Music you need when you are cooking

Pachebel Canon in D. (loudly)
Josh Groban, Closer
Neil Diamond, Hot August Nights
Journey.

Well, Rhiannon Giddens and Pistol Annies got me through this morning's blackberry pie and ragu. I tend to favor country music for cooking (and traveling), but Carribean and African stuff work pretty well too. Sometimes jazz, but I tend to want to concentrate more on that.

I love listening to Citizen Cope.

Love Tallis!

Edith Piaf, Sinatra, Thomas Tallis, Nina Simone. You can't beat disco either!

Classic rock radio, like Chicago's The Drive, streamed into my NH kitchen on my Internet radio.

Classic rock radio, like Chicago's The Drive, streamed into my NH kitchen on my Internet radio.

weekend breakfast = reggae. :)

Pandora Stations: Luke Bryan Radio, Otis Redding Radio, and Rolling Stones Radio!

Elliott Smith is a must!

for me its classic rock and 80's rock. Pandora does a pretty good job at selecting a playlist of the day for me.

I love music, but find it distracting while cooking. Often I have my children cooking with me. There is something special about having us all in the room, not a word being spoken, and the sound of chopping, tasting, sizzling, wisking, and the occasional giggle.

I am the same when I run or bike, I love the sound of my heart pumping in my ears and my breath.

Chris Issak and Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits.

My mom would always listen to them while cooking dinner when I was growing up. I guess it's genetic!

I like to listen to the food prep--chopping, dicing, sizzling, boiling, crackling... I cook by sound, smell, and touch.

Well, I'm going London for the next 2 weeks. Stones, Elton John, Adele, Amy Winehouse, Queen, Yes, George Michael, even a little Eurythmics.

I went through a George Clinton phase. "I'll take some fries with that shake."

I have a definite seasonal, emotional attachment to music. I think a good part of this is due to my parents' taste in music which ran the gamut from Bob Dylan to classic showtunes. Summer cooking for me is best suited for, what I consider, easy and bright music. I have an oldies mix on my iPod that love. Songs from the Supremes, the Jackson Five, 5th Dimension as well as music from the Turtles and other bands/singers of the 60's and 70's would be included.

When autumn and winter rolls around, I find myself drawn to lush orchestral arrangements found in artists like Ella Fitzgerald and Barbra Streisand.

I don't want to say that I am stuck in the past. I do love Gaga and many other current artists. And on the non-musical front, I love NPR podcasts such as Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me, The Splendid Table, This American Life, and On the Media.

I listen to AC/DC, Eminem, ZZ Topp, P!nk, Weezer, CCR, Maroon 5, Robbie Williams and some George Strait . It doesn't hurt for me to toss in some 80's music either. (Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, Spin Doctors) I prefer fast-paced music...keeps me going!

"People all over the world, start a love train, love train..."

On a city theme, the Chicago sound---and I don't mean the band Chicago. But like, Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions.

New Orleans; too many to name.

John Lee Hooker, Teddy Pendergrass, Old Philly groups produced by Gamble and Huff! And musicians influenced by them - Boz Scaggs, etc.

Pierino you are just too funny. I can't keep away from this thread.

80s Pop/Rock are usually my go-to tunes while cooking.

MOTOWN!

Giants Baseball, A's Baseball, Sunday Night Baseball (or any other ESPN nationally televised baseball) in that order, usually. And whichever pre-game or post-game show is most interesting, which means anything hosted by Marty Lurie, always, instead of whatever else might be on. And of course I listen to the All-Star Game and all post-season play. When it's not baseball season, I listen to whatever live sports are being broadcast, with hockey always preferred over basketball, and with the clarification that car racing is not a sport. (Please don't tell my brother that I just said that.) And I love listening to radio broadcasts of professional golf events. In fact, I prefer radio to TV for all sports. But I'm very interested in this thread, as my taste in music tends to be classical, with a heavy emphasis on the piano works I studied years ago, which are close to my heart. So you all are giving me ideas for so much to explore. Thank you! ;o)

Most of the time I cook to Jazz. Joe Williams' music is my all-time favorite, but the rotation includes Russell Malone, Ron Carter, Count Basie Orchestra, Diana Krall, Carmen McRae, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Eddie Johnson and other assorted artists.

