Chick Corea - Akoustic Band (jazz trio, not sure if there is more than one album, but I like most of his stuff)
Gordon Goodwin's Big Fat Band (big band, I played a bunch of his charts in college jazz ensemble)
Aaron Copland does some great modern classical stuff (there are always slow sections, but the faster stuff is often worth it)
Canadian Brass are always entertaining and usually light, for classical type stuff
on the rock side of things, I like Yes, Eric Johnson (guitar, Tones or Ah Via Musicom), Bonamassa is quite good, Joe Satriani (The Extremist, Flying in a Blue Dream, Surfing with the Alien), Dream Theater (like Yes or Rush but much heavier)
Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps or the Cadets of Bergen County https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HiZN64kHyc
In reply to Toyman01:
I'm not of much use in this thread and OP would have no use with a LOT of the suggestions in it.
That said, as mainstream as they now are, The Kings Of Leon are VERY relevant to your tastes. It's newish, traditional, gimmick free rock and roll.
Curious to hear what has (or hasn't) grabbed you so far... It's impossible to say whether music's going to work for someone, but it's interesting to find out whether folks' interpretations of guidance pointed them the (a) right direction...
Old Crow Medicine Show
Some of Ben Folds stuff.
Robbie Robertson has an outstanding voice.
Joe Bonamassa is amazing. He got an *
Peter Ostroushko got an * too.
Otis Taylor
John Hiatt
Zac Brown Band. I've heard a lot of their music, but a bunch of their good stuff never made the radio
The Avett Brother have some good stuff, but some of it is so so.
G Love has a couple of good tunes.
Los Lobos
Steely Dan used to play on the radio all the time, but not so much anymore. Good stuff
The Allman Brothers
Tedeschi Trucks Band has some good stuff
Oz Noy
John Mayer
The Shins have a few good ones
Ewan Dobson is great! He got an *
Robbie Fulks is pretty good
Rodney Crowell has some great stuff.
Nora Jones
Frankie Valli and The Four Season. Great old stuff.
Marcia Griffiths
Ry Cooder has some good stuff
Chick Corea has some great stuff.
Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band is outstanding.
Aron Copland has some outstanding classical.
The Canadian Brass, Great!
Kings of Leon
Robben Ford has some good stuff.
Those were the standouts, some of the other groups had some pretty good tunes but the recordings were noisier then I like. A lot of groups have the urge to pack as many notes in a second as possible. That comes through to my ears as just noise.
My musical tastes are somewhat unusual, so I try not to make recommendations, but maybe some...
Medeski, Martin and Wood fairly straightforward jazz/funk from a three piece
My kids listen to the sheepdogs I call it hillbilly rock, but it's not bad
How about Sonora Caruselles They have a really good compilation cd called Salsabrosa. Short shorts not included.
In reply to Zomby Woof:
Martin and Wood Medeski have some pretty good stuff though some of it is a little more funky than I like.
The Sheepdogs is too noisy for me, and the last one isn't too bad but my Spanish leaves a lot to be desired.
The only reason I know about the Sheepdogs is that they were featured on Project Runway not long ago. Seemed like pretty straightforward late-60's/early-70's rock to me.
Toyman01 wrote: Kings of Leon
I should've named some songs
California Waiting
Back Down South
The Bucket
Molly's Chambers
Slow Night, So Long
Crawl
...for starters
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