One of the things I miss most about the ’60s and ’70s is the use of flute in songs on the radio. Perhaps the most memorable example is the awful but catchy “Windy”. I genuinely enjoy “Heard It In A Love Song”, “Never Rains In Southern California” and the great “Spill The Wine”. I could live without all of Jethro Tull’s oeuvre however.
There’s also some good jazz flute from back in the day, e.g. some Eric Dolphy.
What are your favorite songs with flute?
Stan
Fun fact: William Steig’s son, Jeremy Steig, was a noted Jazz flutist.
cosima
I played the flute for years & years, and in spite of that (or perhaps because of that) my answer is ‘none.’
Cello — I love what that adds to other genres outside of classical, which is why both our girls played. We still have Little Cosima’s 1/16 size cello, long long since grown out of.
Rob Roser
Flute loop – Beastie Boys
The Moar You Know
Oh, the conversations me and my musician friends have had about the flute and the absolute lack of appropriateness it has for any music outside of the classical oeuvre. We all came to the same conclusion a long time ago. Does not belong.
Funny, because the ONLY concession I’ve ever been willing to make to violating that rule would be Tull. Anderson can actually rock a flute (most of my fellow musicians disagree). And even he usually fails dismally at it (Thick as a Brick, exhibit 1). But we can all live without Tull.
No place outside the orchestra, final verdict.
joel hanes
All of Suite For Flute and Jazz Piano, Claude Bolling w/ Rampal
Much of John Barleycorn Must Die and Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys, by Traffic
ocarina solo, “California Dreamin'”, The Mamas and the Papas
burnspbesq
“With You There to Help Me,” the opening track on Jethor Tull’s Benefit album.
The sappiest rock song with flute is undeniably “You Are the Woman.”
If you want to hear some spectacular flute playing, there is a recent album of C.P.E. Bach flute concertos featuring Emmanuel Pahud that will knock your socks off.
Zippy
Bobbi Humphrey – Harlem River Drive.
Olivia
Down Under
One Night in Bangkok
Doug!
@Olivia:
Forgot about Down Under. That was epic.
Big Picture Pathologist
“Supper’s Ready” by Genesis.
The flute isn’t exactly *featured*, but its contributions to that song are short but sweet.
Yarrow
Prokofiev — Peter and the Wolf
? Martin
I’ve always been a bit disappointed that Radiohead, to my knowledge, have no songs with the flute in them, especially given that they have used nearly every other instrument known to man.
Roger Moore
@The Moar You Know:
Boling’s “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano” would argue otherwise.
DesertFriar
“Mighty Quinn” – Manfred Mann
Ceci n est pas mon nym
(nervously) Um, I like Jethro Tull?
@joel hanes: Oh yeah the Bolling Suite. I’m an amateur pianist and I’m frequently cajoling flautists to play that with me. Unfortunately, I’m an amateur CLASSICAL pianist so the jazz improv parts come off kind of meh.
Xig
There’s a female-fronted retro-doom-rock band out of Toronto called Blood Ceremony where the singer also busts out flute solos. Super 70’s-sounding stuff.
Mark Field
El Condor Pasa.
rawhide rawlins
Jobim: Wave
tybee
going up the country – canned heat
dedc79
@Yarrow: Loved Peter and the Wolf. Growing up, we had a book that went along with the recording.
oldster
I’m going to stick up for some Tull, too, even though it brands me as uncool in this group.
Traffic–good point! The song “Glad” from John Barleycorn, for instance.
Yarrow
@dedc79: Yeah, me too! I love it. And it’s a great teaching tool for kids and orchestra. Makes it come alive.
Major Major Major Major
Kites Are Fun by The Free Design. A lovable children’s song with lyrics that make you wonder if it’s really about kites.
greennotGreen
Uh, Irish music?
Plus, do not dis Tull!
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
I’m a Tull fanatic – genuinely adore the lyrics and tunes. I’m less fond of the live show because of how weird the choreography and stagecraft seem to be, and really dislike the most passionate fans.
dedc79
She Would Look For Me, from the recent Okkervil River album. Although all i can find is a live version that seems to omit the flute.
Immanentize
Herbie Mann’s “Comin’ Home Baby” is one of the greatest jazz flute songs ever. What a great groove.
Immanentize
Also, doesn’t “Fool on the Hill” sport a bit of flute?