Being a horn player myself, (I do play Jazz) I occasionally prefer a little Wagner, or the concerti of Gliere or R. Strauss... maybe a Brahms symphony. You get the idea. ;)

Motown. Just Motown. It's impossible to be unhappy.

I like radio journalism too (NPR) while cooking because there's nothing more painful than trying to chop or dice to the wrong tempo. Oh, so painful.

Jazz seems to be easiest. Heard a great piece on NPR recently with Linda Oh, a jazz bassist. Beautiful talent. http://n.pr/MMuWil

NPR, especially This American Life, The Splendid Table, Car Talk, or a favorite choral opus -- Bach's B Minor Mass, Mozart Requiem; Dixie Chicks. Oh, and absolute silence is sometimes the very best.

HAHA, love that you all need music. I usually use for cleanup, motivates me. One of my first kitchens was the size of a closet, but above the sink was my boom box.

(But the dishwasher--a small box-- was on TOP of a full size fridge, had to stand on a chair to fill it.) But music, necessary....

Thank you pierino-- excellent suggestions to fill gaps in my playlists!

I catch up on podcasts. The Splendid Table, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, KCRW's Good Food, Le Show, This American Life, to name a few.

Beyondcelery, I'm with you with ESATMZ. The new album especially is such good summer music. We tend to play a random mix of starred favorites on spotify which run the gamut from my indie bands to obscure 60s songs (thanks to XMU's blog radio) to classic rock. Today was all Tool and Puscifer because we had things to get done and that'll do it. Last week I revisited the duchess and the duke for a few days , Alabama Shakes, heartless bastards...aw heck, here's my playlist : http://open.spotify.com/user/dirksenoff/starred.

Right now I'm cooking my way to a healed heart so I listen to Florence and the Machine "Dog Days Are Over" REAL LOUD!!!! wooden spoon a-waving, hips a swaying, and grinning until I can't stand it anymore. I think I'm almost there....

I usually use music of the country I am cooking. For Italian I will go with Pavoratti etc., French perhaps some baroque classical or "cafe'" music. Portugese cataplana would be fado music. For burgers I would go with E street band. Crawfish means Trombone Shorty and Preservation Hall. Etc..
Too many recipes, too much music to pick from. Jazz works for me for any meal. I find it easy to make an iTunes playlist for each occasion and let it run for a few hours.

How could I forget the Velvet Underground? Especially "Sunday Morning" while you are making breakfast. Or, "I'm Waiting for the Man" when your newspaper is late. "First thing you learn is that you've always got to wait."

Bollocks! Sorry, keep forgetting one can't edit a post. "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me" on NPR.

Are we talking about cooking, or cooking?

Right now, I'm making cookies and getting ready to braise roast a chicken to Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, and St. Vincent. Pork dumplings or gnocchi beg for Amon Tobin, Infected Mushroom, Ghostland Observatory, or Ozzy Osbourne. Beer Bread is Of Monsters and Men all the way. Pasta needs Puccini. Soup, quiche, or puddings usually require Édith Piaf. If I'm experimenting and I don't know whether it's going to turn out edible, I'll need School of Seven Bells, Simon and Garfunkel, Fleet Foxes, or Ella Fitzgerald. Stew with Bob Dylan. I wash dishes to the Beatles.

Off topic, but Paganini or similar violin riffs during a root canal can be really hilarious. Ask me how I know.

Lately Neil Young Radio on Pandora has been scratching some deep nostalgic itch that works perfectly for me in the kitchen. But sorry, Pierino, "Landslide" came on once on that station and I'm not afraid to admit I enjoyed hearing it (but OK, it's probably the only Stevie Nicks song I would have enjoyed hearing).

Not sure if this helps, but the last time I woke up in an operating room they were playing Bobby Dylan.

It's, uh, possible my prep work speeds up considerably with a bit of Missy Elliott.

Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Beethoven.

Great topic! I am a child of the sixties - give me the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Doors (oh yes, Jim Morrison!) the Doors....did I already say that?....

Silence; classical, including opera; 50's - 60's; folk/world; bluegrass; blues. Favorite sounds regardless of what I'm doing.

Hear hear!
Depends on my mood. Pensive and doing detail work--icing a cake or doing veggie prep--I might choose Gillian Welch or even Fleet Foxes, but when I'm hitting it hard it's Amon Tobin, Aphex Twin, and perhaps the Black Keys. I do have Nina Simone phases, too. How could you not?