Jazz lovers...ok...I'm starting to get into jazz. What are some...

[terrya]

Must listen to and must haves?

I've been listening to some stuff I really like...Pat Metheny, Diana Krall, David Sanborn...and I want to discover more artists.

I know this is a subjective thing, everyone has different likes and dislikes...

But go ahead and give me some suggestions as to whom I should check out.

Thanks,
Terry

[Gato Moteado]

1. duke ellington, charles mingus, miles davis...

louis armstrong, ella fitzgerald, bill evans, chet baker, count basie, frank sinatra(pre-world war II), django reinhardt

[GOPisEvil]

2. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman

Three all-time greats. :thumbsup:

"Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis (featuring Coltrane in the band) is the best record ever, IMO.

[NicoleM]

10. I second that.

You don't have a jazz collection if "Kind of Blue" isn't in it.

[trof]

3. Four Freshmen

Best vocal jazz group ever.

[Richardo]

4. Cassandra Wilson - "Traveling Miles"

John Coltrane - "Giant Steps"
Miles Davis - "Bitches Brew"
Nat King Cole Trio (Diana Krall's collection of NKC Trio songs is great)
Thelonius Monk - "Blue Note Years" is a good intro

I like ensemble stuff so Buddy Rich Big Band; Stan Kenton; Don Ellis (not for everyone); Woody Herman.

Weather Report; Charlie Parker

Hope you enjoy it! I've been listening to jazz since I was in our high school stage band (mumble mumble) years ago...

:thumbsup:

[demnan]

5. Dave Brubeck

Winton Marsalis, Coltrane

[EdWesKer]

39. Take 5

n/t

[regularguy]

6. Cannonoball Adderly. Wayne Shorter.

Of course Miles,Monk, and Coltrane too! I would recommend getting original albums as opposed to compilations. My personal favorites are the BlueNote albums from the late fifties to the late sixties.


A few albums:

Joe Henderson: Inner Urge
Wayne Shorter: Night Dreamer, Speak No evil, JuJu
Oliver Nelson: Blues and the Abstract Truth.
Grant Green: Idle Moments

and a million more! Have fun.

[dolgoruky]

8. Billy Strayhorn

Django Reinhardt, Charlie Christian.

[mhr]

7. John Klemmer - Finesse - Musician 1983

eom

[phaseolus]

9. Seconding some recommendations

"Kind of Blue" is a must-have, and if you like that one you'll like Oliver Nelson's "The Blues and the Abstract Truth", too. Some of my favorite tunes are on those two albums.

In a slightly different vein you should check out Louis Jordan's stuff. Post-big band, pre-R&B from a small combo. Lots of fun.

[Go Eagles]

11. some of my favorites

Miles Davis, there is so much but I would add “Birth of the Cool” and “Jack Johnson”. Along with Bitches Brew Jack Johnson’s was some of his fusion experimentation. Some don’t care for the fusion but I think it is phenomenal.

John Coltraine, there is also so much but Love Supreme (inspired by his spiritual revelations when withdrawing from heroin) and Blue Train are my favorites.

Dizzy Gillespie, Tholonias Monk, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington, Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald and Louie Armstrong.

Some contemporary stuff I like is Winton Marsalis, and I really like Charles Fambrough’s “Keeper of the Spirit” (Latin/Brazilian style). Galactic is another great band (acid/funk/jazz fusion).

I would also recommend Ken Burns Jazz: Ken Burns's Jazz: The Story of American Music , which has some phenomenal work and provides examples of Jazz from some of the earliest recordings to the present. The Ken Burns series is also good in giving some perspective on the music/history of Jazz and might point you is some directions. My only gripe with the series is that they down played the fusion and I think Winton Marsalis had something to do that because he was a major funder of the documentary and didn’t like that aspect of the music.

[felonious thunk]

12. felonious thunk recommends Thelonius Monk

Wonderfully inventive piano player. He spans many jazz genres and spans them all very well.

Also, I dig Stan Getz. He dabbled in some really cool bossa nova stuff and Brazilian jazz. Check out Getz and Gilberto recordings, I think it's some of the most beautiful music ever made.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

13. Two recommended...

Online listening posts for jazz:

On RealPlayer: WRTI, at night, starting with the remarkable Bob Perkins show at 6:00pm EST. Bob is cooler than us. He plays incredible stuff, trending towards the stuff that soothes the soul with its quiet melodies. Show is out of WRTI/Temple U. Radio in Philly, which is a vital hotbed of Jazz. WRTI plays Jazz only after 6:00pm.

