Jazz at the Pawnshop
The journey through my MP3 collection is almost halfway through and it's much harder than I thought it would be to select just one track for each letter. Take J for instance - there's quite a few artists I considered and it was a tough decision. In the end it was between Jurassic 5 and Jazz at the Pawnshop and even as I was writing this I was changing my mind every 30 seconds :-\
In the end I went with the first track off the first Jazz at the Pawnshop CD (a legendary recording amongst audiophiles), Limehouse Blues. I still love listening to it because of the live energy captured in the recording. It won't sound too special if you're listening to this on your laptop using crappy iPod earbuds, but play the CD on a real hifi and you'll find yourself transported to a crowded smoky basement club in Stockholm. The chatter coming from the tables and till ringing at the beginning is almost magical in its clarity. I also love the way the musicians try to, but don't quite end the tune several times, before coming together and finishing on a flourish. Brilliant stuff.