Oh yeah — and one of my oldest favorites — Undun by Guess Who has a flute solo after the break.
dedc79
Favorite Tull – Skating Away
Brachiator
Herbie Mann, Memphis Underground
Kenneth Kohl
‘Nights in White Satin’ – Moody Blues
Immanentize
@Brachiator: I’m with you, brother!
Scott
Legend of a Mind – Moody Blues
Reformed Panty Sniffer
As far as flute music goes, I’m thinking Zamfir’s cover of “Eve of Destruction” was a precautionary tale for its time.
VOR
I heard the mid-70’s song “Strange Way” by Firefall on radio yesterday.
les
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
Well poo on you.
Aqualung, obviously.
dexwood
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Don’t be nervous, you are not alone.
Steeplejack
@Doug!:
Huh! I was just thinking about this yesterday. I have been listening to the UNLV radio station while I’m out here in Las Vegas, and most of the day it’s heavy on good jazz. Heard a couple of songs with flute and was thinking about how that instrument is a bit out of favor these days.
Caribbean Jazz Project, “Stolen Moments.”
Ryan
You all remember the scene near the beginning of Bullitt in the restaurant with the band? Also after he totals the car and gets picked up by his girlfriend?
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Them’s fighting words. 70s Tull was great. Well, okay, there were a couple of clunkers in there and anything past the 70s wasn’t great. But there’s half a dozen Tull albums from the 70s that not only rocked but have held up well after all these years. Doug, don’t make us come over there and beat you with a rusty flute.
I can’t believe nobody’s mentioned Hocus Pocus by Focus in terms of iconic 70s flute sound. In fact, that entire album is good.
jackmac
@Roger Moore: Agreed. In fact, I really like a lot of Claude Bolling’s jazz-classical fusion pieces, but “Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano” with Jean Pierre Rampal really stands out.
Oatler.
“i don’t record flutes.” Guy Stevens, when confronted with Ian Whiteman’s flute case
Aleta
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uE9SjAqPGsc
Telemann 12 Fantasies for Flute Solo
JP Rampal
dexwood
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Funny, you mention Focus… They opened for Tull at a show I saw in 1973 at the Baltimore Civic Center. Edgar Winter was the middle act. Weird fun all around.
MomSense
@The Moar You Know:
Do you like Copland’s Duos for piano and flute?
brendancalling
Somewhere in the back of my record collection i have “Herbie Mann plays the Bossa Nova”. IIRC, it’s pretty good, and I’m not much of a flute fan.
Although Marshall Tucker has a few good songs.
Phillydude
King Crimson, “I Talk to the Wind,” https://www.google.com/search?q=king+crimson+i+talk+to+the+wind&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8
p.a.
6 Badass flute bands that aren’t Jethro Tull.
Was a big Traffic fan, liked Tull too. These others were off my radar.
Yarrow
@jackmac:
One of my favorites!
Steeplejack
@Immanentize:
Great! I forgot “Undun.” Definitely worth a listen now.
humboldtblue
The Marshall Tucker band has one of the great rock tunes that feature a flute.
Heard it in a love song
That Tucker tune is one of my favorites although I’m much more an Allman Brothers guy
And here is Tedeschi Trucks rocking the flute a few years ago
Ian Anderson tells the story of the one reason how he became a flute player — Eric Clapton. He knew he’d never be even half as good on guitar and therefore he learned to play everything else.
dollared
Cuban music features flutes fairly frequently. Sometimes it is lame, but in the cha-cha-chas it’s pretty fabulous. E.g. Habana del Este by AfroCuban Allstars….Or the more traditional El Boduguero by Orquesta Aragon….
sherparick
Enjoyed Aqualunge and “Thick as a Brick.” Of course I am sucker for Fairport Convention so my weakness for British Folk and Folk Rock runs deep. Problem for some people is that both Tull and Led Zeppelin get over overplayed on Classic Rock and fondness can turn into being nauseated at some point.
Gin & Tonic
How anybody could mention Dolphy but omit Rahsaan Roland Kirk and Yusef Lateef is beyond me.
humboldtblue
@jackmac:
Holy shit me and my sisters wore that album out
Dupe1970
Hey Aqualung!
Mike E
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes: Living in the Past, eh?
Steeplejack
Yusef Lateef is a great jazz flautist. “The Golden Flute.”
