Of course there is no right way of discovering or rediscovering artist and groups. What happened in my case is that I was familiar with Robert Plant as a solo artist almost 20 years before knowing that he was the lead singer of Led Zeppelin. Back in the 80's I really liked the song "Big Log." For the longest time I only had a taped version from the radio, and played it often. A few years ago I bought the cd "Principle of Moments" which includes that song. I never really gave Led Zeppelin much thought even though I've heard the band's name alot. Then when I finally realized the connection to them as well as the Honey Drippers, my interest has grown in discovering everything Led Zeppelin. So far the only cd I have is "Physical Grafitti."

Has anybody discovered artist or groups out of order only to realize different connections later on?

funkyslsistah said:

We call this the "gateway" and it happens a lot when one is born of a generation subsequent to the original artist's fanbase or resides in a cultural context vastly different from the artist's fanbase. It tends to lead to building a vast collection of greater variety than your peer group might have (or at least you'll build up the interest).

In my case, digging Herbie Hancock on Chameleon led me to Maiden Voyage, then into his work with Miles Davis. I moved forward into Miles' electric and backwards into Miles' acoustic jazz and then I gathered everything from eveybody that ever played with Miles.

You must have a hell of a record room! I'm only halfway through Coltrane's discography never mind the Adderlys...