Jazz / Jazz-y Music Recommendations

Cafe Society
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Hopefully recommendation threads are ok here - I usually post in GQ and don’t think I’ve posted here before. Anyway:

I’m looking for jazz recommendations. There’s way too much out there and I don’t know the history or anything of artists, songs, etc., and most of the stuff I check out doesn’t seem to be up my alley. So here’s a simple list of likes and dislikes:

Likes:

Recent albums (recent to me):

Quincy Jones - Walking in Space
Down Home Style - Brother Jack McDuff
The Complete ABC Singles (Disc 5) - Ray Charles
Electric Funk - Jimmy McGriff

I also generally like Charlie Hunter and Vijay Iyer, although I think Iyer is probably an outlier in terms of my musical tastes. Quite a bit different from the other stuff on the list. I also really enjoy the 3 CDs I have by Jewels & Binoculars - they cover Dylan stuff only (although they’re defunct) and I suspect if they had a disc of originals, I might not like it so much.

I also really enjoy Kamasi Washington, specifically tracks like “The Magnificent Seven”. Also enjoy Frank Zappa’s “Hot Rats,” specifically the track “The Gumbo Variations.” Also really listened to Mingus Mingus Mingus quite a bit, and some of his other discs, but Mingus x 3 was the best for me.

Dislikes (these are all generally speaking; there are exceptions):

I don’t like vocals.
I don’t like old jazz recordings - I don’t like the “thin” sound, to my ears, and I lean towards more rock-tendencies, so that probably also doesn’t help more traditional jazz.
I’m not a big fan of trumpets, although a lot of it is probably that thin sound from old recordings.

I’ve listened to old Stan Getz, for example, and didn’t like it. Listened to Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew and found it wasn’t tuneful enough (to the point that I kept tuning out).

Can anyone point me to some other artists or discs I might like?

(Also, more specifically, there are lots of Quincy Jones discs out there and, having recently discovered Walking in Space, am curious as to what else is most similar to that.)

Thanks in advance.

2

Have you heard Snarky Puppy?

Snarky Puppy - Lingus (We Like It Here) - YouTube This is called Lingus. Fully arranged jazz instrumentals.

Jimmy Smith, Back at the Chicken Shack: Jimmy Smith - Back at the Chicken Shack - YouTube

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I’ve heard some Snarky Puppy on the radio and it always sounds okay to me, but not great. I watched part of the video you linked to and it just seemed kind of… soulless? Maybe since it’s fully-arranged, I don’t know. Anyway, ok but not quite.

I do have Back at the Chicken Shack and like it quite a bit; I like Brother Jack McDuff better than Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff, but enjoy them all. That would be a good recommendation except that I already have it.

Thanks - keep 'em coming.

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Julian Lage - Nocturne: Julian Lage - "Nocturne" (Live In Los Angeles) - YouTube

Julian Lage and Fred Hirsch - Beatrice: Fred Hersch with Julian Lage - Beatrice (Sam Rivers) - YouTube

Lee Morgan, the Sidewinder: Lee Morgan - The Sidewinder - YouTube

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Thanks for more - really liked Nocturne and Lage’s playing; wasn’t as taken with the second link, but still more than enough in each to encourage me to check out some more of Lage. Great sound.

And I’d run across Lee Morgan’s name before but it got pushed out of my memory. I knew when the title was “Sidewinder” that I’d like it. So I’ll check out more of that. Gracias!

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Super Soul Bros.

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Ok, so holding in my head that you don’t like old recordings or trumpets (sigh, trumpet players are the best, imma gonna change your mind about that but I’ll give it time.)

Bitches Brew wasn’t tunefull enough (I get it) but the recording quality was up to snuff. You do like Mingus. That’s a curveball. What didn’t you like about Getz? The recording quality?

Ok so start with Miles. Look at The Birth of the Cool. Kind of Blue is next if you like that. Bitches Brew is a whole different thing. Like the difference between Space Oddity Bowie and I’m Afraid of Americans Bowie. Also grab Dave Brubeck, Take 5.

Take a listen to Clifford Brown and Max Roach. Max is a drummer (my favorite drummer) and a band leader. He does LOTS of cool stuff. Clifford Brown is good too. I won’t talk too much about him yet. Just let me know if you like any of it. Pull up Delilah on YouTube. Report back.

