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Cafe Society
#1

Mr. baboon is quite the music afficionado.
Our musical tastes are now turning toward Jazz.

Please tell me who you think should be in our collection.

Requests include:

  1. old school Jazz. The birth of Jazz. the ‘hep cats’ of Jazz. We aren’t really looking for anything modern. We watch the Cosby show and Cliff Huxtable always has the coolest records playing of people we have never heard of. We want ‘real’ Jazz.

  2. Mr Babs is a drummer and loves jazz that is primarily non-vocal. he is not a big fan of Holiday and Fitzgerald, ,as an example, because he wants to concentrate on the music and not the singer.

3.Please include jazz’s brothers such as Big Band, etc.

Grooooovey man, groovey!

thanks!
:slight_smile:

#2

From my untrained ear:

There’s a double live Charles Mingus album from ~ 1971 that is just amazing-- "Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert ". Also worth checking out by Mingus is “Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting”, "Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus ", and “Cumbia & Jazz Fusion”. Charlie is my favorite.

Also I wind up playing “Kind of Blue” by Miles and John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” quite a bit.

only about 4% hep,

mouthbreather

#3

I’m a bit of a new convert myself, but my tastes go more towards the Free Jazz records of the sixties. However, right this minute, I’m listening to a cheapo compilation of Lester Young which is pretty hep. I also prefer instrumental to vocal jazz, and this fits the bill nicely.

I’d also like to pose a suggestion in the form of a question to the really knowledgable folks here - I’ve heard that Louis Armstrong is a genius, and on one live record I have of him, he just sounds amazing - like there’s far more to him than ‘What A Wonderful World’ and ‘Hello Dolly’. What are the essential L.A. records?

If you’re after the hipsters’ Jazz, you can’t go past Charlie Parker, although I’m not sure what record to start with for him, either (I only have some cuts by him on compilations).

#4

GEt DUke Ellington Live at Newport and put on “Dimuendo and Crescendo in Blue” and everything you need to know about jazz is in there. OK not everything.

#5

boon,

i’ll prob’ly get it with both barrels for this comment. But…

Any Miles Davis prior to ‘Bitches Brew’ . Previous to that turning point Miles was a bleedin’ god. After that he just thought he was a god. i’m not a big fusion fan, obviously.

If rhythms your thing, go trad with the Modern Jazz Quartet, especially with Sonny Rollins.

Cal Tjader can be used to facilate interstellar travel.

Ignore Jobim to the peril of your soul.

In closing, two words: Django and Grapelli

Pax

#6

1,000th post – I’m happy to be here. :slight_smile:
I’m just getting into jazz myself. Dave Brubeck is a particular mainstay of mine. In fact, I just listened to “Kathy’s Waltz” off of his signature album, Time Out. That song has some of my favorite brushwork ever recorded. I’m sure that Mr Babs would dig Joe Morello’s fine interpretations of rhythms just as much as Mr. Brubeck’s fine phrasing and dynamics.

Sebastian Whittaker is another favorite of mine. I think he’s right there in your town as well; you might check your local alt-weekly and see if he’s playing. Very crisp drummer, and pleasing to listen to even while he comps and observes time at a feverish pace. The band he leads (7 pieces) seems to be after a small group big-band approach. I have his first two albums, First Outing and the one that came after that; I can’t remember the title right now.

#7

If you wanta sample of hep… check out “The Geat Generation”. It’s a 3 cd release of all kinds of cool stuff.

I think Rhino released it.

#8

Cool, already lots of good stuff already - and what am I, eighth?

Jazz Drummers? Roy Haynes, Billy Higgins (you might only find them on vinyl) and of course, Buddy Rich.

If you like Vince Guaraldi (Linus and Lucy, Cast your fate to the Wind) you might appreciate his collaborations with Brazil Samba/Bossa Nova musicians (Bola Sete, Stan Getz & João Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim)

McCoy Tyner (Coltrane’s pianist), Dizzy Gillespie, Pat Metheny, Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead drummer), Joe Sample, Larry Carlton, Grover Washington.

#9

Obviously, this type of posts opens more doors than it closes.

Have I seen Ken Burns’ Jazz? Nope, but I hear it provides a good overview (but since jazz lovers, by definition, are a peculiar lot who don’t follow anyone’s lead, have many, many problems with who Burns mentioned, lavished attention on, or left off) - so maybe you could get his series and take it from there.

