Years Ago I My Musical Exploations came via the radio and a tape recorder…..
So I have been making playlists since the late 60s, early 70s. And believe me it’s a helluva lot easier nowadays! When I was straightening up some stuff the other day, I came across the following
What the above is is a typed out list of songs that were recorded from the radio using my 7.5 inch reel to reel tape recorder that looked a lot like this…
And what we had to do was sit and listen to the radio and when a song you liked came on, you recorded it! Of course it was often easier to get a number of songs from an album because DJs had more freedom to play more than just singles.
Anyway tonight I was able to create the same playlist probably in less than 30 minutes using Spotify. I was surprised that I even found “Evil Woman” from the band Crow. I only remembered the song after I heard it!
Now you may be asking what are the numbers on the far left of the list. The tape recorder had a counter and the numbers indicate where on the tape you can find the song.
The point is that the technology today is light years beyond that of the 60s and 70s and it still amazes me. In some ways though it makes it too easy.
For My Musical Explorations in the Mid-90s I Used CD bargain bins at Tunes
In the mid-90s one of my favorite things to do was hunt through the bargain bins at Tunes the Used CD store that used to be near us.
In those bins. I found a wide variety of folk, blues and New Age musicians that were new to me. Most notably, I was able to pick up many Texas Country musicians whose names I had heard but not their music. I was able to add albums from the likes of, Jack Ingram, Pat Green, Charlie and Bruce Robison and Nathan Hamilton. Now I can find all of those musician and more on Spotify.
While I admit it’s easier and I can even find more on Spotify, it’s still not as much fun!
Today My Methods of Musical Explorations Include The Princeton Record Exhange and Spotify
However, with that being said, I still like to make an occasional trip to The Princeton Record Exchange. Although now, I find myself scouting the Jazz and New Age Budget CD sections
On my last trip to the Princeton Record Exchange I found 11 albums. Nine of those albums were jazz albums. Two were New Age albums. When I search for jazz albums, They can usually be divided by the instrument that the title artist of the album. The last albums I picked up can be divided as follows……
Trumpet (4)
Terence Blanchard – Simply Stated
Jeremy Pelt – Soul
#JiveCulture
Wallace Roney – Prototype
Organ (3)
Mike LeDonne – Awwlright!
Joey DeFrancesco –Trip Mode
Dr. Lonnie Smith – Spiral
Saxophone (2)
Lou Donaldson – Caracas
Vincent Herring –Ends and Means
New Age (2)
Native American Flute
Robert Tree Cody/ Will Clipman – Heart of the Wind
Gary Stroutsos – Pacific Moon
A Momentary Digression….
One of the things that I love about jazz is almost every jazz album is a collaborative effort, I.e. it takes a group to make most jazz albums. And sometimes the supporting cast is just as important to the album as the main artist.
As I am writing this post I’m listening to Jeremy Pelt’s # JiveCulture. And on the first track I have already heard some great piano from Danny Grissert and some equally great bass from the legendary Ron Carter. Actually, the first time I listened to the album, I went to Google to find out more about Danny Grissett!
Additionally, when I looked at the CDs , while I was preparing this post, I saw both Danny Grissett and Jeremy Pelt played on the Vincent Herring album that I bought.
Continued this Morning
This morning I went to Spotify and checked out Danny Grissett’s discography I decided to listen to his 2015 release on Criss Cross Records The In-Between. It sounds really good. The first thing I noticed was that saxophonist Walter Smith III played on the album. In the past O have enjoyed Walter’s albums. Hum, I wonder if Danny played on any of Walter’s albums? I’ll have to check it out!
Trying to Summarize this Rambling Post
I guess the summary of this post is, it is far easier now to make playlists of your favorite music and even though it may not be as challenging it is a lot easier to explore and find new music than it was even 20 years ago!!!
Anyway here is the playlist that was on Reel 3 in my taped music collection. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to go check out Walter Smith III’s discography to see if Danny Grissett played on any of his albums……What fun!!