And I can’t resist posting the poignant “Love Theme from Spartacus.” Not flute but flute-adjacent (oboe).
humboldtblue
And of course anything by the Chieftains
cosima
I’m just going to drop this in here to ruin the good flute vibes. Sarah Palin playing flute for the Miss Alaska pageant talent contest.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FCl0b77qB1w
humboldtblue
And don’t forget the single greatest jazz flute solo ever recorded when Ron Burgundy got himself some sweet, sweet lovin’ due to his supple lips
jeffreyw
Push Push, but not for the flute playing.
greennotGreen
@cosima: You should get hit with the ban hammer for that!
Gin & Tonic
@cosima: I’m going to ask Adam to ban you permanently.
Steeplejack
Yusef Lateef, “Eboness.”
There are some good Yusef Lateef mix lists on YouTube.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
So much great Tull flute from the 70s:
Witches Promise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH9a7FYRDWE
Life’s A Long Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSkwYxZmBvw
Cap'n pHealy
You mention “Windy” and “pipes”…and no one’s brought up Rufus Harley?
That’s right – jazz bagpiper Rufus Harley.
You’re welcome.
humboldtblue
@Steeplejack:
Flute adjacent? Flute adjacent?!?!
Goddamn prima donna oboe players with their special-wrapped-and-tied-double-reeds and their front seat in the orchestra and their-duck-sounding squeaky-ass honking were the worst!
Sax section forever! We weren’t just wind, we weren’t just brass, we were totally badass!
jl
I couldn’t find what I was looking for on youtube, so, sorry.
But I found a marching band flute-cam video!
Amazing Flute Cam – October 11, 2013 – GoPro Hero 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATPJ0ivWkls
JCJ
@cosima:
You are evil!
humboldtblue
@Rob Roser:
That’s one you hit replay on like four times in a row
sukabi
Pan flute…love pan flutes. Years ago there was a group of South American young men that would play around the pike place market… Wonderful, earthy music…pan flute brought chills.
Eugene Cipparone
Joni Mitchell’s Free Man in Paris
mai naem mobile
Forever Autumm – Justin Hayward
swiftfox
Top 40 Bin:
Hitching A Ride, Vanity Fair (recorders, not flute)
Hijack, Herbie Mann; At least it was not standard disco
For My Lady, Moody Blues
Larkspur
@cosima: Oh, cellos. I played through high school and I loved it, but that was back in the olden days when schools had musical instruments you could borrow and take home for free. I couldn’t afford to buy one, and I knew I wasn’t heading for a music major or anything, so good-bye to cello-playin’. But cellos are so beautiful.
Huh. I just remembered a thing about playing the cello in junior high school. We cellists got teased because we had to spread our legs. I’m sure flautists got teased for their whatchimacallit, embouchure? Kids are brutal sometimes.
Ninedragonspot
Luisa Tetrazzini sings a flute-mad excerpt from Meyerbeer’s “L’Étoile Du Nord”
NotMax
May not be rock ‘n’ roll, but rocks the piccolo.
Procession of the Sardar.
Timurid
@Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
SPLITTERS!
Pappy G
Yusef Lateef, yes! Juba Juba is a fantastic song.
Snarly
Be In by the Charles Lloyd Quartet
low-tech cyclist
I still remember where and when I first heard Aqualung. Don’t tell me Tull is crap.
And in what way is “Windy” awful? Not exactly a classic, certainly, but it’s an enjoyable pop song.
NotMax
Q: Why did Mozart get slapped?
A: He asked a lady if she wanted to see his magic flute.
Snarly
Oops Make that Love In
Pappy G
So Flute – St Germain
Miss Bianca
Almost anything with Matt Molloy, or Rashaan Roland Kirk. We’ll agree to disagree about Jethro Tull.
True fact (as opposed to alternate fact): My first musical love with the flute, and I took up the violin only because I couldn’t form an embouchure worth a damn. So the world was spared another mediocre flute player only to gain another slightly-above-average fiddle player!
Villago Delenda Est
“Crazy on You” – Heart
Woodrowfan
@VOR: Firefall had some good songs
James Powell
@oldster:
Who branded you as uncool? Jethro Tull was (and maybe still is) a great band. Martin Barre is one of the more underrated guitarists in rock. Anderson’s flute playings was more of an ornament than a core element.
Two of my favorite flute-in-rock songs: Goin’ up the country by Canned Heat and Can’t you see by Marshall Tucker.
Steeplejack
Always liked the flute in Stephen Stills’s “Cherokee.”
