Ever since my untimely visit to the hospital, I’ve been spending an hour each day at the neighborhood gym, most of it pulling vigorously on the handle of a rowing machine. Inspired though I am by the passionate desire not to die just yet, I find virtually all heart-healthy activities to be brain-numbingly tedious. Enter my trusty iPod, which now contains 2,893 songs, many of which are suitable for exercise-related purposes. Instead of letting it play at random, I’ve drawn up a series of playlists of songs to which I listen avidly while tugging away at that damn handle. Each list consists of a dozen or so items, chosen for their brisk tempos and plucked from my computer in strict alphabetical order.
This is List No. 1:
– Count Basie, “9:20 Special” (with Coleman Hawkins on tenor saxophone)
– Del McCoury, “1952 Vincent Black Lightning”
– Fats Waller, “Ain’t Misbehavin'” (from the soundtrack of Stormy Weather, with Benny Carter on trumpet and Zutty Singleton on drums)
– Jim and Jesse, “Air Mail Special” (the bluegrass version, not the jazz version)
– Jimi Hendrix, “All Along the Watchtower”
– Vassar Clements, “Avalanche” (from Will the Circle Be Unbroken)
– Fats Waller, “Baby Brown”
– The Beatles, “Back in the U.S.S.R.”
– Louis Armstrong, “Beau Koo Jack” (with Earl Hines on piano)
– Blue