Cabin Music

The cabin is slightly over one hour north of Los Angeles, perched on the side of a mountain, flanked by pines. The front deck surveys a blue expanse through which juncos and chickadees twitter, jays squawk and woodpeckers tattoo telephone poles.

When I feel like augmenting this avian soundtrack with some recorded music, I don't reach for the same albums that blast in my office or rattle my car. There is a category called cabin music.

The musical style is usually unimportant. Cabin music is anything that boosts -- or at least doesn't disrupt -- the feeling of elevation (both spiritual and physical) produced by the cabin. It might be gently introspective folk, dynamic Tropicalia or madly swingin' jazz, but it must reinforce that deep glow of well-being the cabin never fails to evoke.

As my beloved is fond of saying, "Cabin music is a state of mind." Any of the following -- blended with appropriate care -- can make any place feel like the cabin.

Nick Drake: The English singer-songwriter died young, and his work is so suffused with melancholy that he seems to have known his life would be short. But it's astoundingly beautiful, a generally acoustic bed for his gossamer voice. His complete works are anthologized in the four-disc set "Fruit Tree" (Rykodisc), but the individual albums are all recommended. "Five Leaves Left" is perhaps the most consistently, meltingly gorgeous, though "Bryter Layter" contains some more upbeat, horn-driven material. The stark "Pink Moon" -- which got some exposure on a recent car commercial -- is slightly less consistent but still gratifying. "Time of No Reply" is a single-disc anthology that's a superb introduction to Drake's songs. Once they're part of your life, you'll be hard-pressed to imagine life without them.

Sammy Davis Jr.: Davis' seemingly infinite range as a performer is exemplary of a bygone era, and the four-disc "Sammy Davis Jr. Story" (Rhino) certainly strains the limits of the medium in capturing Davis' acting chops, tap-dancing furor, impersonation skills and bop-influenced spontaneity. Hell, you can almost see the beads of sweat. But what shines throughout is Davis' resilience, his unquenchable optimism. "Story" sees him assay a panoply of standards ("The Lady Is a Tramp," "Hey There," "That Old Black Magic," "I Got Plenty of Nuttin'," a sensationally smoldering, voice-and-drums take on "Begin the Beguine"), as well as more contemporary fare (a stunning voice-and-bongos "West Side Story" medley, "Mr. Bojangles," "The Candyman," "Eye on the Sparrow," the theme song from "Baretta"). There are a few missteps, such as Rogers and Hammerstein's interminable, maudlin "Soliloquy." But Davis' standing, even among such peers as Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald (both giants in the cabin-music world), is confirmed by his ability to place his stamp on even the most familiar material. And for a sun-dappled afternoon in your cabin, wherever it may be, there's no better aural sunshine.

Henri Dikongué, "C'est La Vie" (Tinder): This Cameroonian singer/songwriter folds English and French folk-pop style and Caribbean savor into the joyous, deeply yearning strains of African song. The result -- partly in French and partly in the Douande dialect - is one of those enthralling experiences when emotional content shines through the language barrier. The title track celebrates new life, and its chorus is an anthem for the ages. "Na Tem Ite Idiba" conveys devotion like few other compositions I've ever heard. Supple, sweet and high, DikonguŽ's voice is a miracle.

Antonio Carlos Jobim: The father of modern Brazilian music is also one of the most influential composers of the modern era. His astounding talents as a songwriter are evidenced in such classics as "The Girl from Ipanema," "Tristeza," "Agua de Beber," "Corcovado" and the seminal "Aguas de Marco" (Waters of March). In addition to his own classic recordings, there are crucial renderings of work by the great Joao and Astrud Gilberto and Frank Sinatra. Any collection of the Gilbertos' collaboration with visionary jazzman Stan Getz are highly recommended, as is the Jazz Masters edition of Astrud's best-known versions. Jobim's intoxicating litany "Aguas de Marco" has been recorded by Art Garfunkel, Jobim with Elis Regina, David Byrne, Rosa Passos and others and remains a sterling example of this music's rich romanticism and timeless expansiveness.

Django Reinhardt: A gypsy with only three fingers on his left hand, guitarist Reinhardt fashioned (with violinist Stephane Grappelli) a thrilling, string-based variation of swing. The percolating rhythms are Django's tightrope, and his mad velocity never dampens the melodic exuberance of his playing. Exemplary among the countless gems he turned out with Quintet of the Hot Club of Paris are a sprightly "Sweet Georgia Brown," the swoony "Nuages" and "How High the Moon," but any recording of the Hot Club band is recommended. Less praiseworthy are the U.S. sessions for which an unqualified arranger drowned him out with horns. Woody Allen imagined a sun-speckled afternoon in "Stardust Memories" that was the pinnacle of one particular romance; naturally, Django's sublime bends and swoops form the soundtrack.

"John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman" (Impulse!): These six duets of voice and saxophone are as lushly romantic as any music I've ever heard. Coltrane, best known for his incantatory post-bop excursions, reveals himself here to be as capable of lyrical understatement as anyone who ever picked up a horn. Hartman, meanwhile, possesses a flutey baritone so thick with life experience it seems to transcribe the heart's every secret. Meanwhile, what is arguably Coltrane's finest band (pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Elvin Jones) casts a moonlit glow upon "They Say It's Wonderful," "My One and Only Love," "Autumn Serenade" and other aphrodisiacs.

That should get you started. I'll have more picks from the mountaintop sometime soon.

--Simon Glickman