Miss Bianca
@p.a.: cool article!
I still can’t quite believe Ian Anderson’s gone bald…in high school I had a photo of him in my locker where he was sporting the most bad-ass nimbus of red-gold mane…that was back in my “I am seriously going to marry Ian Anderson one of these days” phase. But no, in Riff Randell’s immortal cry: …”I am not a groupie!”
Butch
California Dreamin’.
Miss Kitka's Comrade Wayne
Lalo Schifrin’s Mission Impossible theme.
lollipopguild
I have a CD with various artists doing “Danny Boy”. James Galway(flute) does a version with the Chieftains that is wonderful. We need a bagpipes thread. “Scotland the Brave”!
the antibob
Soel – Le Vicomte
Bobby D
Dolphy on flute is good, though I associate him more with bass clarinet, from his masterpiece “Out to Lunch”, a gem from the 60s avante garde jazz movement. Had an 18yo Tony Williams playing on that album, and Dolphy died shorty after its release.
Herbie Mann put out the best flute-dominated albums I’ve heard. Two in particular:
Memphis Underground (1969)
Push Push (1971)
The latter had Duane Allman on guitar (and he rips it, as always)
WereBear
Always enjoy the classic Hammond organ sound from the sixties.
SFBayAreaGal
Low Down – Boz Scaggs
Color My World – Chicago
Steeplejack
Good flute in the Beatles’ “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” but I can’t find a viable YouTube clip.
inventor
I think Herbie Mann’s “Battle Hymn of the Republic” has got to be in consideration.
My Jethro Tull Story: Back around 1979 or so Jethro Tull came through the college town of Lubbock, Texas. Unfortunately, they were booked during Christmas break so the 10,000 seat auditorium wasn’t even 1/3 full. Ian Anderson asked the croud to gather ’round near the stage and they proceeded to play for three hours, took a 20 minute break and played an encore for another hour. It was amazing how well they played. I have always had a great deal of respect for Ian Anderson and the rest of Jethro Tull. If there was ever a time to “mail in” a concert it was then. They could have done a cursory 1/2 hour and been gone but they played their ass off.
Marvel
Re favorite song w/ flute: too many from which to choose. As an old (emphasis OLD) fluter, I’m fond of every sort of flute music.
http://imgur.com/a/3acSf
Steeplejack
Van Morrison, “Moondance.”
Miss Bianca
@Villago Delenda Est: there’s another Heart song where Ann is really rocking the flute, but I can’t remember which one – it’s not “White Lightning and Wine”, but I think it is one of the Dreamboat Annie numbers. Damn. Now I’m going to be scratching me head all day over that one!
Gin & Tonic
@WereBear: The B3 has remained a jazz staple to this day.
Gus
Going back to my hippie roots, Fat Mattress (Noel Redding of Jimi Hendrix Experience band) All Night Drinker.
Svensker
@Ceci n est pas mon nym:
Damn straight. WTF is wrong with DougJ?
Villago Delenda Est
I might note that Doug is always first rate with his post titles…this one a reference to the greatest rock ‘n roll mockumentary every made, This is Spinal Tap.
Steeplejack
@Marvel:
Is there music at that link? I couldn’t find any.
Shana
@lollipopguild: Do you have Bertie Wooster’s version?
ThresherK
“One Night in Bangkok”, the prelude and solo.
(Yes, I’m in the cult of Chess.)
stinger
A fast skim through 100+ comments seems to show that nobody’s mentioned Walk Away, Renee – The Left Banke
dexwood
@Miss Bianca:
You would have had to fight my wife. She met him at a small party he attended after a show in Albuquerque in 72 or 73. She still has his autograph and the pen he signed it with.
Yarrow
@cosima: Ha! Speaking of Sarah Palin she filed with the Federal Election Commission to terminate her PAC. I guess the grifting just wasn’t good anymore.
jheartney
Not one that gets heard of much, but Jade Warrior was a flute/guitar duo. Towards the end (about 20:20) of this one is a half-speed flute section – incredibly melancholy.
Triumph
“Wild Thing” by the Troggs has the most incredible, crappy recorder solo.
