What is your favorite instrumental song?

[Boomerproud]

I would also include
Telstar-The Tornados
Classical Gas-Mason Williams
Cast Your Fate to the Wind
Last Date-Floyd Cramer

[Wounded Bear]

1. Samba Pa Ti-Carlos Santana

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[HarveyDarkey]

2. Dixie Dregs - 'What If'

[mokawanis]

66. Glad you posted that one

I've been wanting to add it to a playlist for a while but couldn't remember the title. Saw them at Summerfest in Milwaukee in 1980 and they were really good.

[HarveyDarkey]

67. Damn good

Most of their songs were instrumental (except for one album). This is my favorite of theirs, from an album of the same title.
Steve Morse, their lead guitarist, has done some stellar work on his own.

[MicaelS]

3. Tubular Bells

[Populist_Prole]

4. La Villa Strangiato

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[Bigleaf]

24. YYZ is up there too.

[Bigleaf]

25. Leave that Thing Alone

[jakeXT]

5. Patricia - Perez Prado, Aquamarine - Santana, Ennio Morricione in general ....

[Iggo]

6. Far Beyond The Sun --- Yngwie J. Malmsteen

[Populist_Prole]

51. +1. I forgot about that one!

[pipi_k]

7. Santana....

Flor de Canela/Promise of a Fisherman

(best through earbuds/headphones)

and...

And GFR....

[Chiyo-chichi]

8. SRV - Scuttle Buttin'

So many others...

Cliffs of Dover
Little Martha
Nickel Creek's Smoothie Song

[Ptah]

9. Take Five

[olddots]

14. thank you thank you thank you

50 odd years later and that still blows me away .

[LadyHawkAZ]

10. This one:

If we're talking about more modern genres:

[olddots]

11. how much band width do we have ?

do you want them alphabetically ? okay Air on the G String by Bach (no not Hair on the G String )

seriously maybe Cast Your Fate to The Wind because it brings back good memories and nice visions.

[KamaAina]

12. Believe it or not, this one was once covered by the Yale Precision Marching Band

[Tuesday Afternoon]

13. one of many -

[jakeXT]

21. Some strange images ... /nt

[cliffordu]

15. Antoine Dufour 'Reality'

[Aristus]

16. "Sleepwalk"

I think Sleepwalk is the ne plus ultra of instumentals. Stately, measured, dreamlike. Great stuff.

[hermetic]

29. Oh yes, Aristus. When I saw this thread

that was my first choice. Sleepwalk, Santo and Johnny, 1959. Now look at all the people who have covered it. Jeff Beck did it okay.

I really do like Jessica, too. And Apache will always have a place on my list.

But Sleepwalk? Absolutely!

[amerikat]

49. Love the Les Paul version from his 90th birthday Party.

[nytemare]

73. Indeed a wonderful song.

It's like a more modern "Claire de Lune".

[SwissTony]

17. Pali Gap by some guy called Hendrix.

[livetohike]

18. My first choice!

glad I looked through the thread before posting .

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

19. Today it's either "Les Torreadors" from the opera Carmen by Georges Bizet

or Four On Six by the great Wes Montgomery.

[sinkingfeeling]

20. "Wonderland by Night" by Bert Kaempfert

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[Pool Hall Ace]

22. "Jessica" - Allman Brothers Band

[azurnoir]

23. Apostrophe Frank Zappa

with honorable mention to several King Crimson

Larks Tongues in Aspic part 1

The talking drum

Fracture

Starless and Bible Black

[Initech]

32. I'd vote for The Black Page as my favorite FZ instrumental

[MrMickeysMom]

48. In all my years as a FZ listener, I've never seen Black Page...

Thanks for turning me on to it, Initech!

[Initech]

50. I've only seen the ZPZ version.

But with Bozzio on the drums, it's still as good as the original!

[MiddleFingerMom]

26. So many... but apparently I'm in a Latino mood today:

Rodrigo y Gabiela "Hanuman"
.

.
.
.
Carlos Santana "Flor D'Luna"
.

.
.
.
Santo & Johnny "Sleepwalk"
,

.
.
.
.
.

[Doc_Technical]

27. The Sundown from "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"

[Smarmie Doofus]

28. embryonic journey

[Mr.Bill]

39. Always loved that song

It's on my short list of songs I want played at my funeral. Here's another one in the same vein, pretty much the same personnel:

[Smarmie Doofus]

60. Cool: Your pick embeds the guitar intro from Comin' Back to Me. Listen:

Nothing like stealing from the best. In this case... from themselves!

[Mr.Bill]

61. Cool. I never noticed that.

What I always liked about The Water Song was the contrast of the acoustic guitars against the very electric bass of Jack Cassidy. Funny thing is, I never owned either of these albums until I bought Surrealistic Pillow on CD. Living in the SF Bay Area in the 60s, though, I was plenty aware of all this music.

