Meta Music Festival

  200 +  Recordings Essential to a Happy Life

   Nicht das Neueste. Das Beste
(from music's long history)


   Alphabetical listing.
   (*) = for nostalgic reasons.
   (et al.) = and other titles or compositions by the same artist or from the same composer

Cannonball Adderley Mercy Mercy Mercy & Work Song
Mose Allison Parchman Farm & Young Man Blues (1957) et al.
anonymous (15th century) Dale si le das (from: Concionero Musical de Palacio) by New London Consort, voc: Catherine Bott
anonymous (17th century) Diddle diddle (also known as: "Lavenders Blue") by The City Waites
Louis Armstrong West End Blues (1928) "The most perfect three minutes of music"
J.S. Bach Kantate 147 (Chorals) & (the Choral, played by Dinu Lipatti, piano)
J.S. Bach Die Kunst der Fuge (Contrapunctus XIV unfinished, Glenn Gould)
J.S. Bach Das wohltemperierte Klavier (Landowska, Gulda, Gould, Edwin Fischer)
J.S. Bach Orchestra Suite no. 3 (BWV 1068)
J.S. Bach Prelude and Fugue (BWV 542, for organ)
J.S. Bach Canons (BWV 1072, 1076, 1078 = 230 years avant Steve Reich!)
J.S. Bach Mass in B minor
Barbara Pierre & A mourir pour mourir & Goettingen & Nantes, et al.
Count Basie Orch. Jumpin' at the Woodside (1938, and more with Clayton, Prez, Jo Jones, Rushing etc.)
Count Basie Orch. Lil' Darling ("The Atomic" album, 1957) et al.
The Beatles I admit: many of their songs
Ludwig van Beethoven Sonatas no. 8, op. 13 (Adagio) & no. 23, op. 57 & no. 30-32, op. 109-111
Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet no. 13, op. 130
Ludwig van Beethoven Piano concert no. 3, 2. Satz Largo (A. Benedetti Michelangeli)
Ludwig van Beethoven Piano concert no. 5, 2. Satz Adagio (Edwin Fischer)
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony no. 6, op. 68
Bix Beiderbecke I'm Coming Virginia (1927, Trumbauer Orch.)
Vincenzo Bellini Norma (aria "Casta diva", Callas, 1954)
Chuck Berry Roll over Beethoven (1956) & Rock and Roll Music (1957) et al.
Art Blakey Moanin' (1958) & Blues March (1958)
Paul Bley Ida (by Carla Bley, 1965)
Booker T. and the MGs Green Onions (*)
Jacques Brel Amsterdam & Ne me quitte pas
Clifford Brown/Max Roach Cherokee (1955) et al.
Tim Buckley Sweet Surrender
Buffalo Springfield For What it's Worth (*)
Eric Burdon They Can't Take Away Our Music & Winds of Change (*) et al.
Gary Burton Sing Me Softly of the Blues (C. Bley)
The Butterfield Blues Band ("East-West" album)
J.J. Cale ("Naturally" album)
Hoagy Carmichael Rockin' Chair (1930, with Bix, Miley, Goodman, Dorsey, Venuti, Lang etc.)
Ray Charles What'd I Say & I'm Moving On (1959) et al.
Ray Charles Worried Life Blues (Someday Baby) (1953)
Frederic Chopin Ballade g minor, op. 23 (by A. B. Michelangeli)
Frederic Chopin Nocturnes (by Arthur Rubinstein)
Charlie Christian Seven Come Eleven (1939 with Goodman Sextet)
Charlie Christian Solo Flight (1941 with Goodman Orch.)
Charlie Christian Swing to Bop (1941)
Nat King Cole Sweet Lorraine (1940 & 1943) & Lush Life (1949) & Nature Boy, et al.
Ornette Coleman Sadness (1962) & Lonely Woman (1959)
John Coltrane My Favorite Things (1960 and '63) & Ole (1961) et al.
Comedian Harmonists Tout le jour, toute la nuit (Night and Day) & Creole Love Call, et al.
Commodores Nightshift
Miles Davis It Never Entered My Mind (1954) et al.