TidyCat
Kaori Kobayashi
cgordon
One word: Saxophone.
cosima
@Larkspur: Cellos are beautiful — and they add a lot to every genre of music. So versatile — provided you’re a good player. Little Cosima and I went to see Hozier last year and he had a cellist playing. She was amazing. I took lessons alongside Big Cosima (our oldest), and it is hands-down the most difficult instrument that I’ve ever tried to play (piano, flute, cello, guitar). Little C ended up having to change teachers when we moved, and the only one we found nearby was a very strict Russian lady, Little C had to keep asking me ‘what did she say?’ so we let her move to piano…. Big C still plays, though.
What’s with all of the hating on the Sarah Palin flute?! A masterpiece! Besides, when was I ever going to be able to reasonably drop that into a thread if not into this one?
True story: I once played a flute duet in a school concert with a friend who was dating……. Palin’s (now) brother in law. We were all much younger then, of course, my friend did not stay with him, and Sarah was not yet dating Todd.
Villago Delenda Est
@cgordon: “Born to Run”. Also, too, “Baker Street”.
schrodingers_cat
Hari Prasad Chaurasiya – Song of the River
TidyCat
@cgordon:
Kaori Kobayashi usually plays the sax. Check her out
Doug R
@Stan: Steig jr actually plays the flute as the pied piper in Shrek 4.
cosima
@Yarrow: I lay a lot of the misery that the US is currently experiencing at her feet for her poisoning of the political well. So I hope she ends up starving in the streets, along with her evil children (not Trig, though). I am surprised, though, that given the current SCROTUS that there aren’t enough stupid people in the US to keep her grifting game going.
Steeplejack
Loggins and Messina, “Angry Eyes.” (Flute at 5:25.) Damn, I could hear the riff but couldn’t think of the song.
lollipopguild
@Shana: No I do not.
PPCLI
The opening and closing themes to the CBC radio show As It Happens (the classic versions, not the recent remixes):
Curried Soul
Koff Drops
Both by Moe Koffman.
TidyCat
@cgordon:
Kaori Kobayashi – Rock With You
GregB
Has anyone mentioned Zamfir, master of the pan flute?
grumpy realist
The soundtrack to “L’Homme Blond avec une Chaussure Noire” with Zamfir. (Go for the original movie in French, not the stupid U.S. remake.)
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@Eugene Cipparone: This.
And I have a fondness for Irish music. Joanie Madden is a flute goddess.
Stav
Hello?
Dan Fogelberg?
Pop’s biggest selling flautist?
Bg
y’all never heard of Nestor Torres?
Sin Palabras is a good place to start
Raven
@Scott: My friends sis is the Moody Flautist, Norda Mullen.
joel hanes
@dedc79:
Loved Peter and the Wolf
just made for showoff bassoonists. all the bass parts are big fun
Steeplejack
@GregB:
No, thank God.
Until one minute later.
NotMax
@GregB
Speaking of Pan fluting, some that got Barbara Eden hot and bothered.
TidyCat
A gentle pushback on the Tull hate?
Ian Anderson and Lucia Micarelli – Kashmir
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@lollipopguild: Overheard at an Irish festival:
Q. What’s the difference between uilleann pipes and bagpipes?
A. Well, uillieann pipes are a musical instrument…
Woodrowfan
@Stav: best make out music of the 1970s
Raven
@Stav: Another homeboy, he was from Peoria but really got going in Champaign Urbana.
Barbara
Have not seen any mention: There Is a Light and It Never Goes Out, by the Smiths. Flute and violin are great melody instruments because their range overlaps closely with the range of the human voice.
Aleta
@TidyCat: Thanks !!!!!!!!!
Steeplejack
Hubert Laws, “Gymnopedie No. 1.”
Lavocat
All the Jethro Tull oeuvre.
And the most hyperactive rock song ever written – inclusive of both flute and YODELING – “Hocus Pocus” by Focus.
Jacel
“Phenomenal Cat” from “The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society”.
Recently I listened to “Looking On” by The Move for the first time in decades. When it comes to rock-and-roll oboe, you can’t beat their “Open Up Said The World At The Door”. Nice tape-reverse drum solo, along with much more.
humboldtblue
@lollipopguild:
Let’s start with the massed bans at last year’s Edinburgh Tattoo
laura
HR Puffinstuff!
That ‘Lil flute was the best, I tells ya, the best!!!
TidyCat
@Aleta:
Yw! =^..^=
Steeplejack
Bobbi Humphrey, “Harlem River Drive.”
