Why any of the classicals. Nothing like the oldies.

I listen to the same things I always listen to....Rock-n-Roll! Sometimes I become "the dance around the kitchen" cook! LOL

Linda

About all I listen to these days is Andrea Bocelli; I have nearly everything he has recorded. All Christmas baking was helped along by his latest CD, "My Christmas", and I am still not tired of hearing it. I also love to play the soundtrack of "Phantom of the Opera", with the original cast of Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman. My other favorites are Eros Ramazzotti, Yanni and Def Leppard. I know, a really weird mix. But it's me!
Kat

While I appreciate all kinds of music, I generally listen to rock, pop, R+B if I want to get some work done. Never rap or hip hop, not into most of the country, but most other current music has the best effect on my mood.

Nancy

Try this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Jamie-Olivers-Cookin-Music-Cook/dp/B00005LPVZ

dcarch

If I am listening to music it can go from rock to classical piano or anything in between but I mostly listen to books when IÂm cooking or cleaning and that could be anything from Harry Potter to Atlas Shrugged. DH knows that if I am listening to Stephen KingÂs The Stand I am in spring cleaning mode. LOL

Claudia

"Peel Me a Grape," the Diana Krall version! I love to cook to mellow jazz and the standards. Also like to cook while listening to Prarie Home Companion and other folk and bluegrass stuff. My local public radio station has an extremely ecclectic mix on Sundays, my cooking day. Everything from folk, world music, Indian, Arab, Jewish, show tunes, and finally ending up with jazz in the PM. I kind of like to cook to folk and bluegrass, because it can feel "homey." Depends on if it is good stuff or not. Some tunes even have a food theme, like "Maple Syrup Time" by Pete Seeger, or like this song, "Canned Goods" by one of my favorite artists, Greg Brown.

Canned Goods
Well let the wild winter wind bellow and blow
I'm as warm as a July tomato

[chorus:]
There's peaches on the shelf, potatoes in the bin
Supper ready, everybody come on in
Taste a little of the summer
Taste a little of the summer
Taste a little of the summer
Grandma put it all in jars

Well there's a root cellar, fruit cellar down below
Watch your head now, and down we go

[repeat chorus]

Well maybe you are weary and you don't give a damn
I bet you never tasted her blackberry jam

[repeat chorus]

Oh she got magic in her, you know what I mean
She puts the sun and rain in with her beans

[repeat chorus]

What with the snow and the economy and everything
I think I'll just stay down here and eat until spring

[repeat chorus]

When I go down to see Grandma, I gain a lot a weight
With her dear hands she gives me plate after plate
She cans the pickles, sweet and dill
And the songs of the whip-or-will and the morning dew and the evening moon
I really gotta go down and see her soon
Cause the canned goods that I buy at the store
Ain't got the summer in em anymore
You bet Grandma as sure as you're born I'll take some more potatoes and
a thunder storm

[repeat chorus]

Mostly I cook to the TV on Food network....
Or Beethoven's 5th piano Concerto....that's real movin' music....good for making lots of bread or a very large pot of soup.

NO music when I am trying to cook. Or read. Or think. And NEVER in the car if I am traveling with others, but OK sometimes when travelling by myself. I love music, but only when the ONLY thing I want to do is listen to music. Weird, huh?

My "kitchen" music whether cooking or cleaning up:

The Big Chill - clean-up music, from the kitchen scenes
James Taylor
Carly Simon
Il Divo
Josh Groban
Burt Bacharach and Ron Isley
Anita Baker

Thanks for the replies. I often have the Food Network on in the background, but am trying to keep the TV off unless I'm tuning in to watch a specific show. Maybe just me, but until I made a conscious decision to do this I didn't realize how much calmer I felt without the loud, jarring commercials intruding on my space.

I was hoping to hear of some artists I hadn't known of, and there are a couple in the above responses I'll have to check out.

Sherry, I am a lot like you. When I cook, or walk or exercise, I just listen to my own thoughts. If music is on I don't even hear it.

I do enjoy music in the car. I am limited to the radio in my old Honda and the selection is pretty bad since the introduction of Sirius and other pay stations.

I often have hte tv on in the next room while I am cooking but it is just background noise, I don't really pay attention.

I do love music and when I am listening to it, that is pretty much all I am doing.

I have a stereo in the kitchen, but it's mostly for listening to Christmas music while I'm doing the Christmas baking.

Kat, I bought that Andrea Bocelli CD for the boss for Christmas, she loves it.

You might find me listening to darned near anything, depending on my mood. Right now I have five CDs in the stereo:

The Beach Boys
Charo (thanks, beanthere, I still like that CD!)
Norah Jones "The Fall"
Ravel's "Four Seasons"
The London Symphony Orchesta and Beverly Sills "the Barber of Seville"

OK, so the last one is Elery's, he grew up listening to opera in the Italian grocery where he worked as a kid and he loves it.

Tomorrow it might be The Everly Brothers, Kenny G, Willie Nelson, Journey and Beethoven, you never know. Neither do I....

I listen to nearly anything except rap or really loud "headbanging" stuff, that gives me a headache. Oh, and Lady Gaga's latest thing, Ashley loves it, I can't stand it.

Annie

I listen to music I can sing along with, oldies, especially rock and roll and country. They make me smile which makes everything better. I usually pop my iPod onto the cradle on the radio and sing away.

Meatloaf !!!

Uncle Kracker?

Pink Floyd?... "how can you have any meat if you don't eat your pudding?"

Meatloaf's Heaven Can Wait stuck in my head tonight. It played on the radio while I was at the bar tonight and now I can hear it playing in my mind (glad I like the song). A Melissa Etheridge CD is the latest in the house. Eva Cassidy, AC/DC, and Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon in the stereo turn table.

Here is a link that might be useful: Meatloaf's Heaven Can Wait

I really like the Putomayo world music collections. Sometimes it's sort of fun to throw on some music that matchess the menu -- fado, smabas, flamenco, etc. They have sound clips on their website.
http://www.putumayo.com/en/

There's no telling what we'll be listening to at any given time though. Right now I have Santana, Bon Jovi, Sugarland, Carrie Newcomer, and the Isley Brothers loaded into the player. It's a wonder the thing doesn't explode.

Sinatra,Tony Bennett,Englebert Humperdink or anything 1940's!

LOL! I listened to a Tony Bennett compilation while cooking up a new chili recipe yesterday afternoon - mellow but upbeat. It was a perfect backdrop, with the snow falling outside my windows.

I have no Englebert Humperdink....(thanks for the suggestion) and I mean to download some Ella Fitzgerald.

Etta James is another good one!

Oh yes, and Jill Scott, I love her family reunion song...

Annie

Hey Bunnyman! We love the same music! Meatloaf! Pink Floyd! I don't listen to music while I cook because the TV is on for my husband. If I ask for music, he would change it in a second.

Rock on! Rock on!

Want to share news of an artist I learned about today on CBS Sunday Morning (my favorite TV show of all time...)

Her name is Melody Gardot and her newest CD, which just went double-platinum in France, is called "Worrisome Heart."

Her personal story is extraordinary. You can read her profile on the CBS Sunday Morning site. I haven't yet downloaded the CD (still need help to do that..)but have listened to the previews of most of the tracks. It's light jazz, but I don't think you have to be a jazz lover to enjoy it.