Best. Instrumental. Ever.

[Zomby Woof]

"In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed", Allman Brothers, 'Live At Fillmore East'.

It's Duane Allman appreciation day at ZW's. :-)

[XanaDUer]

1. I like "Green Onions"

...

[DemBones DemBones]

3. Me, too! nt

[Zomby Woof]

7. hell yeah!

Always a smoker!

[swag]

2. "Misterioso" - Thelonius Monk

[Zomby Woof]

10. Monk is one of my very favorites

Good choice. I should clarify and say I was shooting for best instrumental in the rock realm, but I dare not discount Monk, ever.

[redqueen]

91. Excellent choice. n/t

[procopia]

4. Classical Gas

:)

[Kierkegaard]

5. Beethoven

14th symphony

[Champion Jack]

6. The Call of Cthulhu----Metallica

[alarcojon]

42. I prefer Orion

off Master of Puppets

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

8. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor

by JS Bach. And not the famous beginning, which everyone associates with Dracula, but the very end, when the chords echo the longing of the soul for God (or the lover for the Ideal for my atheist friends)....brings tears to my eyes every time.

[Dudley_DUright]

9. I love the Allman Brothers tune "Jessica"

It is one of my life's goals to learn to play this song note perfect on my guitar. I have gotten close but it still eludes me. Someday I will get it right. :-)

[Zomby Woof]

12. that's a sweet one

The Allmans' knowledge of jazz idioms has allowed them to compose some of the finest instrumentals in rock history. I will always treasure their 1990 appearance on Johnny Carson, where they played their new instrumental, "True Gravity", backed up by Doc Severinson and his orchestra, which gave it an otherwordly eastern flavor. It was pure brilliance.

[Tsiyu]

76. "Little martha, Little martha!!!!"

I just love that happy little tune and could never hope in all my wildest dreams to play it note for note.

[Tom_Foolery]

11. In The Mood n/t

[CO Liberal]

13. Nelson Riddle - "Theme From 'Route 66'"

You hear that song and yuou can almost see Buzz and Link in that convertible 'Vette...

[Zomby Woof]

24. My workplace is on Route 66!

So I love that tune too. :-)

[CO Liberal]

40. I Was SO-O-O-O-O-O Disappointed

Growing up in NJ, I always wanted to travel on Route 66. I finally came west in 1993, only to discover that most of the old Route 66 was under I-40.....

[Zomby Woof]

54. we keep parts of it preserved here!

Going through downtown, it is still 2 lanes, and historic markers keep it designated as 66. I-40 pretty much circumvents the city. :-)

[bo44]

14. Awesome tune that one and I would add any Allman Bros instrumental

Play the blues. Live at Fillmore East was the first real blues recording I ever bought. Without the Bros, Tower of Power, and Richard Pryor I would of been a teenage suicide. Headphones, records stacked on the turntable, don't fuck with me.

[shawmut]

15. Telstar

by the Tornadoes.

[swag]

16. "Greyhound" by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

[Philostopher]

17. I like 'Elizabeth Reed.'

If I'm in a contemplative mood, I can dig that southern boogie instrumental stuff. Dixie Dregs is good that way, too -- most of it, I don't have a particular favorite.

However, if I'm not in a contemplative mood, it's either 'G Spot Tornado' or 'Peaches En Regalia.' Frank did some monstrous instrumental jams, back in the day.

[Zomby Woof]

26. I love the Dregs

Steve Morse is amazing.

Yeah, my DU name is a testament to my Zappa adoration. I should just add Zappa's "For Duane" from his 'Guitar' album as a way of rounding out my list.

[PittPoliSci]

18. The Dance of Eternity

Dream Theater!

[tarkus]

73. I prefer Stream of Consciousness. Probably just because its longer NM

[PittPoliSci]

79. good choice!

welcome to DU! :-)

[tXr]

19. well, for popular or rock instrumentals...

Last Night : The Mar-Keys
Time Is Tight : Booker T. & The M.G.'s
Out Of Limits : The Mar-Kets (NOT The Mar-Keys!)
Pipeline : Chantays
Misirlou : Dick Dale & The Del-Tones
Wipeout : The Surfaris
Eruption, Cathedral : Van Halen

Just to name a few that haven't been listed yet...