“Blacks and Blues.”
maurinsky
Space Oddity by David Bowie
Bill E Pilgrim
He’s briefly mentioned in the first comment but if any interest in flute and jazz and the 1960s, check out Jeremy Steig, in particular an album with the jazz legend Bill Evans. This stuff was just smoking, and Autumn Leaves actually contains my favorite Bill Evans solo of all time I think. Unique style, Steig, and he could really play.
Same album: What’s New.
Mike J
Big Star, India Song.
Steeplejack
Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg, “Tell Me to My Face.”
Steeplejack
Gil Scott-Heron, “Winter in America.”
Especially appropriate for these times.
Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.)
Anything by the Moody Blues. Of course, even better than flues are mellotrons. Mike Pinder, who played the mellotron for the Moody Blues wrote the book (almost literally; he worked for the business that made mellotrons when the band was in its first days) played it for the Moody Blues
Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes
Here’s a Tull goodie from the the “Stormwatch” album.
Summarizes the potential civilization ending potential of a technical fuckup in the cold war. It pretty much summarized the fear that the idiocy of “launch on warning” systems could bring about mistaken retaliation.
Fylingdale Flier
Now that we appear to be headed back to stupid days, it seems appropriate.
randy khan
@Butch:
A fine choice.
Not pop music, of course, but one must not forget Stars and Stripes forever. (Technically piccolo, but close enough.)
Mike J
Nada Surf, Juliana Hatfield, Belly, Evan Dando and more set for ACLU benefit in Boston
http://www.vanyaland.com/2017/02/03/nada-surf-juliana-hatfield-belly-evan-dando-set-aclu-benefit-boston/
Yarrow
@cosima: I hope she ends up having to sell off her properties and her kids have to get real jobs. Her eldest daughter is now married to a Medal of Honor recipient so I guess they’ve figured out how to move beyond just her brand. I hope people she’s been paying to keep their mouths shut decide they aren’t incentivized in that direction now the money has stopped flowing in theirs.
Spinoza Is My Co-Pilot
Another up-vote for Jethro Tull here. Caught them only once in concert, Cleveland’s Public Hall back in the fall of ’71. Wonderful concert.
Also second Canned Heat’s “Going Up the Country” and King Crimson’s “I Talk to the Wind” with Ian McDonald on flute and the recently-departed Greg Lake’s sweetly beautiful singing voice. Still among my very favorite tunes from the long-ago time.
And prog rock haters can suck it. I’ll take even the schlockiest Genesis or Rush (two of my least favorite prog rock outfits) over the lo-fi garage crap of the Ramones or Sex Pistols any day.
randy khan
@Yarrow:
Speaking of Sarah Palin, while my wife and I were moving from one DVRd show to another last night, we caught sight of her on Match Game, which I had no idea was back. And the host is Alec Baldwin. It was as strange as you might think.
Yarrow
@randy khan: I had heard she was on that. Money must be getting short. Of course she loves that “celebrity” stuff. But I’d guess she also needs the money. Her son is up to his eyeballs in legal problems, has two kids with two different wives (now ex) and seems to have anger issues and possible drug/alcohol problems. Never mind the people she has to pay to keep their mouths shut about what they know.
Jeffro
Pass on anything with flute, banjo, or fiddle, and most anything with acoustic guitar…usually if there’s not an electric guitar or two in it, I’m not gonna listen too long. I’ve tried listening to most everything, but the really loud stuff is just about the only music I like.
john fremont
@Steeplejack: Also lI ike Charles Lloyd on Sombrero Sam.
Uncle Ebeneezer
Love this jazz version of Bali Hai.
NickM
Three for the Fesival – Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Love it. The music is so much more than the gimmick it might seem; live version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4h2HG9FFRlM.
NickM
And Burning Spear by S.O.U.L — love the flute on this. Wish I had gotten here earlier!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0srvU3PiVI
Aleta
“The Gold Ring” flute solo (old Irish)
Grey Larsen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldc0_dd_sns
(Music starts at :40)
mr_gravity
No one with a flute should be allowed anywhere near any form of amplification.
Not even in an emergency.
phein55
167 comments in, and now one has mentioned Horslips, Book of Invasions?
phein55
Make that “no one”: Horslips: Trouble with a capital T.
mike
“For once in my life” Stevie Wonder
It’s not a solo or anything, but damn if the flutes in the orchestra don’t take it to the next level.
Millard Filmore
Kites are Fun
by The Free Design (1967)
Bah! already done. that’s what happens when you come late to the party.
