Author: Don

This was one of my big show-off pieces back when my fingers were in shape, though I never played it anywhere near this well.

Ambitious prog rock epics with deep philosophical lyrics are all very well, but sometimes you just want something to eat.

Compare this 1957 tune with Peter Green’s “Albatross” from eleven years later.

A song for the season performed by SRV.

I just realized that I’ve neglected the legendary maestro Lindley Armstrong Jones, and that needs to be remedied. Here he and his ensemble perform with appropriate gravitas a subtle and profound Russian orchestral masterpiece arranged for chamber ensemble.

“Downtown” may be the obvious choice, but I like this one, too.

A tall tale from Steve Winwood and Traffic.

John Bayless recorded two albums of Beatles tunes in Baroque-ish piano arrangements. French pianist François Glorieux recorded a similar album, but he used a variety of composers, not just Bach, as models for his arrangements.

I can’t stand the stupidly popular later Fleetwood Mac, but the Peter Green band is worth listening to. This is the first tune of theirs I heard, and it remains a favorite.

Maxophone, another forgotten band from the golden age of Italian prog rock, released a single album in 1975 and disappeared for forty years.

The only James Taylor song I’ve ever listened to by choice.

Another easy-listening tune from Gentle Giant.

Yeah, I like a little Liszt. (Robbo can skip this one.)

I used to play this waltz years ago, but never this well. Dinu Lipatti, the godson of George Enescu, played a Mozart minuet at his baptism.

A Romanian fiddle tune, electrified a bit.

I used to play “Sir John Fenwick” on my hammered dulcimer with a friend who played a mountain dulcimer. Bruce Charlton has some notes on the history behind the tune.