Perfect Jazz Collection: 25 Original Jazz Recordings Boxed Set

This is probably the best musical value on Amazon. ^[1]At the time of publication the price for this set was $54 USD. It appears to be still available from some retailers as an import, but is harder to find at this exceptional price – you guys … Continue reading A boxed set containing 25 original jazz albums of seminal works by some of the genres most important and respected artists. It literally amounts to less than 2 dollars an album (at the current price) and is an amazing gift for any music lover or person wanting to get into Jazz. Not so esoteric that it would be unapproachable, there is an easy way through this box that exposes you to familiar and unfamiliar artists and slowly expands your Jazz vocabulary. Each album by each different artist will inspire you to dig deeper and explore their whole catalog. Like a lot of things, it’s as much about the journey as it is the destination and this is a pretty exceptional place to start your journey. To get all these albums here in this way is just pure musical bliss – it would take you years and years just to find them all if you were sourcing them yourself individually. Particular favorites are the Mingus, The Benson, Armstrong, Simone, Hancock, Baker, Davis, Brubeck … I should just list them all. This is the best purchase I’ve ever made on amazon and one of my most prized musical collections. Check it out here.

Nilsson: The RCA Albums Collection

Nilsson: Complete RCA Album Collection

Harry Nilsson is the perfect artist for discovery at this point in your music history if you’ve not already done so. Aside from his liquid smooth sweet voice, his idiosyncratic compositions, and his connection to the Beatles, his music is in many ways a genre busting amalgamation of both new and old pop, with stylistic innovation and an enormous sense of play and fun on display. You’ve heard the expression “Simpsons did it” — well in many ways Nilsson did it in music (or suggested it). This boxed set is the complete RCA catalog and has so much value in it that it’s hard to quantify – there are 17 Disks. If there’s a music lover on your holiday shopping list, consider this for them as a musical treat they can spend a lifetime exploring. You’ll get some enormous street cred too. One of the coolest things about Nilsson is that he seems to cross age barriers as well as genres making this music you can listen to with your kids. Kids will particularly enjoy s The Point and The Pandemonium Shadow Show. The Point is actually the soundtrack to an animated kids show and is particularly fun, and there’s a certain lunacy to The Pandemonium Shadow Show that speaks to the kid in all of us.

The Perfect Miles David Collection

Containing over 20 original Miles Davis albums in mini LP replica sleeves, this boxed collection spans much of Miles Davis’ career across the many jazz genres he performed and recorded in. Comprehensive without being exhaustive, there’s plenty to explore here including the deep cuts without being overwhelmed by the majesty of his artistic mastery.  Many of these albums are hard to find – some no longer in print – so having the opportunity to grab these while you can will save you years of toil and expense. Miles birthed cool – and after that came these albums.  This really is an opportunity to get down the rabbit hole with Miles – but with a rope around your waist to keep you from being swallowed up. Few musicians have had the musical and cultural impact of Miles Davis and this collection – perhaps a perfect collection will help bring you into that awareness.  It can be purchased here and represents just an awesome value at almost any price.

The Orenda: A Novel By Joseph Boyden

The Orenda: A Novel By Joseph Boyden

This award winning novel comes highly recommended by one of the staff writers here at The Musicopolis. It has been described to me as an eloquently written novel that explores “the moral/societal conflicts that would have presented themselves as European values clashed with Canada’s resident, Aboriginal life-force” in the “historically tumultuous time of First Contact“. Boyden’s narrative technique has been likened to Faulkner, where the experience of reading feels like the experience of living within the pages of the work itself – complete and total immersion, and the novel is prevailed by a sense of realism that “attenuate(s) any blind romanticism one might have towards the Canadian landscape”, or the novel’s characters.  Buy it here.

Le Creuset Waiter’s Friend Corkscrew, Wood

This classy little wine and bottle opener gets amazingly high reviews for its solid construction and beautiful finish – plus it works exactly as designed and that’s its greatest value. How many junky kitchen or bar tools have passed through your collection? Stop buying (and re-buying) junk and get the right tool the first time – one that will last a lifetime. These are absolutely beautiful. and make excellent gifts. Getting the right gift can be difficult, and balancing value and utility that also shows you care is getting harder to do in this throw-away world. This one will do you right and whoever you give this to will love it.

It’s Time To Get Your Blues On

Hohner Marine Band Harmonica

Who hasn’t imagined themselves blowing a wicked blues harp with a smoking hot blues band playing behind them. In the old days, you’d have to travel on down to the delta and find yourself a mentor if you ever hoped to develop the skills of the old blues legends, but today that’s just not necessary. The internet is full of amazing blues harmonica resources that can fast track your playing and your learning curve in ways that make the dream so much more accessible. But it all starts with a good harmonica, and Hohner is one of the best (particularly in terms of bang for buck). The great irony is that Hohner’s own Bluesband harmonica is generally NOT the one used by serious students of the blues — we’ve got what you want right here. The classic 10 hole diatonic Hohner Marine Band. Its tones are just that much better than the Bluesband (with more crunch), and just about every major Blues Harmonical player has played (or still plays) a Marine Band Hohner. Now – with diatonic harmonicas, you need to buy them for a specific key, and it is universally agreed that you should start with C which gives you the ability to play cross harp in the key of G. (Don’t know what that means? – Don’t worry, you will — the internet is full of resources to teach you.) If you are expanding your stable of harps then you’ll want to grab a D, A, & F if you already have a C.

Spyderco Assist 1 Rescue Knife

Spyderco Assist 1 Rescue Knife

Knives can be awesome tools and this Spyderco Assist 1 is a highly specialized rescue knife that is safe to carry as an everyday blade, and has some special features used by first responders that make it invaluable in the right hands. It can be opened easily by one hand (with the thumb or a flick) and its rounded nose makes it safe to use when extracting people from seat belts or to cut through material that might be in close contact with the body (like clothing, or rigging). It has a specialized grip that allows you to squeeze the blade into it’s handle to cut rope, and it has a carbide tipped rod that extends from the base to allow you to break glass or windshields. It’s a great tool for the car or the backpack, and it’s striking features inspire conversation and interest. A very cool knife and a great gift.

Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Fire Starter

Gerber Bear Grylls Survival Series Fire Starter

I have no idea how to use one of these but it doesn’t matter — I want one. I can’t wait for the next time I’m out in the woods and it’s time to get a fire going because I will be the coolest cat in the forest. I’ve seen Bear Grylls do some crazy stuff of TV, but having one of these would just make me feel “safer” in the world. Ya gotta be ready right? I think this is a great gift for anyone who has that primal urge to get back to nature but still hold the power of fire in their hands. There’s not yet an app for fire, but this is about as cool as you can get

Featured Image Credit: For de pascua – 2013 * Euphorbia pulcherrima by jacinta lluch valero  ,via Flickr,  CC by SA 2.0