Anyway:

Early Jazz - Louis Armstrong’s Hot Fives and Hot Sevens recordings, Jelly Roll Morton

Swing Jazz - Benny Goodman (esp. featuring Charlie Christian), Duke Ellington, Gerschwin. Buy Ben Webster - King of the Tenors for mellow, combo-style of this stuff. He was Duke’s tenor sax.

Be-Bop - Charlie Parker - Yardbird Suite rocks, Gillespie - anything with Salt Peanuts, Oleo, etc…, Bud Powell (piano - wow) - best of, Thelonius Monk - Straight, No Chaser, Underground, Composer, Brilliant Corners, plenty of others,

Hard Bop - Coltrane - A Love Supreme, Blue Trane, Coltrane Plays the Blues, Giant Steps (getting a little out there). Art Tatum - 20th century piano genius is amazing stuff…
Cool Jazz - Miles (Kind of Blue, Steamin’, Relaxin’, Cookin’, Walkin’ - many, many more), Brubeck - Time Out, Teddy Edwards - Sunset Eyes, Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus, Art Pepper - Meets the Rhythm Section. Plenty of other West Coast stuff, like Gerry Mulligan, or Paul Desmond, but this is a start.

There are about 20 plus CD’s all of which are 5-star classics. Hope that helps.

#10

Bix Beiderbecke. And more Bix Beiderbecke. And when you run low, be sure to stock up on some Bix Beiderbecke.

#11

What do you mean by “modern” ? Nothing recorded in the last ten years, or that you consider bebop to be “that crazy Chinese music” ?

I’m not sure how much stuff from the “birth of jazz” you’ll want. Unless you have a real taste for it, it’s not something you’ll put on the box every day. If you only get one, go for Louis Armstrong’s The Hot Fives and Sevens. If you want more, King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band - The Complete Set is a good 2-disc set of some of the very earliest recorded material. The Smithsonian release Jelly Roll Morton, Vol. 2: The Red Hot Peppers in Chicago is wonderful. And the Sony album Bix Beiderbecke Vol. 1: Singin’ the Blues.

The heppest hep cat of all was the aforementioned Lester Young…but you have to be careful what you buy 'cause there’s a lot of crappy compilations out there. Prez is featured prominently in the 1937-38 Decca recordings of the Count Basie band. To hear him in a small-group setting, get the 1945 Lester Young Trio (with Nat King Cole and Buddy Rich), The Lester Young/Teddy Wilson Quartet, or Pres & Sweets (with Harry Edison on trumpet).

#12

I always liked Al Hirt. (Is that jazz?)

#13

Vince Guaraldi

Sure, best known for Linus and Lucy from the Charlie Brown movies, but very good jazz overall. If you listen to the music from A Boy Named Charlie Brown, you’ll find that quite enjoyable as well.

#14

Benny Goodman “Live at Carnegie Hall”

Duke Ellington “Live at Newport”

ok just about anything that begins “Live at”

#15

I love Jazz, but I am woefully ignorant, so please forgive me for suggesting The Manhattan Transfer. Try The Offbeat Of Avenues and Brazil.

#16

…or ends in “Birdland” or “Village Vanguard” or “Carnegie Hall” :slight_smile:

This dude’s 20 favourite jazz albums of all time are really 267 and counting

Lot’s of “Live at’s…” :slight_smile:

#17

Drummers: Max Roach and Shelley Manne. Contemporary - Dave Weckl is king followed by Steve Gadd.

Lee Morgan - Search for the New Land

Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Collosus, The Bridge, Way Out West

Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool, All of the “xxxx with Miles”

Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker - Album is called “The Gerry
Mulligan Quartet” but it also has a session with Chubby Jacskon. Some great counterpoint between Gerry and Chet.

The Ultimate hard bop hipster is Dizzy.

For fun EVERYONE should have King Pleasure - Golden Days.

#18

Whoops, gotta throw in some Oscar Peterson.

#19

WordMan nailed it. Seriously. All I might add would be Count Basie Orchestra to swing/big band. Jazz drummers that have impressed me: Gene Krupa, Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson.

#20

Man, I don’t hear that often enough. Thank you, sir.

By the way, I agree with a Count Basie or two, Lee Morgan (I really like The Sidewinder and Tomcat CDs), Bix Beiderbecke (sorry I missed him, Eve!), and a number of the others mentioned. You would do fine to buy a Chet Baker or two, but there is a fine line between true art and a drug-induced slow delivery just this side of out-of-tune that could be interpreted as art, and Chet was on the wrong side of that too often for my taste…