Shoutcast(Winamp): In the jazz section of Shoutcast, there is a "station" called Digitally Imported. They play Modern Jazz by the greats. It is Pure Joy and Bliss to listen to.

[regularguy]

27. BP with the GM!

:hi:

[WilliamPitt]

14. Miles Davis 'Kind of Blue'; John Coltrane 'My Favorite Things'

Start there.

15. the Bird

Charlie Parker
Billie Holiday
& all the other greats mentioned above

[arwalden]

16. I Love Dinah Washington And Sarah Vaughn

Sarah Vaughn
Dinah Washington

[bif]

17. Tommy Flannagan, Hank Jones, Barry Harris

Brad Meldau, Eric Alexander, One For All, Steve Turre and The Modern Jazz Quartet are some of my favorites.

[nostamj]

18. Oscar Peterson

Art Tatum

and, more contempo: Keith Jarrett, Jan Gaberek,

as mentioned already Miles Davis, "Kind of Blue" is essential.

as is ELLA and Louie Armstrong (get one of their Duets disks!)

[Bundbuster]

19. piano, sax, trumpet breakdowns

Piano - start with Art Tatum (Pablo label always good); Oscar Peterson (Pablo again); *Gene Harris "Black & Blue", "Brotherhood", others on Concord label; Count Basie (Pablo label again), Red Garland - great stuff with Coltrane & Miles Davis; Bill Evans, Erroll Garner, Marcus Roberts, Kieth Jarrett (different), Tommy Flanagan, Kenny Barron, Horace Silver.

Sax - start with Ben Webster & Johnny Hodges; Charlie Parker; Gene Ammons, Zoot Simms, *Stan Getz "Serenity" and "Anniversary" are great; Gerry Mulligan, Coltrane "Blue Train" and "The Stardust Sessions"; Antonio Hart, Cannonball Adderley, Scott Hamilton, Justin Robinson, Hank Crawford.

Trumpet - "Satchmo" Armstrong, Miles Davis "Milestones" and many others; Harry "Sweets" Edison, Art Farmer, Clark Terry, Clifford Brown, Wynton Marsallis.

Organ - Jimmy Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Jimmy McGriff.

Vibes - Milt Jackson has tons of great CD's with super casts (Pablo stuff again), Lionel Hampton and his Big Band.

Just for starters...

[Red_Storm]

20. some great albums to check out..........

Miles - Miles Ahead, Cookin', Sketches Of Spain

Coltrane - My Favorite Things, Lush Life

Charles Mingus - Mingus, Mingus, Mingus

Bill Evans - Portrait In Jazz, Moon Beams

[XNASA]

21. Monk & Miles

Listen to Monk.

I guarantee. You've never heard anything like him.

[kskiska]

22. Lester Young

Billie Holiday
Chet Baker – good video on Chet "Let's Get Lost"

[bif]

28. Chet Baker was a God!

One of my alltime favorite musicians. And I like his vocals too--especially the early stuff.

[Bertha Venation]

23. Patricia Barber.

She's from Chicago.

And she's family.

Melts my butter . . . . ;)

[CBHagman]

24. Great suggestions from the above posters. Here are more.

Don't forget these options:

*Verve has done a series of songbooks with various artists. These are very reasonably priced (about $10 on CD) and give you exposure to various artists. They're great crowd-pleasers, too. My customers at the music store love them. Try "A Fine Romance" (music of Jerome Kern), "We'll Have Manhattan" (music of Rodgers & Hart), "I Get a Kick Out of You" (Cole Porter), and/or "S'Wonderful" (the Gershwins). Artists include Ella Fitzgerald, Dinah Washington, Nina Simone, Blossom Dearie, Louis Armstrong, and Billy Eckstine.

These songbooks are like M&Ms, though; once you have one, you'll want another.

*Ella Fitzgerald's songbooks, most of which have now been remastered and reissued with the original liner notes and further commentary. I have the Gershwins, Rodgers & Hart, Harold Arlen, and Cole Porter collections.

[non sociopath skin]

25. In my humble opinion...

The greatest jazz records of all time are "Body and Soul" by Coleman Hawkins and "Summertime" by Sidney Bechet. Never get tired of listening to them.

The Skin

[mac56]

26. All of the above, plus

Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross.



