Who influenced your music taste most

[hifitommy]

the person that first influenced me was my mother who always had the radio on back in the late 40's and early 50s. those stations played ALL styles of music. bing crosby, sabre dance, elvis, les paul, etc. quite unlike today where stations have narrow interest playlists.

she was influenced by my father who was a musician-a bass player. i remember hearing benny goodman's boogie woogie a lot. i think he played with sammy kaye when he was in town as i remember going to a concert then and he wasnt with us. realize i was 5 yrs old when he died.

later, my sister, in high school (53-57) l, had a record player on which she played mule train by frankie laine and some dave brubeck etc. this was the heyday of elvis and bill haley.

in 7th and 8th grade, i got into what is now considered to be classic rock and roll, sonny james, the drifters, and like that. in high school, because jazz came on the regular stations, brubecks take five and ahmad jamals poinciana were heard there along with bobby darin and the coasters etc.

about when i went into the air force, the beatles were a big thing but i didnt really get it until i got out and they were breaking up then.

when i got to california in late '70 i was exposed to progressive rock on krla and later kmet and klos. still, jazz was a prominent factor for me and knx provided a mix of rock and some jazz. it was my friend glen baker who got me into progressive rock as he had worked at kppc before it became kroq. then punk came in which i had no interest.

jazz became more prominent for me as i attended live music here in so cal and is my mainstay. i listen to kkjz.org and other jazz stations on the net. smooth jazz stations like the wave are bypassed most of the time. only rarely do they play anything interesting.

[JoeE SP9]

When I was still a young high school lad (early 60's) I listened to the usual top 40 radio music. Then I heard a London Phase 4 recording of Ronnie Aldrich and his two piano's. That was the most natural sounding recording I'd ever heard. It started me listening to classical music.
Jukebox music as played in bars was also a big influence. The drinking age in NY state was 18 back then so I could go to the bars. Bar's for people "of color" have always played music to dance to. So Motown, Atlantic and Stax Volt artists among others were added to my "likes". While in the service I was exposed to rock, folk and psychedelic. They were added to the list. I discovered Ahmad Jamal, Charles Loyd and "real" Jazz also while in the service. It's a journey that has no end. I'm still discovering and being exposed to "new" music. To sum it up I've been influenced by many different artists and genre's