[applegrove]

30. The Soundtrack from "the Piano"

[Initech]

31. The JBs - The Grunt

Last edited Thu Jul 18, 2013, 08:52 PM - Edit history (1)

[ok_cpu]

33. +1

Here's another goodie

[LiberalElite]

34. Cast your Fate to the Wind - Sounds Orchestral

Also Grazing in the Grass - Hugh Masekela

[El Supremo]

35. Pipeline

[Callmecrazy]

36. Mason Williams

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[Mr.Bill]

37. Hard to narrow it down to one but I like this one

[Kingofalldems]

38. Green Onions

Booker T and the MGs

[Smarmie Doofus]

40. Oh god, yes. n/t

[LNM]

41. Classical Gas

and most anything by the Ventures.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

42. Some favorites

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

43. This has long been one of my favorites

Guardame Las Vacas (Watch Over My Cattle) written by the Spanish composer Luis de Narvaez some time in the mid 1500s. I think it's one of the most beautiful pieces ever written. I play it on the classical guitar but it was written for the Vihuela, a forerunner to the guitar from the Renaissance.

And from approximately the same period, there's Une Jeune Fillette, a gorgeous and sad melody about a little girl forced to become a nun against her will.

[rurallib]

44. some good old Duane Eddy Rebel Rouser

some Sandy Nelson (Let there be drums)

Apache

and finally Red River Rock

[amerikat]

45. Love this post. How about this one. Aaron Copeland

Hoe-down.

or

Time is Tight.

[rurallib]

46. Let me add "Bumble Boogie" By B Bumble and the Stingers

[olddots]

47. Memphis Soul Stew by King Kurtis

ridiculously funky

[Taverner]

52. A LOT of them!

I - I can't name just one

Whether it's the Beatles, Grateful Dead, The Clash, Velvet Underground, Pixies, Nirvana, Screaming Trees, David Bowie, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Grizzly Bear, Tame Impala, Camper van Beethoven (who is playing for free this week at the Boardwalk. YOU know what boardwalk I'm talking about if you're anywhere near it)

It could be the pure synchronicity of Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, it could be the guitar play in Television, it could be SRV making what he does look so easy - yet we know it ain't.

It could be the genius of some of the one hit wonders like Oxo or The Buggles. It could be the intracite harmonies of Mamas and the Papas or the Association. It could be the pure California groove of the Beach Boys or Lovin' Spoonful (even though they were from New York.)

Shit, there are a million great bands out there that I have never heard of, and I'm sure some of them will become my favorites.

I just recently discovered Jellyfish. Their stuff is brilliant, and was total anti-grunge pop.

Roger Manning from Jellyfish just released Catnip Dynamite. It's really good.

[Dr. Strange]

53. Hard to pick a favorite.

Since Rush and Mike Oldfield have already been mentioned, I'll toss up a movie and a tv tune.

[BlueJazz]

54. So Danco Samba

[WCGreen]

55. Blue Rondo A La Turk and Rhapsody in Blue....

The fabulous Dave Brubeck

The wonderkid George Gershwin

Both of these pieces capture a time in tunes...

I remember when I heard both for the First Time. My brother brought home the Take Five album from a second hand store when I was still in Junior High. It completely changed me because although I like pop music, this reached out and grabbed me.

RIB I heard by chance a little while later. I was listening to the evening news on the All Classic station here in Cleveland, WCLV. The first piece they played after the news was RIB. This was before Public Radio so WCLV had the best news on the radio.

I have a lot more but these are the two that I just have to listen to at least three or four times a year...

Honorable mention, The Ballet from Oklahoma and Glenn Miller In the Mood and Coltrane My Favorite Things and Lionel Hampton's The Midnight Sun. I couldn't find Hampton's so I posted Diana Krall's version...

I was able to catch Lionel Hampton back in 1990 and he played this for his encore...

[Tom_Foolery]

56. George Benson's "Breezin'"...

[Rebellious Republican]

57. There are many, hard to narrow down, this is exceptional.....

David Gilmore of Pink Floyd Fame....

[AsahinaKimi]

58. Satoshi Tomiie ~ Glow

[ArnoldLayne]

59. Telstar-Tornados and Interstellar Overdrive-Pink Floyd

[NoGOPZone]

62. I'm confused. I thought all songs had instruments. nt

[bluesbassman]

63. Lots, from Beck to Zappa. This is a gem though...

Eric Johnson - Cliffs of Dover

Live version from Austin City Limits. Beautiful composition and Eric's technical abilities are amazing.

[Scuba]

64. Gret thread. Bookmarked. Thanks to all who posted.

[mokawanis]

65. Ry Cooder - Paris, Texas

[orleans]

68. these three

cause we've ended as lovers / jeff beck

laguna sunrise / black sabbath

peaches en regalia / frank zappa

[Pretzel_Warrior]

69. So What by Miles Davis

Feels like New York at night to me.

[u4ic]

70. Carol of the Bells

Also

A whole whack of Bellydance music, and lots of Jesse Cook.

[dgilmour32863]

71. On the Run

By Pink Floyd. Absolutely sublime.

[vanlassie]

72. Van Morrison plays sax. Spanish Steps

&sns=em

[polichick]

74. Never heard this before - gorgeous. Thanks!

[vanlassie]

75. Oooh! I'll play it again!

[polichick]

76. Wish there was a video of him playing...

I'd like to see it.

Van plays a sax solo in this:

[vanlassie]

77. Van is very protective of his image. There have been times you could find almost no

videos at all. This is a studio set, but he does ( or used to, anyway) play his sax live. Guitar and harmonica mostly though I guess.

[polichick]

78. Well, whether he likes it or not, I'm glad there are so many...

youtubes of him and his bands - it's great fun to watch the interaction!