[PragMantisT]

20. I like "Peaches en Regalia" and "Orange County Lumber

Truck". There's no end to the good instrumentals by Frank Zappa.

[Zomby Woof]

25. oh yeah......

So PLEASE let me add "King Kong" from 'Uncle Meat'. :D

And, "Sofa #1" from 'One Size Fits All', and "Watermelon In Easter Hay" from 'Joe's Garage", and... did I speak too soon?

[Magrittes Pipe]

21. "Deuces Wild" by Link Wray.

Also "Scramble" by the Hollywoods.

[argyl]

22. Someone's gotta mention "Walk,Don't Run" ...The Ventures.So I just did.

[tarkus]

72. Have you heard the original by Johnny Smith? NM

[ProdigalJunkMail]

23. Elton John

yes...Elton...Carla Etude

just amazing (if you like that kind of stuff)

theProdigal

[Zomby Woof]

27. back in the early 70's

My older sister worshipped Elton John and had ALL of his albums, which were played endlessly...

That being said, when I think of an Elton John instrumental, I think of "Funeral For A Friend", the opener from 'Goodbye Yellow Brick Road'. I still enjoy that.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

75. oh yeah...

now we're talkin! I actually thought pretty hard about that one, too! But the reason that Carla Etude won out in the long run is that it was the first song my wife and I danced to at our wedding reception...Funeral is a GREAT piece of music too.

theProdigal <---Elton worshipper since 1977 (or thereabout)

[1monster]

28. Classical Gas by Mason Williams

[LanternWaste]

29. tough....

Malaguena by Stan Kenton covered by the 1987 University of North Texas One O'Clock Lab Band with Tchaikovsky's final movement from his fourth symphony a close second

[whalerider55]

30. Best Instrumentals ever

Well, as an acoustic instrumental, i'd go with Adrian Legg's "Mrs. Jack's Last STand" (I saw a roomful of people once tear up when he played it and told the story behind it); next would be Leo Kottke Crow River Waltz.

Jazz- how could you pass up Duke Ellington Live At Newport 1956, Dimminuendo and Crescendo in Blue, with a 26 bar sax solo by Paul Gonsalves?

Classical- Shubert's posthumous "Notturno".

Avant Garde- either Brian Eno (from the Apollo Album) An Ending (Ascent) or Weightless; anything off of Robert Fripp's Blessing of tears.

And finally, "Soul Sacrifice" by Santana- the live wooodstock version.

Whalerider 55

[procopia]

32. Hi Whalerider55,

Welcome to DU. Nice first post!

[whalerider55]

33. re:hi

thanks for noticing...

then again, no complete collection of instrumentals would be complete without Blind Willie Johnson, "So Dark the Night, So COld the Rain", which is astonishing, recorded in 1928, is haunting, and ended up on the Voyager album which recently left the universe...

well, since Johnson does moan during the song, maybe it doesn't qualify. still, it is one of the most eloquent blues pieces i've ever had the privilege to hear.

whalerider55

[peekaloo]

31. 'Take Five' by Dave Brubeck Quartet.

[Paladin]

43. I'm With You

What blows me away is that "Take Five" is a good 50 years old now, and of all the CD's I own, both old and new, nothing, I mean NOTHING, sounds as good. It's like the Quartet is in the freaking room with you, the sound is so clean and good. And that drum solo....Jesus have mercy. And all of it in 5/4 time. Just amazing......

[LanternWaste]

49. Seems almost anything in 5/4 time stays in the brain...

Seems almost anything in 5/4 time stays in the brain for reasons you can never define.

Hard to get the initial metre or tempo when originally introduced to a 5/4 piece, but once you do... man, it just preys on your mind for days afterwards.

[kodi]

47. count me in too.

the work is as fresh as it was 50 years ago.

what else stands up t the years like that?

maybe some steely dan stuff, and those are decades younger.

although i love "on green dolphin street" with the miles davis sextet, circa 1958, "take five" is what I would select as the ambassador of jazz to an alien race.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

34. Bach's "Chaconne" D-Minor Partita for solo violin

The chaconne represents great economy of means out of which is built magnificent elaboration, variation, passion, and beauty. It's based on a simple chord progression in structure that ends up dazzling the mind with its ingenuity in building itself to a tremendous peak and never losing interest along the way. The Chaconne both tests the limits of the violin and also the ability of the human being to use the violin. It is probably THE most difficult piece of music to play on any instrument, any time, and one of the most powerful. For those who know the piece, in listening to it one forgets that all of that passion and emotion is coming from just one instrument. It is one of Bach's greatest works.

