Only Serious Jazz Ethusiasts Need Reply

Cafe Society
1

I’m a 56 year old musically ignorant person who lives in the boonies. The local radio stations play mostly the golden oldies which I’ve enjoyed for many years. But I’m getting really bored with it. Modern rocknroll completely turns me off.

In the past I’ve been exposed to some jazz which really excited me. The ability of those wind instruments to jerk my mood around without lyrics scores well with me. Yet I really didn’t give myself the time to get really into it.

I want to make some changes in my life and I want a part for jazz in it.

Can anyone give me an introductory list of the best jazz cds available? I don’t wany a crappy

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Posted too soon accidentally. That should read…I do’t want a crappy run of Cds to turn me off.

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Well, this should really be in IMHO or CS, but in the meantime…

Time Out - Dave Brubeck Quartet
Time In - Dave Brubeck Quartet
Return To Carnegie - Cleo Laine
Open Your Eyes You Can Fly - Flora Purim
Elegant Gypsy - Al Di Meola

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CS no doubt. Boy did I blow it.

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Kind of Blue – Miles Davis (considered one of the best jazz albums ever by purist and still quite accessible to newcomers).

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First off, do you know what kind of jazz you like? There are a lot of variations out there, some of which sound almost nothing like each other. Jelly Roll Morton, for example, doesn’t play the same type of music as the 70’s group Weather Report, but they both play Jazz.

If you have any artists or songs or sounds that you already know you like, it will help get you to a jumping off point. You say you like woodwinds, check out Benny Goodman Clarinetist extrodinare, and fantastic Big Band leader.

I second the recomendation of Dave Brubeck, and would add Louis Armstrong, and Charlie Parker to a list of my personal favorites that everyone (not just jazz lovers) should own. Some people love Miles Davis too, I am not a huge fan of everything he did, but he has some great stuff. Kind of Blue and Birth of the Cool are undisputed Classics. So that gives you some Big Band, some New Orleans Jazz, some Bop and some Cool.

Now, go read the Essential Music Library entry for Jazz.

Then pick a subgenre and start exploring. The exploration is half the fun.

Enjoy!

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Hey, man! If it’s about jazz or music in general, try Cafe Society. Those cats are hep.

Moved. samclem

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Do you have a chance to listen to some online radio? If so, that might be your best bet–lots of exposure to lots of different styles for little upfront investment.

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Certainly not 100% Jazz, but WWOZ 90.7 FM in New Orleans can be listened to over the internet, no commercials. Will 3rd “Kind of Blue,” if you don’t like it then you simply won’t like Jazz.

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Louis Armstrong.
Count Basie.
Thelonius Monk.
And, for something contemporary, The Manhattan Transfer.

But especially Louis Armstrong.

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Try Dave Grusin’s album “Homage to Duke”. It’s all Duke Ellington and done very well. Or try the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra’s first album, which was all Duke. Or try the Duke himself.

A good multidisk set is the Tribute To Carl Jefferson, which has a truckload of artists on it playing all manner of jazz. Jeff was a jazz music producer and all of these artists came together to pay tribute after he died.

Stan Getz had some great stuff, particularly his bossa nova years. Try the Getz/Gilberto album.

Chet Baker had some sublime moments on the trumpet and is great for the new jazz listener.

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I’d also highly recommend Lambert, Hendrick, and Ross. They may be the greatest jazz vocalists ever, their voices actually becomming the instruments. “Everybody’s Boppin’” is the best CD to start; it has all of their “The Hottest New Voices in Jazz” album, plus a bunch of additional songs. Pure brilliance.

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I would second the notion to explore some of the various styles of Jazz out there, as there is a lot of variety; find one that you enjoy and explore from there.

I find All Music to be a great place to start for all genres of music, jazz included.

You can learn about the various styles, listen to some short samples, and purchase music right there even. They have a very thorough listing of most published music, who wrote it, who performed it. I often will combine surfing AMG and downloading music to sample with a filesharing program like Limewire. You can then purchase music you enjoy (and support the artists that worked hard to produce it).

