Happiest of birthdays to DR Jane!
I first really heard "Take Five" some 15 years ago, on a sampler CD that someone left in my office (Cornerstones: Sony Legacy), and was just blown away. I was never a big jazz person, but that piece just jumped out at me and grabbed me by the throat.
TOD:
Streisand's "Not While I'm Around" and "Adelaide's Lament," first heard in my late teens, sent me on a lifelong exploration of Sondheim in particular and musical theater in general. I was probably heading that way anyhow, but those were the pioneers. Rush's "Hemispheres" album turned me on to their unique sound. My parents played a mix tape of Tom Lehrer and Flanders & Swann around me when I was a wee lad, and I've been singing "novelty" music ever since. Most recently, the "Goat Rodeo Sessions" supergroup formed by Yo-Yo Ma, Chris Thiele, Stuart Duncan, and Edgar Meyer performed their composition "Attaboy" on the Colbert Report, and I spent the next month frantically playing it for EVERYBODY I knew.