Thursday, April 02, 2009

Off the Charts

Yoga Dawg and I passed a few music ideas back and forth on facebook the other day. He is pressing for more jazz as background, rather than the usual flute/chants/bells soundtrack. Not a bad idea, thought I. So I'm listing some of my favorite atypical yoga class tunes, including a few jazz selections. Then, you can tell me what yours are and we're off to a new playlist!
Check it out:
Air Moon Safari
Brian Eno Ambient 1; Music for Airports
Phillip Glass Soundtrack from The Hours
Phillip Glass Uakti Aguas da Amazonia
Pat Metheny One Quiet Night
Rachel Portman Soundtrack from Beloved
Gustavo Santaolalla Roncoco
Jazz Vibes Mix tape of Theolonius Monk, Milt Jackson (above), Miles Davis (sorry, Dawg, this is kinda vague, but I'm not sure what albums I took stuff from, etc.)
Jazz Sax Mix tape of David Sanborn and T. Monk



9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooh, how great, some variety...
Itunes here I come. Or I may just raid our external hard drive, see whsat we have on there from this list!

Linda-Sama said...

totally agree with Y Dawg. I love anything by Alice Coltrane (John's wife), a true yogi.

Jen said...

Thanks for the recommendations! I'm in need of new music.

In addition to jazz, I often use world music, like Amadou & Mariam, Buena Vista Social Club soundtrack or even reggae.

joelle said...

I'm all in favor of "yoga music" (which is becoming its own genre), but personally I like to mix it up with stuff from soundtracks, funk, world music--esp Brazilian--, and jazz. My only real requirement is that if the music has words, and the words are in English, those words better be relevant to the class....

joellehann.com/yoganation

Miss. S said...

This is great! Thank you for the ideas. I posted my recent yoga music mix that I am using in my classes right now. Using a little soul in mine these days.

Anonymous said...

Brenda, I love your posts! Thank you once again for your thoughts and recommendations.

It sounds like I tend to mix like Joelle - and I get a lot of (positive) comments from my students. Of course, nobody has quite caught on that I like to pair a Beastie Boy's track ("Eugene's Lament") with Broken Social Scene or something from Peter Gabriel's Passion soundtrack. As for jazz, a student turned me on to Dag Arnesen's Norwegian Song 2 - which is a great album you don't hear every day! Also, check out Poi Dog Pondering's "Diva," which is a nice fusion of "yoga music" meeting jazz.

Jan Holt said...

Thanks for the list. I'm always looking for new music ideas to keep my classes fresh and energized. Sometimes I throw in a silly tune like The Macarena just to make sure everyone isn't too serious. It always brings smiles and a little fun to the class.

Renee said...

I love old school Jazz especially Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy and Billy Holiday. Great idea!

YogaforCynics said...

I'm definitely with Yoga Dawg on this, and can be a bit more specific about Miles Davis: my all time favorite music to do yoga to is Miles' in a Silent Way. I'd also recommend early Charles Lloyd quartet, featuring Keith Jarret, particularly Journey Within or Live in Europe, Coltrane's Love Supreme or, if you're in the mood for some real intensity, Om, and the Karma and Tauhid albums by Pharaoh Sanders.