You might also try a music service like Pandora that will create an interactive play list of music to your tastes. A quick way to get exposed to a bunch of new music that is of interest to you.

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Agreed. For more recent vocalists, Jane Monheit is excellent, as is Karrin Allyson and of course Diana Krall.

Oscar Peterson for piano along with Brubeck and Monk.

Jazz sax: other than Getz, there’s Ben Webster and Paul Desmond.

I’d stay away from groups like Weather Report and Ornette Coleman, as their stuff is generally difficult to follow for more than just the novice, including me.

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I am an innocent like yourself.
Listen to this guy. He’s on my NPR station. I write artists and songs down at night and seek them out at the music store or Ebay. Regina Carter, a lady with a violin. John Coltrane of course, Miles Davis and Cannonball Adderly’s Fiddler On The Roof. Yeah, you read that right. :slight_smile:

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I’m a dabbler, not an enthusiast, but I’ll throw a couple of names out, just stuff I like

Lee Ritenour
Patricia Barber (verse or modern cool)
and if you want to check out bossa nova, the soundtrack from Next Stop Wonderland

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I’m going to just throw out a whole bunch personal favourites since you really didn’t specify any preferences for artist or style. Hopefully I’ve included a healthy mix of genres and eras:

You can’t go wrong with early New Orleans Jazz as pioneered by Jelly Roll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, et al. This will give you solid grounding for exploring later styles. Look for Armstrong’s Hot Fives and/or Hot Sevens compilation releases. Excellent stuff.

I’m a big fan of swing/stride piano so if you’re into that sort of thing, Art Tatum is the man. Almost as awesome are Teddy Wilson and Fats Waller.

As for Big Band Swing, Duke Ellington (possibly my all-time favourite jazz composer) is essential listening as are Benny Goodman, Count Basie, and Tommy Dorsey. Glenn Miller is also good but he never rose to the heights of the the ones I listed before.

Moving on to the bop of the late '40s and early ‘50s, the three most important names are Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Miles Davis. Parker and Gillespie’s recordings together on cuts like Salt Peanuts are seminal bop. Gillespie also was a prime innovator of big band Latin jazz and A Night in Tunisia and Manteca were huge hits. Davis’ The Birth of Cool defined the cool jazz sound which emphasized more relaxed and romantic rhythms as a counterpoint the

The huge burst of creativity continued throughout the '50s which saw the development of free jazz, hard bop, modal jazz, etc. My favourite recordings in these genres come from John Coltrane, Horace Silver, Art Blakey and Sun Ra.

The early '60s saw the bossanova craze with Stan Getz, Antonio Carlos Jobim and Vince Guaraldi being a few of the biggest voices. Moving through the '60s you see the development of fusion and later, (ugh) smooth jazz.

Some of my favourite recordings from the '40s, '50s and ‘60s:[ul][li]Duke Ellington: The Great Summit: Armstrong & Ellington, Ellington at Newport (1956) (Paul Gonsalves’ tenor solo nearly started a riot!)[/li][li]The Quintet (Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach): At Massey Hall (legendary live performance).[/li][li]Ellington, Mingus, Roach: Money Jungle[/li][li]Dizzy Gillespie: Afro, At Newport[/li][li]Miles Davis: Birth of Cool, Kind of Blue, Workin’, Steamin’, Cookin’, Sketches of Spain[/li][li]Canonball Adderly: Somethin’ Else (contains my favourite version of Autumn Leaves feat. Miles Davis)[/li][li]Oscar Peterson: Night Train (Hymn to Freedom is a soulful masterpiece), Canadiana Suite, The Oscar Peterson Trio + One.[/li][li]Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um, Mingus Dynasty, Mingus at Antibes, Let My Children Hear Music, Blues & Roots, Oh Yeah!, The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady (I love this guy too much to narrow it down)[/li][li]Vince Guaraldi: Jazz Impressions of Black Orpheus, any and all of the Charlie Brown soundtracks. Seriously.[/li][li]John Coltrane: Blue Train, A Love Supreme, Ellington and Coltrane, Giant Steps[/li][li]Horace Silver: Song for my Father[/li][li]Lee Morgan: Sidewinder[/li]Stan Getz: Getz/Gilberto, Jazz Samba[/ul]Holy crap! This started out as just a simple list but has ballooned incredibly the more I think about the topic. I think I’ll continue with the modern era in the next post.

