Desert Island Jazz CD's

ChrisMartin · January 2022

Ahhh, 8-track cartridges.

I too have bought music down the years in many formats and still have vinyl, tape and CD as well as a few thousand mp3 files, but if I may divert from the subject briefly that reminded me of a funny story from back in the 1980s.

Living in London at the time my daily driver was a 1966 Ford Thunderbird Town Landau. I had had T-Birds before and this one came up for sale locally from someone who had fell in love with it while in Florida but after having it shipped across to England found he was less in love with negotiating London traffic in such a barge; left-hand-drive too.

Anyway, I was happy with it, fantastic condition with all available options including the chrome laden built in 8-track stereo player. Now this was an integral part of the design of the inside of the car and it would have been an act of sheer vandalism to swap it out for anything more modern, but I had no tapes to play.

Off to Honest Jon's record shop in Camden Town, a place I knew well from many previous vinyl hunting visits, and I asked the man if he had any 8-track tapes.

"How many d'ya want?" was the answer quickly followed by the thump of a large box on the counter; "yer can 'ave the lot for a fiver" (that is a five pound note for any non-Brits).

"Done!"

I did not bother checking exactly what I had bought until I got back to the car, put the box in the back and started looking for what to play. Slightly disappointed to find a lot of them were of the light orchestral 'easy listening' type, Mantovani, James Last etc, but even The Carpenters Greatest Hits seemed ok in that car.

There were a few gems, Dark Side Of The Moon became a regular if I was in a rock mood, some smooth bossa from Getz and Gilberto for cruising with my elbow out the window, but the real stand-out that has stayed a favourite ever since (now replaced by a CD) and really did fit that car was Sinatra and Basie Live At The Sands.

So if by some strange quirk of fate I landed on this imaginary desert island in my old T-Bird those would be my three choices.

billyshakes · January 2022

That Getz/Gilberto disc almost made my selection.Love the knockoff hubs!

ChrisMartin · January 2022

https://www.djangobooks.com/forum/discussion/comment/109669#Comment_109669

Not real knockoffs, just fakes on a one-piece hubcap.

Not even right ones for the year model anyway, they were from a '67 T-Bird.

Getz still a fave though !

TonyRees · January 2022

OK, I'm going to cheat here - a perfomance I recorded myself on tape, burned to CD-R at home... slightly lower-fi version posted as an audio file to youtube here: "Scott Hamilton + band, Hobart 1989 (Jazz) - audio recording" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW9hCL0QZPs ... I don't know why, but I just LOVE Scott H's performance the whole way through, and the band - a pick-up band of Tasmanian musicians in the main, without any or much rehearsal - do a great job too! (Have not asked Scott's permission to post on youtube, a bit reluctant to do so in case his management make me take it down...)

Nice realism too, owing to the 4-mic configuration I used to record it on the stage - in other words - a "live sound" recording, bypassing any additional sound desk and PA speakers that the audience heard. Probably not the highest possible fidelity (originally recorded on 4 channel cassette) but holds up pretty well I think, for a 32 year old location recording.

I will have to think about the other two. Maybe something by George Benson, monster guitarist indeed, then something GJ - Rosenbergs, Bireli, Joscho Stephan, Django, who knows...