What category of music do you listen to most often?

I couldn't vote in the poll because my listening is divided almost exactly 50-50 between classical and jazz. I keep my radio permanently tuned to the local NPR station (WGBH-FM, Boston 89.7) and they play 8 hours of classical every morning and 10 hours of jazz every night, all through the night. And when I'm plating CDs, my collection consists almost entirely of one or the other of those genres. Many years ago I used to listen to "popular" music but stopped sometime around the time that the Beatles broke up. I like folk. I was in college in the era when folk was the campus favorite and coffee houses were springing up in every storefront. But I don't seek it out and have no CDs in that field. I do have some LPs, but they're all stored away now. (I THINK the record player would still work, if I plugged it in.) :wink:

Yeah, MA, but then you'd probably have to get a new needle for the thing.....I can't believe I even remember record player needles. What a hassle that used to be!

I listen to classical music at least once a day and jazz is a close second. Although I do like nearly all kinds of music in its time and place.

I'm all over the map here with a great love for the wordsmiths (Cohen, Dylan, Waits, Berlin, Gershwin), for pre-sixties jazz particularly featuring those incredible female vocalists, pretty much anything from Ry Cooder including recent cross-cultural collaborative projects, and pretty much anything from Mark Knopfler but particularly his soundtrack work and collaborations with the Knotting Hillbillies. But that is really an abbreviated list.

Jazz is almost ALL I listen to.
`60s Hard Bop:
Lee Morgan,Hank Mobley,Art Blakey,Kenny Dorham etc
Then there´s the funkier stuff:
Brother Jack McDuff,Lou Donaldson,Big John Patton,Herbie Hancock,Wes Montgomery etc

But there´s a little bit of "pop" in there:
The Beatles,Dusty Springfield.(It WAS pop back then)

And I just love French stuff:
Serge Gainsbourg from `58-68,Jaques Brel,Charles Aznavour et al.

Am I weird,or what?

Well, of course, hebba, only you yourself can decide whether you're weird or not. But, if you are, then so am I, I guess. I used to listen to a lot of Jaques Brel and Charles Aznavour, too. Liked many of the pop stars of the 60s and 70s. But pop today ain't what it used to be and most of it leaves me cold. Jazz has progressed nicely over the years and I can listen to MacCoy Tyner with the same enthusiasm I had for Dave Brubeck and Stan Kenton. Still, my world would be lacking something if it weren't for Mozart and Beethoven and Handel and Hayden and Bach and...and...

Debussy...and Debussy,right?

I love the Oprea, but rarely listen to it except when I go to see it live. Having eclectic tastes, I would've picked "anything" but lately I've been enamored with the bluegrass sounds made popular by th "Oh Brother" soundtrack and "Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood"- especially Allison Kraus and Union Station. I recorded their performance live on Austin City Limits the other night and it is excellent!

It'd be a damn shame if ya could only listen to one genre, but if such was the case, I suppose I'd opt for classical.




< welcome, Jose ... good to see ya hereabouts >

I can't pick a favorite category. The music I listen to depends on my mood at the time. I like certain numbers from Broadway shows, and certain themes from movie soundtracks.
I like Chopin, Rachmaninov, Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, etc. etc. etc.

I like almost all of Verdi's and Puccini's operas, and try to listen to one of them every weekend.

I like most of the folk classics from the 60s and
I love anything sung by Joan Baez or Mickey Newbury (Anyone else like Newbury?)

And IZ (Israel Kamakawiwo) Hawaiian music makes me

And Mark Knopfler and Bing Crosby and Peter, Paul and Mary and Pink Floyd and -- OK, I know when to stop.

yeh, yeh, hebba, that's who I was tryin' to think of -- Debussy. And Ravel. And Gershwin. And Tshaikowsky. And...and...and...

It goes on does it not?

I love good lyrics. Bob Dylan, especially. All the old folk songs. Odessa. Ian & Sylvia.

I also love some of the New Age music. It needs to have a good beat and a sense of energy. Synthesizers. Love that electric feeling!!

My daughter listens to Techno/Trance music. I must admit, there are a few of her CD's that I enjoy hearing.

The "O Brother Where Art Thou" soundtrack is great. I love singing along. I have the "Allison Krause + Union Station" CD, and I like her earlier CD, too. The one with 'When You Say Nothing At All'.....

Another favorite CD... "Leo Kottke, One Guitar, No Vocals".

I voted for Folk Music.

Dave Brubeck is fine but the Brubeck Brothers are heart-stopping. I went to see them as their concert came with a package of tickets I wanted. I didn't think I'd like their style of jazz, but WOW!!!

I have learned so much about jazz performance in the last few years. I've come a long way from thinking Louis Armstrong was kinda out there. (of course i was about 12 then)

i'm still agonizing over the poll for this one - i voted maybe a week ago, and still can't really make up my mind - i like almost everything except what i consider overly-dramatic, romantic music - you'd have to ask Setanta what it really is.

Welcome Peace and Love! I love Allison Krause, too. And Dave Brubeck, ehBeth, though I've never heard the Brubeck Brothers. I understand that it's tough to pick one type of music as a favorite. Maybe I should have aske dthe question differently, like what types of music would you like to see discussed here, or something like that.

Iris Dement - Actually I tend to like what I listned to last.

Garsh, How did I miss all of you lovely people here. Welcome to you all. I'm afraid to list you all for fear of missing someone. JD, I have a soft spot for Iris Dement. She got me through some rough times.

Hi Swimpy!!

Good to see you, too!!

< reaching for the Allison Krause CD.... putting it in the CD player.... >

BTW, I had to check the spelling of Krauss- yes it does have two s's (and no e)... My bad

Dylan has a new song on the 'YaYa Sisterhood' soundtrack compilation that is classic Robert Zimmerman.
I find it stuck in my head a lot lately-

'Happiness, is just a state of mind
Any time at all, you can cross the state line

...and I'll be waiting for you' :wink: