Again ... "favorite" vs "essential".

So I'm going to put away my favorites for a minute and really try to think about the word "essential" and back up a few picks.

Bob Culbertson - Romantica I
The Stick plays classical.

Steve Adelson - Sailing Down The River, Sane
The Stick plays jazz.

Greg Howard - Stick Figures
The quintessential solo Stick record. What can a clever composer of instrumentals do with an instrument, a live mic, and some time.

King Crimson - Discipline
Stick perfection in a full rock band setting.

Jim Lampi - Greazy
Singer/songwriter/Stickist

Honorable mentions:
Classical - Guillermo Cides - Tribute to Bach
Solo Stick - Tom Griesgraber - A Whisper In The Thunder
Rock band - Gordian Knot - Gordian Knot
Folk Vocal - Third Door Down - Refraction
Pure feel - Daniel Kane - On The Street Where You Live

I don't think I can come up with a "Top 5" list, but this thread has gone on long enough without mentioning Jim Meyer.

Arbutus and Jade - instrumental rock, Stick + drums/perc, with an occasional dash of keys.
Watercolor - instrumental, solo Stick.

My 5 most listened to in no particular order:

Greg Howard - Water on the Moon
Bruce Cockburn - Live 1990 (w/Fergus Marsh on Stick)
Larry Tuttle - Through the Gates
Unnamed Lands - Tom Griesgraber & Bert Lams
Trevor Stewart - Let Go

With "Essential" I'm going with what I know of that has reached a huge scope of ordinary people who listen to music regardless if they are musicians or not. The following list is my perception from what I've experienced from people outside of the Stick community:

1. Discipline.
2. Gordian Knot
3. Falling Into Infinity - by Dream Theater
4, Before These Crowded Streets - Dave Matthews Band
5. Tie between Larry Tuttle's "String Planet" and Jeff Pearce's "Rainshadow Sky"


1-3 Are mentioned to me very frequently whenever I'm introduced to musicians by other musicians that tell them I play Stick - or - among serious prog rock fans who are not musicians. The top three become a focal point of discussion.

2 Most hardcore metal heads I've spoken with bring up Sean Malone when I tell them I play Stick. I've had former coworkers who played in death metal bands share bootleg recordings of Cynic with Malone playing both bass and Stick, and thus Gordian Knot is mentioned. Perhaps Focus by Cynic would be a tie for the number 2 spot with Gordian Knot, but I've never heard the album mentioned, so I did not list it.

3&4 unfortunately only have one song on those albums with Stick, but "New Millennium" is a song I find most younger bass players, or serious Dream Theater fans identify the Stick with. Dreaming Tree has a bit of resurgence after Matthews created a line of "Dreaming Tree" wines.

5. I bring up because currently Larry and Jeff are the only two Solo Stick artists I know of that get regular airplay on SPA Radio. I hear them weekly whenever I listen to that station. I keep hoping some day SPA will have a weekly "Stick Hour" featuring other Stick artists


I'll leave it at that, my list would change drastically depending on one's interpretation of essential, which is already covered by a lot of other answers to this post

Lift -Greg Howard
NYC- Steps Ahead/Tony Levin
One Thousand Years - Trey Gunn
Azure - Greg Howard
World Gone Crazy - Andy Summers/Tony Levin

Great topic. My list of Stick player links has gone from having 42 people/bands to 59! That's partly finds direct from the topic, but also boosted by a few others that came up in searches for ones from the topic.

Pleased to see how popular bandcamp is with Stickists. I have a bandcamp link of some sort (either the player or an associated band) for slightly over half the entries. The youtube percentage is even higher.

I don't have enough experience, or albums, to form a useful list of my own yet, but I was especially happy to see Greg's 'Water on the Moon' appear in Scott Ernest's list. I'm pretty certain that (both the full mix and the 'Naked' version) will long be 'essential' Stick listening for me.

Yes! Bandcamp is great. While perusing, make sure to check out the material from Arthur Durkee - https://arthurdurkee.bandcamp.com/ - Art clearly has the largest volume output of any Stick player. Of course, not all of his music is Stick related. But much of it is.

I'm partial to his album "Wind, Sand, & Stars". An excerpt of it was included on the 2002 Stickwire compilation CD - a good find if there are any still available. Also, Art's "Shifting Times" is brilliant.

Top 5 essential Stick albums...on cassette:

Greg Howard - Whispers
Sticks and Stones with Greg Howard and Tim Reynolds - Brand New Age
Frank Jolliffe - In the Pocket
Common Ailments of Maturity (John Breglia on Stick)
Radio Chongching (George Soler on Stick)

+not on cassette Andy Salvanos Closer

He's already there, as are you Brian.


Thanks for the suggestion. I haven't tried than one yet.

In no particular order :

Jim Lampi - Young Lions
Greg Howard - Azul
Marco Cerletti - Random and Providence
Emmett Chapman - Parallel Galaxy
Bright Brown - No Matter Faint How There's Light In Everything
Pascal Gutman - Cascades
Trey Gunn - The Third Star