I could also add the 24 Caprices for violin by Paganini.

[Zomby Woof]

37. your Hendrixian handle rocks

Good write-up on a magnificent work of uncontested genius, although this was intended as a rock instrumental thread... but hey, I am not one for strict rules. :-)

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

39. Sorry about that

I must still be caught up in the same Hendrixian stupor (I mean that in a positive Hendrixian purple haze kind of way) since 1968 to have not realized that this is a rock thread.

[Zomby Woof]

45. no apology necessary

It isn't like I made it clear. Plus, you know music, and that makes the point of this thread moot by now.

[LanternWaste]

48. Whoops...

Whoops... I was guilty also of straying from the rock roots. If that's the case....

"Introduction" by Chicago Transit Authority (album of same name)

[mitchum]

35. It's especially good because Gregg doesn't sing on it

There was only one reason that cheese eater was in the band

[Zomby Woof]

36. I like Gregg!

Yeah, he was (is?) a coked-up fuck-up, among other things, but as Duane said, "You're the bluesiest-sounding white boy I have ever heard in my life!" (paraphrase). Gregg DOES have a handle on the genre.

I have seen the Allmans 3 times, and Gregg with his band once, and I can say he does have a stage presence most would hurt for.

[mitchum]

41. Zomby, you left out "snitch" in Gregg's list of accomplishments

I've just never cared for his gravelly-voiced so soulful take (and don't get me started on his tweedling little organ playing) However, I still have to admit that he created a thing of beauty with "Dreams"

But believe it or not, I'm not the ABB hater in the family. The first time I went to Macon to record, my spouse/singer told the producer that she knew we were close to Macon because we heard "the fuckin' Allman Brothers on the radio. They're not fit to mix Skynyrd's drinks!" Of course, I don't completely agree with her assessment. She certainly freaked out that guy though (he knew that I was kidding when I pretended to drop one of Duane's Coricidin bottles that he insisted I use)

[Zomby Woof]

44. LOL!

Great story.

I know about Gregg's fall from grace in the late 70's with the snitch stuff, but he was fucked beyond belief on heroin, and how else can you explain his marrying CHER? He redeemed himself much later... and it is Dickie Betts that has shamed the name with his domestic violence episodes that got him permanently kicked out of the band back in the mid-90's.

Thank gawd for Warren Haynes.

[mitchum]

46. Amen on the Warren Haynes!

The ironic thing about Betts is that when Gregg testified against Scooter Herring, Betts quit and said that he would never play with Gregg again. I Guess Dickie needed a new bass boat sometime in the late 80s

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

38. Axel F by Harold Faltermeyer

[enigmatic]

50. "Maggot Brain" by Funkedelic

It also has the greatest guitar solo of all-time, by Eddie Hazel..

[Bundbuster]

51. Not a total instrumental, but Cream

riffing out for about 15 minutes on "I'm So Glad" was right up there.

[Kat45]

52. "Cause We've Ended as Lovers" - Jeff Beck

I absolutely love that song. Always thought it would be a great song to make love to, but haven't had a chance to try it yet. :-)

[Zomby Woof]

57. a great one!

He dedicated it to Roy Buchanan, because Beck emulates his style so well on it! Plus, a great Stevie Wonder cover. :-)

[Bake]

53. Too many good ones ... Little Wing has to be up there

Others, in no particular order (note I have a particular genre bias):

Foggy Mountain Breakdown
Orange Blossom Special
An Olde Irish Aire (Danny Boy) - Tony Rice

etc.

Bake

[pbg]

55. Favorites

The whole Leo Kottke Armadillo album...
Link Wray's Rumble...
Hot Fun/School Days/The Dancer off Stanley Clarke's School Days album...
Fairport Convention's Expletive Delighted album...
Almost any Bill Evans solo piano piece...
and 'Little Martha' by the Allmans.

[arwalden]

56. Walk Don't Run, Yackety Sax, Magnificent Seven, Java, The Horse...

so many good ones to choose from.

