Here or Meddle
2. Peter Gabriel – So or Us
3. Genesis – Selling England by the Pound
4. U2 – Joshua Tree
5. The Beatles – Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper
6. The Who – Quadrophenia or Live at Leeds
7. Van Morrison – Moondance or No Method, No Guru…
8. Van Morrison – Beautiful Vision
9. Genesis – Trick of the Tail or Lamb Lies Down…
10. Emerson, Lake & Palmer – Tarkus or Trilogy
11. Seal – 3 albums, I forgot their names
12. Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry – Avalon & Solo stuff
13. Dire Straits – Communique or On every street
14. Chris Isaak – First two solo albums
15. Jethro Tull – Aqualung

Alternate albums/CD’s

The Clash – London Calling
David Bowie – Ziggy Stardust
Simple Minds – New Gold Dream
Yes – Close to the Edge
Queen – Night at the Opera or The Game