ChrisB
I’m shocked to find no mention of PDQ Bach, many of whose works were rediscovered in the 1960’s and 70’s by Prof. Peter Schickele. They feature any number of flutes and flute-like devices including the unfortunately not soon to be forgotten left handed sewer pipe (with and without faucet).
LABiker
“Honey Rider,” the last song on Va Va Voom, the debut album by Cinerama, has some terrific flute. I’m listening to it now, and so should you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QgVDNfIEdE
greengoblin
@Ryan: I thought of that movie as well.
ChrisB
@ChrisB: Further research finds a PDQ Bach piece for the dill piccolo, best used for playing sour notes.
gbear
There was a 70’s Dutch band called Focus that had one incredibly annoying hit instrumental called ‘Hocus Pocus’ but also had a lot of other really nice songs with flute as one of the lead instruments. Unfortunately, since those were also instrumentals, I can’t remember any of the song names right now.
Thumbs up to the songs on Traffic’s “john Barleycorn Must Die’ LP. That whole album is a fave.
Wnen I was in high school (1970-1972), Jethro Tull was my absolute favorite band but I can barely listen to them now. Everything sounds so mannered.
Aardvark Cheeselog
@The Moar You Know:
J.S. Bach begs to differ.
ChrisB
@gbear: A mostly but not completely sarcastic thank you for the reference to “Hocus Pocus,” which I now cannot get out of my head.
LABiker
Also, this video of Cannonball Adderley in Germany and Switzerland in 1963 has some bits with Yousef Latif playing the flute that are sublime.
ThresherK
@stinger: I would like to
shameless glom ontoco-sponsor your post.joel hanes
Fogelberg/Weisberg “Twin Sons Of Different Mothers”
all good … “Tell Me To My Face” esp., and “Power of Gold” ain’t chopped liver.
joel hanes
@cgordon:
Saxophone
You _do_ know the difference between a saxophone and a gas-powered lawn mower, right ?
Steeplejack (phone)
@gbear:
“Mannered” is a great way to describe what I dislike about Jethro Tull. Don’t actively hate them, but I do have to say that they gave the worst concert I ever went to. Jethro Dull. Maybe I caught them on a bad night. Sometime in the mid-’70s.
...now I try to be amused
Chicago, “Once Upon a Time”, from the “Elegy” suite on the Chicago III album.
Steeplejack (phone)
@humboldtblue:
Righteous rant, bruh.
Apost''fe
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
Love her and Cherish the Ladies. Saw them in Berkeley a few years ago.
I tried to find a few videos, but YouTube isn’t playing for me right now. Matt Malloy of The Chieftains is great, too.
mai naem mobile
Split Enz Six Months in A Leaky Boat. Nota hundred percent sure if it’s a flute or whistling.
...now I try to be amused
The The, “Uncertain Smile” (the 12″ version).
Death Panel Truck
Pretty much any song by Traffic with Chris Wood playing the woodwinds, which means pretty much every Traffic song.
He also played the flute live with Jimi Hendrix at the Albert Hall in February 1969, and on “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)” on Electric Landland.
Origuy
@Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA:
Love her and Cherish the Ladies. Saw them in Berkeley a few years ago.
I tried to find a few videos, but YouTube isn’t playing for me right now. Matt Malloy of The Chieftains is great, too.
Reposted with the right nym.
Larkspur
@Jeffro: Oh man, you’d hate my favorite Gillian Welch (with partner Dave Rawlings) – almost every album just acoustic guitar, banjo, uke…but no flute.
Gravenstone
Even though it’s really just a splash as Oldfield is farting around amongst too many instruments, Tubular Bells brings a wee bit of flute to the party.
Brachiator
@Immanentize:
Just listened to this again. Loved it. And that rhythm section. Oh, man.
TidyCat
@…now I try to be amused: yes. Yes. And yes! This song! Omg. My 12″ vinyl of this I miss
HinTN
@low-tech cyclist: Aqualung was such a quantum leap from Stand Up, which I wore out!
A Ghost to Most
Aqualung gave this crazy 16 year old all the rationale I needed to become a life long atheist. Ian Anderson made so much more sense than all the preachers I had listened to.
TidyCat
@…now I try to be amused: The The – Uncertain Smile 12″
Death Panel Truck
@Steeplejack (phone): Jimmy Page once said that Jethro Dull should have recorded a live album called Bore ‘Em at the Forum.
A Ghost to Most
@Jeffro:
Musically, I try to live in the crack between rock and country. Lots of interesting people there.