Miles Davis Blue in Green (1959) ...and the whole album of course: "Kind of Blue"
Miles Davis ("Porgy and Bess" album, 1958)
Miles Davis ("Ascenseur pour l'echafaud" soundtrack album, 1957)
Spencer Davis Group Keep on Running (because of Steve Winwood)
Paul Desmond (Brubeck Quartet) Take Five
Bo Diddley Bo Diddley (1955) et al.
Eric Dolphy Left Alone (1960) & Tenderly (1960) et al.
Eric Dolphy ("Out to Lunch" album, 1964)
Lonnie Donegan Rock Island Line (1954) (*)
John Dowland Flow My Tears (Alfred Deller, voc) et al (but not the version from "Sting", bah!)
Julie Driscoll/Brian Auger Season of the Witch (1967) et al
Anton Dvorak Rusalka (Mondlied) (by Gabriela Benackova)
Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited (and generally the first 8 albums)
Bob Dylan Subterranean Homesick Blues & Desolation Row (1965)
Bob Dylan The Times they are A-Changing (1964)
Duke Ellington East St. Louis Toodle Oo (1927) & Mood Indigo (1930 & '32)
Duke Ellington Creole Love Call (1932) & Cotton Tail (1940) & Take the A-Train (1941) et al.
Bill Evans Debbie's Waltz, et al.
Bill Evans ("Live at the Village Vanguard" albums, 1961)
Fairport Convention Stranger to Himself (because of Sandy Denny)
Family ("Music in a Doll's House" album) (*)
Gabriel Faure Messe de Requiem (Herreweghe)
Ella Fitzgerald ("In Berlin" album) et al.
Aretha Franklin Respect, et al.
Slim Gaillard The Flat Foot Floogie (1938) et al.
Jerry Garcia/David Grisman Shady Grove & Whiskey in the Jar & "Not for Kids Only" album
Erroll Garner ("Concert by the Sea" album)
Djivan Gasparyan Heavenly Duduk
Marvin Gaye Sexual Healing & I Heard It Through the Grapevine
Stan Getz Moonlight in Vermont (with Johnny Smith, 1951)
Stan Getz/Gilberto ("Jazz Samba" album) (and more of Getz)
Dizzy Gillespie Orch. Good Bait (1947) ...and 1945/'46 with Parker, q.v.
Jimmy Giuffre The Train and the River (1956)
Willibald Gluck Orfeo ed Euridice
Benny Goodman Trio/Quartet China Boy / Moonglow (1936)
The Grateful Dead Morning Dew & "So Many Roads" set, disc 3, et al.
The Grateful Dead "The Closing of Winterland, December 31, 1978"
Friedrich Gulda G'schichten aus dem Wienerwald (1978) & his Mozart & Beethoven interpretations
Bob Haggart / Ray Bauduc The Big Noise from Winnetka (1938)
Ioannis Halkias (Jack Gregory) Minore tu Teke (Rembetika from 1930)
Chico Hamilton Love Song to a Baby
Harlem Hamfats Oh! Red (1936)
Lionel Hampton his RCA Victor recordings 1937-'41
Georg Friedrich Haendel Ombra mai fu (from opera "Xerxes"; Kathleen Ferrier - voc; and of course her "What is Life"/Gluck)
Roy Harper When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease, et al. (*)
Roy Harper Fighting Ghengis Smith (*)
Coleman Hawkins Crazy Rhythm (& Django Reinhardt, 1937) & Body and Soul (1939)
Fletcher Henderson Orchestra Copenhagen (1924) & Sugar Foot Stomp (version: 19 March 1931)
Jimi Hendrix Red House & Hey Joe, et al.
Woody Herman Orch. Early Autumn & Four Brothers (1948)
Billie Holiday Miss Brown to You (1935)
Billie Holiday Fine and Mellow (1939 & 1957 tv)
Billie Holiday/Lester Young When You're Smiling & If Dreams Come True (1938) et al.
John Lee Hooker Boom Boom (1961) et al.