Image credit: singers.com

[thebigidea]

29. Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Roland Kirk, Ayler, Coleman

40. these guys are "Gods"

but are you trying to scare Terrya away from Jazz!? The wildest first?
I was fortunate enough to see Sun Ra live a couple of years before he went back to Saturn. Absolutely amazing.

[bif]

43. Don't start with these guys

I totally agree. I also wouldn't recommend Spyro Gyra either=jazz light or Jazzak as I like to call that type of Kenny G music. Start with real jazz like Miles, coltrane, Charlie Parker, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Lester Young, Oscar Peterson. Then branch out.

[Bossy Monkey]

30. Buy these records

John Coltrane, A Love Supreme; Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Free For All; and a good various artists collection, such as Introducing the Verve Jazz Masters. You're required by law to get some Miles Davis but I can't help much there as I don't have a lot of use for him; Steamin' doesn't suck as much as most of his stuff.

[Red_Storm]

31. "Steamin' doesn't suck as much as most of his stuff"

You so crazy !

[MiniMoog]

41. Your statement, sir, declares a total, incomprehensibly

violent ignorance of Jazz music:

"You're required by law to get some Miles Davis but I can't help much there as I don't have a lot of use for him; Steamin' doesn't suck as much as most of his stuff."

You are correct in one singular regard: By Law, Mile Davis is a required experience.

Not a dig, per se. Just a musician's observation. Let me leave this space before my more primal instincts hold sway.

MiniMoog

[Dees]

32. Spyra Gyra and Tom Scott and the LA Express.....two

you might sample. I tend to lean smooth jazz.

[NashVegas]

33. Mingus

[thebigidea]

34. love "The Clown" w/ Jean Shepherd

[MamaBear]

35. Dave Brubeck TIME OUT

I don't think it's been mentioned yet ... all the tunes are in odd meters, and they all swing.

Much of the be-bop and cool jazz recorded in the late 50s early 60s was recorded with minimal rehearsal ... Kind of Blue and a lot of the Bill Evans material from that period where all done very quickly, and retain a lot of freshness.

If you do mellow, you might want to check out Antonio Carlos Jobim, who melded cool jazz with samba rhythms go get bossa nova; if you like Jobim try Banfa.

And George Gershwin, of course.

[sangha]

36. Another new jazz lover

I've been listening to a lot of soul jazz bands from the 60's. Grant Green, Groove Holmes, Jimmy Smith, Joey DeFrancesco, Shirley Scott, etc.

Also, I 2nd the recomendations for Brubeck

[Mrs. Venation]

37. Anything By Spyra Gyra n/t

[democracyindanger]

38. Duke Ellington and

Count Basie, for big band stuff. Definitely Monk, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

But the best way, IMO, is to get compilations with a variety of artists. After a while, you'll start figuring out who and what you like, then can buy specific albums. Use the Penguin Guide to Jazz for good album reviews--any decent jazz store should have one, even Tower Records.

[LanternWaste]

42. Stand Kenton... don't make a move without Stan

I'm surprised I haven't seen Stan Kenton on the list so far (although I didn't read the list very carefully...). He's pretty much the father of contemporary jazz and the charting he did was timeless. From the most beautiful ballads to the most driving, up-tempo pieces, Kenton was a master in every sense of the word. For a taste of his portfolio, try these two pieces on for size: Malaguena and La Fiesta. They're two of the most covered jazz pieces today (and with good reason). Screaming trumpets, good counter-melodies, wonderful bass lines.

Spyro Gyra is a contemporary group and I've grown to love their work. Although it may be a little more commercial than the deep jazz from the 50's, it does seem to have it's own unique flavor and there's no doubt that the melodies are really difficult to get out of your head. Try their trade-mark work, Morning Dance (album of the same name) which, for all intent and purposes put them on the radar charts in the mid eighties and for a good indicator of thier ballad style, try Rasul, which has a great, soulful trombone counter-melody.

But all in all, after a taste of Kenton, you'll start getting inspiration as to who he played with most, whose music he decided to cover and who decided to cover him. Those will be pretty good indicators of seriously good jazz...

Enjoy! :)

[HuckleB]

44. Lenox Avenue Breakdown by Arthur Blythe

That's the thing.

[AlabamaYankee]

45. WWOZ, New Orleans

If you have broadband by all means tune into 'OZ (WWOZ.org) It's New Orleans' "Jazz and Heritage Station", and has nothing but great music. To top it off, local musicians often stop by and play a couple of tunes live on the air. I have it on all day at work, and it's a great way to find artists you would like to hear more of.