Horace Silver is super cool. Check out Blowing the Blues Away.Piano jazz. Good quality recording.

You might like Hard Bop more than Bebop so look at Cannonball Adderall. Give this a listen and report back. It’s live. One of the best live jazz concerts ever recorded imo. Cannonball Adderley Quintet - "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (1966) - YouTube
Ok so some cool jazz, some hot jazz, some hard bop. The Cliff brown stuff is straight ahead bebop. You got some piano stuff, some sax stuff, some small combo stuff, some large combo stuff. One live track. Let me get you a solid guitar track. Check out Wes Montgomery. He’s the best.

Ok, report back now.

Oh and check this thread form 10 years ago out too.

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Here’s my thread on Lage: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=802552

Has some of his other non-jazz stuff. His etudes are amazing.

And yeah, I kinda figured you for a Lee Morgan guy from what you mentioned. Good stuff.

9

Based on your first few samples (which lean towards funkified fusion), try:

Ronnie Laws - “Always There”

You should give a listen to almost anything by Billy Cobham; let’s try “Spectrum”.

There’s a lot of Return to Forever you should try; let’s start with “Vulcan Worlds”.

Also by RTF, maybe something like “Majestic Dance”?

Maybe some Dr. Lonnie Smith?

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Wow, I’m not sure our tastes could be more different. :smiley:

(Not that there’s anything wrong with that…)

11

While not pure Jazz I have to share Critters Buggin which is pretty fun and not “smooth jazz” but not as crazy as Bitches Brew. It has rock, funk and African influences and has an all-star cast of Matt Chamberlain, Skerik, Brad Houser and Mike Dillon.

Here is an example song and as you said you liked Frank Zappa’s “Hot Rats” it immediately popped into my head.

Note that the Sax player Skerik has lots of side projects but a few notable ones and some will be more “jazz” like. Crack Sabbath, Skerik’s Syncopated Taint Septet, and the Dead Kenny G’s.

If you like any of those let me know and I will give a few more suggestions but I don’t want to fill up the thread if you are looking for more of a smooth jazz vibe.

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Open while you are reporting back. Check out Art Blakely too. Try Moanin. It will get you some Freddie Hubbard too.

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Thelonius Monk

Oscar Peterson
If these are way off base I’m sorry. The Mingus is probably throwing me off. I figure you would have found Coltrane on your own if you were interested but he has phases like Miles did. Interstellar Space is… Beautiful but hard to get into. It’s about his own terminal diagnosis.

Giant Steps is the album everyone seems to recommend as a first taste of Coltrane. That or A Love Supreme. The song My favorite Things is probably the single song to start with but might be underwhelming.

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Ok, will try to respond to all these in some semblance of order. My dislike of what you like isn’t a criticism of you (or your musical tastes)!

Snowboarder Bo:

Super Soul Bros: Don’t like the songs themselves, so the musical interpretations and musicianship doesn’t really make a difference to me.

NAF1138:

If I remember from when I listened to Getz, it was the sound quality, some, and I think just the songs - I think I’m not really into “traditional” jazz sounds, perhaps?

Miles just doesn’t do it for me; I happened to have a copy of Kind of Blue so listened to that - I don’t like the sounds of trumpets and you’ll probably not convince me otherwise. (I played trumpet for 5 years, quite badly, so maybe that’s affecting me even now.)

Clifford Brown + Max Roach: Too much trumpet.

Same with the Horace Silver recording that was linked to.

I did like parts of the Silver, though. (Well, in fairness, there were parts of all of them that I liked; I didn’t turn any off in disgust. Well, almost.)

Cannonball Adderley track was good, but Mercy Mercy Mercy is perhaps my girlfriend’s favorite jazz track, so I went in a little biased.

Generally, all this stuff (not Super Soul Bros, but the others) so far is just too traditional and not hard enough, I guess. That may be where my bias against “old” jazz arises from - not the recording, necessarily, but just the style that didn’t come about until later. I’m just guessing.

Skipped around on the Youtube recording of The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery and nothing grabbed me. Too traditional (for me). I was trying to think of a word to describe a lot of these sounds to me and honestly, the first word that came to mind was “dusty.”