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This was mentioned before, but it deserves a second. Please make your first purchase Kind of Blue by Miles Davis. I was listening to this for the hundreth time a couple of hours ago at the gym and it still surprises me. If you like it, any of the lists that the experts (I’m just a lame amateur) are going to post here are a safe bet.

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Drummer in a working jazz quintet checking in
Listen to meee
GET

Miles Davis - Milestones
John Coltrane - My Favorite Things
Chick Corea - Now he sings, now he sobs
Herbie Hancock - Maiden Voyage
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Freddie Hubbard - Ready for Freddie
Oscar Peterson Trio - Night Train
THEN GET
Herbie Hancock - Headhunters
Chick Corea - Friends
Chick Corea - The Leprechaun
Weather Report - Heavy Weather

then you will have a good beginning collection of jazz from the 60’s & 70’s

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I’m going to skip over a lot of fusion like Michael Brecker, Weatherreport and David Sanborn as well as smooth jazz by people like Kenny G (cursed by thy name), George Benson, The Rippingtons, et al because those sub-genres really don’t appeal to me.

There have been a lot of modern jazz players who have become quite successful playing standards, like Diana Krall and Jane Monheit. Less well-known but a big favourite of mine is Susie Arioli and her Swing Band out of Montreal. She has a sweet voice for the old standards and her guitar player Jordan Officer totally rocks out.

Jeff Healey, probably best known as the blind guitarist in the Patrick Swayze movie Roadhouse is an excellent swing guitar player in the style of Django Reinhardt. He also hosts a radio show on Jazz FM in Toronto and has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of '30s and '40s swing.

Slightly more experimental are singers like Patricia Barber, who’s compositions are becoming increasingly distant from jazz or Cassandra Wilson. Her style is a mixture of jazz, delta-blues, country and sometimes even funk. I think of her as the thinking person’s Nora Jones.

Then there’s formalists like Wynton Marsalis, who’s dogmatism can be annoying at times or the more irreverent clarinetist Don Byron. He’s incredibly versatile and has played klezmer, big band, funk and the music of Raymond Scott (frequent composer of loony tunes cartoon soundtracks). In fact, I think Bug Music is a masterpiece and a must-have for anybody who loves the joyous, playful swing of those old cartoon classics.

Also interesting is Bad Plus, a fascinating power trio who’ve made something of a name for themselves by re-interpreting mainstream hits such as Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. Their music tends to be riff-based with a heavy back-beat they’re still firmly in the jazz genre.

Most exciting to me is the New York avant-garde scene, led primarily by John Zorn and his many, many side projects and backing bands. He’s played everything from traditional swing to klezmer to heavy-metal free-jazz. It seems his main mission is to reclaim and re-interpret jazz’s early jewish influences.

Other interesting artists from this scene are Marc Ribot who shares Zorn’s eclecticism and is also Tom Waits’ frequent guitar player, and Steve Bernstein who plays a mean slide trumpet.

In fact, Steven Bernstein’s Sex Mob albums are among my favourite modern jazz recordings. They have a very rough, gritty and sexy feel that harkens back to the early New Orleans days but have a very modern sensibility. Keeping with today’s trend towards covers and re-interpretations of old material they do plenty of covers but they are much more adventurous and experimental than usual. Sex Mob Does Bond is a fantastic album of covers of John Barry’s James Bond music. It’s probably one of my all-time favourite jazz cds, ever (although I’m biased as a big fan of John Barry).