John Lee Hooker When My Wife Quit Me (1954) & Let's Make It Baby (AFBF 1962)
Howlin' Wolf Killing Floor, et al.
Charles Ives The Unanswered Question
Ahmad Jamal Ahmad's Blues
Elmore James Dust My Broom (1951)
Jazz at the Philharmonic "Funky Blues" (1951) by Shavers, Carter, Hodges, Bird, Phillips, Webster, Peterson, Kessel, Brown, Heard
Jefferson Airplane White Rabbit
Blind Willie Johnson You'll Need Somebody on Your Bond (1929) et al.
Robert Johnson Preaching Blues & Come On In My Kitchen (1936) et al.
Janis Joplin Piece of My Heart (Big Brother and the Holding Company)
Louis Jordan Early in the Mornin' (1947) et al.
The Kinks ("Muswell Hillbillies" album)
Roland Kirk ("I Talk with the Spirits" album)
Alexis Korner's Blues Inc. ("R & B from the Marquee" album, 1962)
Gene Krupa Drum Boogie (1941)
Lambert, Hendricks and Ross ("Sing Along with Basie" album)
Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) Library of Congress recordings 1933-'40
Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) Midnight Special & Rock Island Line & Alabama Bound (1940)
Peggy Lee ("Beauty and the Beat" album with George Shearing, 1959)
Peggy Lee Black Coffee (1953) et al.
Jerry Lee Lewis Great Balls of Fire (1957) (*) et al.
Little Richard yes I like this wild little man's hits during 1955-'57
Charles Lloyd Dream Weaver (1966, with young Keith Jarrett)
Love ("Forever Changes" album)
Gustav Mahler Sinfonie 2, 4.Satz: Urlicht
Gustav Mahler Sinfonie 9, 4.Satz: Adagio (Barbirolli) ...mit Dank an Walter Bachauer
Gustav Mahler Das Lied von der Erde (Kathleen Ferrier/Bruno Walter & Wunderlich/Klemperer)
Les McCann A Little Three Quarter for God and Company (1960)
McKinney's Cotton Pickers Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You ('29, Redman, Carter, Hawkins, Waller ...)
Memphis Jug Band Stealin' Stealin' (1928)
Felix Mendelssohn Violinkonzert
Felix Mendelssohn Lieder ohne Worte
Steve Miller Gangster of Love
Charles Mingus Better Git it in Your Soul & Haitian Fight Song, et al.
Charles Mingus Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (= Theme for Lester Young)
Charles Mingus ("Oh Yeah" album)
The Modern Jazz Quartet Django (1954) et al.
Thelonious Monk Round Midnight & Blue Monk & Bemsha Swing & Monk's Dream
Thelonious Monk Straight No Chaser & Off Minor & Ruby My Dear & Well You Needn't
Van Morrison & Chieftains (the Irish album)
Van Morrison ("Astral Weeks" album, "A Night in San Francisco" album)
Van Morrison The Days before Rock'n'Roll & In the Garden & TB Sheets, et al.
Van Morrison Rockpalast Xmas Special (concert 19 Dec. 1998) & many other concert rec.
Jelly Roll Morton Library of Congress recordings (1938) & The Chant (1926) et al.
Mound City Blue Blowers Hello Lola (1929, with Hawkins, Miller, Russell, Condon, Krupa)
Wolfgang A. Mozart Emma Kirkby: Laudeate Dominum & Exsultate, Jubilate (KV 165)
Wolfgang A. Mozart Die Zauberfloete & Cosi fan tutte, et al.
Wolfgang A. Mozart Don Giovanni (Cesare Siepi)
Wolfgang A. Mozart Piano Concerts no. 20 (II: Romance) & no. 21 (II: Andante) (Gulda)
Wolfgang A. Mozart Piano Sonatas: KV 545 ( Maria Joao Pires) & KV 570, Adagio (Gulda)
Wolfgang A. Mozart Ave vernum corpus (KV. 618) & Adagio in E for violin (KV. 261)
Gerry Mulligan My Funny Valentine (1952) & The Lady is a Tramp (1952) et al.
Muddy Waters ("The Best of", Chess album, 1948-'54)
zaehler