Comparing them to, let’s say, Quincy Jones’ “Walking in Space” - Jones sounds clean, the sound “pops” more, the arrangements have a more identifiable hook.

(Also, not an Are Blakey fan - too traditional.)

It’s Not Rocket Surgery:

Ronnie Laws was just a bit too … “'70s”, but getting closer. Reminds me of Herbie Hancock and Ramsey Lewis, both of whom I really like. Now that I’m letting the Laws video run in the background some more, it’s probably worth looking into more, but it sounds really ‘70s. (Which is funk, I guess; I like Ramsey Lewis’ Sun Goddess and Hancock’s Thrust, Head Hunters, Man-Child, and Fat Albert Rotunda.)

Jumped around on the Billy Cobham - again, closer, but the opener was a bit much, although not too dissimilar to some Zappa.

Okay, found the term I was looking for - both those and Return to Forever sound too much like progressive rock to really hit it for me. I don’t dislike progressive rock, but not the jazz sound I’m looking for.

Dr. Lonnie Smith was good. I’ll definitely check that out some more.

Misnomer:

Thanks for your input! My tastes differ quite a bit from my girlfriend, who likes to describe what I like as “good, but not really jazz.” We might not last.

Just kidding.

rat avatar:

Critters Buggin was ok, sounded a bit over-the-top.

Thanks for ALL the suggestions - I found parts of everything that I liked and they’ve helped me think more about what I like and don’t like as much. Winners so far are probably Julian Lage, Lee Morgan, and Lonnie Smith.

15

I suppose I should believe you when you say you don’t like trumpet. I’m probably not going to sneak a coronet by you either huh?

The problem with not wanting trumpet in your jazz is that it’s a lot like not wanting guitar in your rock music. It’s sort of the instrument the genre was built around. That said, knowing that you actually want harder jazz is helpful. I was leaning the other way (partially because harder jazz is usually trumpet based but that’s a side issue). Check out the Monk and Peterson selections above. You might also like Ornette Coleman.

Otherwise we start veering towards Weather Report style stuff. Which is fine. But it’s a different direction again.

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I’m surprised you can even recognize the original video game music, either by name or by ear; I cannot. All their stuff sounds like a wild late '70s Zappa band jam. There’s clearly a song in there, but there’s also a lot of people just running with it for a while.

At any rate: to each his own.

Now I’ll offer up a few more to try:

Sleep Walker - The Southern Cross (Tokyo jazz band)

The Bad Plus - Everybody Wants To Rule The World (yes, the Tears For Fears song; arranged for bass, drums and piano)

Moon Hooch - Tubes (2 saxophones and drums)

Free Nelson Mandoomjazz - Into The Sky (bass, drums and sax)

Based on the Jimmy McGriff album you listed, and I know this is a long shot BUT, have you ever listened to anything by Pornosonic? Or Lettuce?

I know this one is kind of way off what you asked for, but they are instrumental and they are a lot of fun, so I thought I’d give you a link to one track by this crazy surf ensemble; here’s Daikaiju - Jellyfish Sunrise.

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“Moanin’” was written by pianist Bobby Timmons, while he had the piano station in Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. It’s great, as is pretty much everything Timmons composed. Check out some of his live trio dates with bass and drums: very bluesy, very soulful.

I happen to be listening to pianist Dodo Marmarosa at the moment. A great bop player with a weird life, and his name is really fun to say out loud.

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I dug the Snarky Puppy (even if it rolled-past my 3.5 minute attention span). And the Jimmy Smith was smooooth.

However, i was expecting something else when I clicked the Jimmy Smith link. After just watching the Snarky Puppy video, I parsed your link as a jazzy return to Jimmie’s Chicken Shack. It was not that.

I’m just getting introduced to BADBADNOTGOOD. Contemporary jazzy stuff. Mostly smooth; sometimes smoky/dark.

19

I really don’t know much about Jazz and not even sure if this is even considered Jazz but I love the soundtrack from the movie, “Sideways” and listen to it often.

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Yeah, given what the OP was naming, I went in a couple of different directions: Snarky for a more fully-orchestrated jazz sound, and Jimmy Smith for jazz-inflected badass organ. Based on his/her interest in Jimmy Smith, I went with Lee Morgan.