If you wanted to impress someone, which track?

Patrica Barber "Mourning Grace" off of Cafe Blue. The instrumentals are so concise and well placed, plus the drums really come through as present.

Poncho Sanchez on "do it!" "Together" is a fun one. Nothing like the blat of a dozen horns with a couple of drummers and some bongos to show off a dynamics.

Maybe Tchaikovsky "Serenade for Strings" or most any other cut as well off the old Dorati Nutcracker recording on Mercury Living Presence.

Interesting responses.

To be honest, I always prefer that my friends who come over and want to listen to my system, pick their own music. I have found that people tend to be more excited listening to music they know and love, rather than somebody else's favorites.

However, when a friend says "Impress me", I will typically throw on a 45 RPM single of Satchmo's "St. James Infirmary". Most people already know and like Satchmo, and this piece only reinforces their fondness for his music. It is very well recorded, and sounds fantastic.

My two cents worth.

I use "High Falls" from the Allman Brothers disc "Win, Loose, or Draw." It features Butch Trucks and J Jaimo Johnson at their dual drumming rhythmic best, as well as Chuck Level on piano and a scorching guitar solo by Dickie Betts. This is a relatively obscure 10 minute instrumental track. The other song that somunds great on my system is "Guns and Roses" by Lucky Dube off of his "Taxman" cd. Lucky has the voice of an angel on this song and if you like reggae, it does not get any better than this.