I want to hear it again for the very first time
This week on The Morning Set, hosts Abi Clark and Steve Chavis posed a question to their radio audience: “What is the album you would most like to hear again for the very first time?” The responses were stellar, each LP a legitimate “no skip” record that has stood the test of time. Ear openers, mind blowers all. Here’s the list, curated by KUVO Morning Set listeners and hosts.
Steve:
Head to the Sky – Earth, Wind and Fire
Innervisions - Stevie Wonder
Are You Experienced - Jimi Hendrix Experience
Abi:
Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Ellington at Newport - Duke Ellington
Come to My Garden - Minnie Riperton
Dark Side of the Moon - Pink Floyd
Clube Da Esquina - Milton Nascimento
The Stranger - Billy Joel
Tree King: Sugar - Stanley Turrentine
Jammin Joe: Caravanserai - Santana
alldaywes: Swimming - Mac Miller
Paul Donovan: Days of Future Past - Moody Blues
Andy O’: In a Silent Way – Miles Davis
Kim Berry: My first John Coltrane LP was Alternative Takes with alternate versions of songs from Giant Steps and Coltrane Jazz. - “In my humble opinion, the alternates are better than the originals. It cemented my love, admiration, and respect for John Coltrane as a human being, a musician, and his legacy.”
Morning Set Listeners:
Bloom - Rufus de soul
Get With It - Miles Davis (“We were all blown away by Bitches Brew, but Get Up With It was even more incredible. And it has two very long songs. One of them is dedicated to Duke Ellington, called “He Loved Him Madly,” and the other one is “Calypso Frelimo,” and each of those is worth the price of admission and equal to Bitches Brew. In my opinion, those are the greatest electrical jazz contributions ever. And I remember hearing them the first time, and it starts with a very slow song, He Loved Him Madly, which is outrageous, to start your album with a slow song. And it's just one of the most artistic songs ever. It's wonderful. I still listen to it constantly, but I can't imagine hearing it for the first time, you know?”)
Heavy Weather - Weather Report
Mysterious Traveler - Weather Report
Mike: Chime from Ball of Waxx records // The Beginning of Lotus - Sound of Light // Boards of Canada - Geogaddi - “TBoL tops that list, but good luck finding it. Geogaddi is as core to IDM as Kind of Blue is to Jazz. Enjoy!”
All Rise: A Tribute to Fats Waller - Jason Moran
Any Medeski Martin and Wood album
Seth Lewis: Straight No Filter - Hank Mobley - “unreleased tracks from Blue Note sessions. My favorite track “Chain Reaction.” McCoy Tyner takes the greatest piano solo I've ever heard, and the rhythm section of Bob Cranshaw and Billy Higgins play better together on that record than anything else in my opinion.”
Upon a moment of thought, I may have to go with Charles Mingus, Black Saint and the Sinner Lady - “This record blew my mind. So many styles and ideas packed into one sleeve. Tomorrow I will probably have a different answer. You know how that is.“
Jeff: Songs in the Key of Life - Stevie Wonder - “A musical and cultural epic that contains a little bit of everyone's story.”
Thomas: Pat Metheny's first album, Bright Size Life (ECM, 1976), or John Coltrane's My Favorite Things.
Winter into Spring - George Winston
Frank Ayala: Open Your Eyes You Can Fly - Flora Purim
Gary: Down to Earth - Ramsey Lewis
DJ Kurt: A toss-up between Abraxas - Santana or The Dude - Quincy Jones
Richard: Abraxas - Carlos Santana
Lary: Just Coolin’ - Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers
Ruby Ruby - Gato Barbieri (The reason I listen to jazz)
MF Horn - Maynard Ferguson (“what got me into jazz over 50 years ago!”) and I Remember Clifford - Arturo Sandoval
Linda: A Twist of Marley - Antonio Carlos Jobim and East – Hiroshima. Of course, all of Weather Report.
Leo: Hound of Love - Kate Bush - “Just a completely developing cascade of sound and emotion!”
Are You Experienced or Electric Ladyland – Jimi Hendrix Experience (“Experienced” made me aware of production by the sound placement and moving it around. “Ladyland” took it up a couple notches. - “I was a teenager when those came out and used to listen to most of my music on headphones because, you know, it annoyed dad. I had a super long extension cord, and I would go lay out in the grass in the front yard at night and look at the sky and listen to Hendrix.”
Bacon: Gangstabilly - The Drive-by Truckers
Honorable Mention: Songs you wish you could hear again for the first time
Carroll: The clip of Anita O'Day singing Tea for Two and Sweet Georgia Brown in the film "Jazz on a Summer's Day," filmed at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959. The first time I saw it, I couldn't believe it...knocked my socks off!
Like a Lover - Sarah Vaughan singing (I was listening in my car and I almost drove off the road. Her voice and the arrangement were so tender and warm...I was moved to my core.)
(and in 3rd place: The Manhattan Transfer version of Birdland. I was delighted! A vocal version!! What FUN!!!)
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