Charlie Parker's Verve Years

Today’s Get Cookin’ album is the Charlie Parker Best of the Verve Years album. I actually own a different version of this on vinyl, but the edition on Spotify should do the trick! I’ve found that it’s a perfect soundtrack for starting on a new baking project, although Jazz always puts me in a great mood. I find that challenging compositions actually help me to concentrate, possible because in the back of my mind I’ll concentrate on the improvisations and that seems to help me keep clearer on the task at hand, which right now is a 20 ingredient multi-grain chocolate chip cookie…

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Rei Momo

Did you know David Byrne made an album that features "many Afro-Cuban, Afro-Hispanic, and Brazilian song styles including merengue, Cuban Son, samba, mambo, cumbia, cha-cha-chá, bomba, and charanga" back in 1989? Well, now you do. This is a really fun record because you get all of those fun latin inspired instrumentations plus David Byrne's pathos laden vocals. I absolutely love this record, so much so that I had to buy the LP from Japan. Check it out below! 

Astral Weeks

Is there a more beautiful record out there than Van Morrison's Astral Weeks? A record more enveloping or arresting or magical? I think not. This is an obvious recommendation, I know, but I just picked up a vinyl copy finally. I found it at Grimey's in Nashville and as I was paying the owner said "oh yeah, this one's gonna get a lot of plays, it just never gets old." So since I've gone and put that record on, as I will many times over throughout the rest of my life, I'm sharing it with you here too. 

George McCrae

This is one of my favorite albums of all time. I'll never forget finding it for 5 bucks at Academy Records on east 12th street, I could not have felt luckier at the time. I mostly just wanted Rock Your Baby for the album's title single, but I was bowled over to find that the whole record is essentially non stop disco joy. Yo La Tengo even covered "You Can Have It All", one of the album's other popular singles. It's one of the few albums I can put on that never fails to get me into a good mood. I hope you'll enjoy it, and also check out this insanely psychedelic music video with some of the most robust dancing I have ever witnessed.