[CanuckAmok]

58. Avalon, by the Glen Miller Orchestra. Or maybe "Telstar"...

[jus_the_facts]

59. One o'my all time favorites....The Pink Panther~Henry Mancini....

:loveya:

[Chomskyite]

60. Jimi Hendrix's Little Wing

The live recording done at the Fillmore East.

[ronzo]

61. "Frankenstein" n/t

[jus_the_facts]

68. OOOh Yeah.....

.....LOVE IT!!

:hi: homie!!

[Dr Fate]

62. Panhandle Rag- Bob Wills & Texas Playboys n/t

n/t

[Swamp Rat]

63. Heitor Villa-Lobos: "Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5"

The human voice as an instrument.

[Rhiannon12866]

64. Classical Gas. n/t

[WillyT]

65. Europa (Earth's Cry Heaven's Smile) - Santana

Absolutely the best!!!

:toast:

[redqueen]

92. No love for Samba Para Ti? n/t

[No2W2004]

66. Since everything I've thought of is already here

Interstellar Overdrive.

[LifeDuringWartime]

67. dont forget..

one of these days, from meddle

the original title for the song was actually "one of these days, im going to smash you into little pieces"

[newdealer]

69. "Better Get it in your Soul" Charles Mingus

Every time i listen to that piece I hear something new. It's a "jazz" piece, but it's so filled with basic blues enthusiasm that it's moves with fierce intensity. There are deceptive time signatures, which are really pretty straight forward, once you isolate them. That's the beauty of it. It sounds complex, but it isn't. Not to mention some great rhythm breaks and one of the best drum solos I've ever heard. It's understatement allows for the frantic energy to push it along.

[Baja Margie]

70. I love

String Of Pearls, by Glen Miller. Classico !

[Dogmudgeon]

71. Soul Coaxing (Âme Caline) by Raymond Lefevre

Schmaltzy late-60s symphonic pop music from France. But none have done better.

--bkl

[quaoar]

74. Anyone remember Hocus Pocus

by Focus.

[Tsiyu]

77. And Last but Not Least:

Riviera Paradise by Stevie Ray Vaughan ....now come on....

[Zomby Woof]

85. a damn good one!

Beautiful piece.

[JSJ]

78. jimi's electric ladyland side 3 n/t

[redqueen]

80. "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly", Ennio Morricone

At least right now it is. :)

[Tikki]

81. "Sleep Walk"....

Santo and Johnny....

[Bundbuster]

82. Santana - Soul Sacrifice

Woodstock version.

Other nominees:
Larry Carlton - BP Blues
King Curtis - Memphis Soul Stew (just a few words)
Ry Cooder - Feelin' Bad Blues

[catzies]

83. For my Allman Brothers fix ,I've gotta have "Blue Sky" but I know it's

Dickie Betts singing. I love 'Brothers and Sisters;' that what I want wne I get in touch with my inner Southerner.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Walk along the river, sweet lullaby, it just keeps on flowing,
It don’t worry ’bout where it’s going, no, no.
Don’t fly, mister blue bird, I’m just walking down the road,
Early morning sunshine tell me all I need to know

Chorus
You’re my blue sky, you’re my sunny day.
Lord, you know it makes me high when you turn your love my way,
Turn your love my way, yeah.

Good old sunday morning, bells are ringing everywhere.
Goin to Carolina, it won’t be long and I’ll be there


(Or, when I want a Duane Allman fix I just put on Derek and the Dominos.)

[Bossy Monkey]

84. "We Hide And Seek" by Jerry Douglas n/t

[chaska]

86. FRANKENSTEIN, Edgar Winter.

[tarkus]

87. Lots of great ones by King Crimson... NM

[politicat]

88. "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson

It just catches right in my ear...

now, of course, I'm assuming that things like Ravel and Bach are excluded?

Pcat

[htuttle]

89. Nobody has mentioned anything by Rush

But a few of their instrumentals are very good.

Like:
La Villa Strangiato
YYZ (whole thing is based around the morse code call letters of the Toronto airport!)

If you've ever seen them play these live, you'd be stunned. Geddy Lee was playing two or three instruments at once, in my recollection (bass, keys and footpedal synth).

[tarkus]

90. Good point, those are some truly great songs. NM