AlbertZ
Apparently if you ask him nicely, Ian Anderson will still play some flute for your garage rock stylings. See Jeff the Brotherhood: Black Cherry Pie (from yootoob)
Shalimar
@Death Panel Truck: Says a man who thought playing a guitar with a violin bow live was entertaining.
waysel
I’m with Doug re Tull, with the exception of Bouree. Donovan used it quite a bit, to nice effect. ‘Flute Thing’ by the Blues Project IMS. The Erik Satie theme on Blood Sweat and Tears 2nd album. Haven’t read all the comments, and yes, some of this probably only made 60s/70s FM oddball stations.
Taylor
“I used to like Jethro Tull, until they sold out.”
The Dude Abides
A Firth of Fifth, by Genesis. Introduction to Peter Gabriel’s flute solo begins at around 3:10. A piano solo and then an evocative guitar solo (5:45) from Steve Hackett follow. Right before Hackett’s guitar solo you get to hear some precision drumming from Phil Collins.
zhena gogolia
Sorry I missed this amusing thread.
J R in WV
OK, I’m gonna ask for some help. Not long ago, I found a copy of a CD labeled Coltrane-Monk as in John Coltrane and Thelonius Monk I don’t remember anything about where the CD came from. Playing it, it started with very melodic music, sax with Monk’s band, including some melodic jazz songs with flute, which sounded to me as if Coltrane was playing that instrument.
As we listened deeper into the CD, the music gradually slid farther into the more typical Coltrane free jazz. No flute in that part of the album. Now I cannot find that CD anywhere!! Also, no clue as to what album that is, how I might relocate the sounds we heard on that anonymous blue CD.
Anyone know what we were hearing that night? It was a great sounding album, even especially the flute songs. Suggestions as to what specific album that might have been welcome.
terben
Fantastic bed flute solo on ‘Bowling Green Massacre’ by Kellyanne Conway.
drdavechemist
@Stav: Actually, it was Tim Weisberg who was the flautist on the whole Twin Sons of Different Mothers album with Fogelberg. Fogelberg did all the vocals on that album and his Wikipedia page describes him as a “multi-instrumentalist,” though I think of him primarily as a pianist.
Spousal unit was a huge Fogelberg fan in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Both of us will tear up if we hear Leader of the Band, which Fogelberg wrote for his father but reminds us both of my father who was also a music teacher and who died (way too young) right around the time that song hit the radio.
drdavechemist
@Bg: Nestor Torres came up on one of my Pandora stations and earned a thumbs-up from me. Guess I need to explore more of his output.
Steeplejack (phone)
@J R in WV:
Is this what you’re looking for? Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane (recorded in 1957, released in 1961). No flute that I can remember. Eric Dolphy usually played the flute with Coltrane.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack (phone):
It occurred to me that your CD might have been a compilation like this one: Mingus/Monk/Coltrane/Dolphy. All of them are on there, just not in the same group.
I got on the Google, did a light to medium search and can’t find anything with Monk, Coltrane and Dolphy all playing together.
The reason I include Dolphy is because Coltrane didn’t start experimenting with the flute until late in his career, and there are only a couple of albums with him playing flute (and none with Thelonious Monk).
J R in WV
Thanks, everyone, I could have just written the wrong guys on the CD with my Sharpie. It was my handiwork. Can’t believe I can’t find the darn CD again. It was on my dresser in the bedroom, where we put on a CD at bedtime. Big stack of loose discs, none have Coltrane/Monk on it.
It helps with tinnitus – hearing sounds that aren’t there – they get overloaded with a symphony or concert, then when you’re asleep you’re good to go.
@Steeplejack (phone): Now, listening to this Youtube – that sounds like the disk – I only listened to it the once, when I went after it again, it was gone!! Magic!!! The best disappear fast! Very lyrical to begin.
Monk, Coltrane, [and Miles Davis, though not on this album] my favorite modern jazz voices. The old timers were good too.
Thanks, Steeplejack!
Raven Onthill
@sukabi: I think they’re still around; turn up at Folklife every year in bright red Andean poncho-like garments.
Bonnie
Mozart’s flute and harp concerto in C Major
jt
De-lurking to defend Tull. Each and every person who doesn’t love Ian Anderson is History’s Greatest Monster and also the Real Reason Trump Won.
Stately Plump Buck
‘Wasteland’ by The Jam.