What Jazz Records Would You Reccommend?

zmotula asks: "What Jazz records do you think are a must-have for a Jazz Geek? I've got about twenty records I really love (Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, Tijuana Moods by Charlie Mingus, Lush Life by John Coltrane, just to mention some) and I want to spend some more money on buying more. Alas, I can only afford buying around two CDs a month. What records do you think are essential?"

Two Suggestions

[StillDocked]

Time Out by the Dave Brubeck Quartet and Ella and Louis on Verve Records (which isn't the best of either of their work, however, they are amazing together).

Another suggestion I would make is listen to the Music Choice Jazz channels, which are available on most cable and dish systems(in the States at least) They play great music and have the song/album information.

Get Dizzy.

[handsomepete]

You've got to have a little Dizzy Gillespie in your collection. Pick something from later in his career (there's a three disc Verve comp [vervemusicgroup.com] that covers his career pretty thoroughly), then pick up Groovin' High which has some really beautiful orchestrated music that's perfect for... well... anytime, really.

Let's See

[GypC]

"Mingus Ah Um" Charles Mingus

"Bitches Brew" Miles Davis (early acid jazz, very unnerving)

Try some big band stuff, you can't go wrong with anything by Duke Ellington.

You're definitely going to need some Thelonius Monk, John Coltrane, and Billie Holiday.

Good Jazz Labels

[mcSey921]

Good Jazz is easy to find by label. Look for anything on:

• Blue Note (anything)
  
• Prestige (50's to 70's)
  
• Verve (60's)
  
• Atlantic (make sure it's jazz;) (50's to 70's)
  
• Savoy (any)
  
• Pacific related jazz labels (50's to 70's)
  
• CTI (any)
  

Further if Creed Taylor produced it, buy it. If Rudy Van Gelder engineered it, for Chrissake buy it!

Getting CD reissues of a lot of these labels is not a problem, and you always guaranteed pretty good stuff. Also check out Emusic.com, they've got a pretty good selection of jazz in a hastle free (though sometimes crappy quality) mp3 format.

mcsey

Emusic has 128 Kb joint-stereo mp3s? What is this 1999?

What about modern Jazz

[linkages]

Ok. Enough suggestions for classic Jazz. If you want some more modern sounding albums, I would suggest the following:

Any Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.
You really can't go wrong here.

Jaco Pastorious in any form which includes solo albums and any Yellow Jackets CD you can find.

Victor Wooten
By far the best modern Jazz bassist around.Also part of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones

Stanley Jordan
This man is just amazing. Plays the guitar with both hands like its a piano. If you can find any of the live stuff you will defineatly be able to tell that it is live and he is just that good.

If you want more mellow stuff try John Pattatuci (spelling?). Modern Jazz bassist that plays with lots of emotion which most will translate into lullabies. Morons.

Can you tell that I am a bass player.

Not Recordings, But...

[TheWanderingHermit]

The best thing about Public Radio is that they have a good number of jazz shows syndicated nationwide. While some stations don't play them, see if your local one does. They're good at not just playing jazz, but in talking about artists, recordings and history of jazz.

One show I love in particular is Blues Before Sunrise, played nationwide on Saturday night/Sunday morning (on East coast it's from 1 am to 6 am on Sunday). It has a website (either BBS.com or BluesBeforeSunrise.com) which includes info on where you can hear the show streamed over the net every week.

While these aren't recordings, I've found that NPR (and their competition, PRI) are GREAT at educating the listeners about the music they play and guiding people toward good artists and good recordings.

Single Cuts

[TheWanderingHermit]

These aren't albums, but here's a few single cuts I can recommend, which may be found on several different albums (some are considered some of the best jazz recordings ever).

- Body and Soul, by Coleman Hawkins
- Sing, Sing, Sing, by Benny Goodman at Carnegie Hall
- Someday My Prince Will Come, by Miles Davis
- Time Out, by Dave Brubeck
- Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, by Cannonball Adderly

Just my $.02 worth.

My Top Ten album

[light101]

"Kind of Blue" Miles Davis Columbia CK 40579

"Night Train" Oscar Peterson Verve 821 724-2

"Time Out" Dave Brubeck Columbia VCK 40585

"Birth of Cool" Miles Davis Capitol Jazz C2-92862

"A Love Supreme" John Coltrane MCA Impulse GRD155

"Getz / Gilberto" Stan Getz/Jao & Astrud Gilberto Verve 810 048-2

"Giant Steps" John Coltrane Atlantic 781337-2 Rhino R2 71984

"Blue Train" John Coltrane Blue Note B2-46095

"Sketches of Spain" Miles Davis Columbia VCK40578

"Bill Evans Trio Sunday at the Village Vanguard" Bill Evans Riverside RCD-018-2

Re:What kind of Jazz?

[The Mayor]

OK. I really tried to stop laughing. But I can't.

The problem with American jazz is that in America, jazz has lost its commercial appeal. Some of the best attended jazz performances these days are in France. The French jazz scene is far better than that in the US. Even if you are interested in American performers, they tend to spend a great deal of time in France.

If you want fluff, go ahead and listen to Kenny G and Yanni. They may be the future of jazz, but that doesn't make them good. Let me give you a parallel: rock has turned the way of Brittany. That doesn't make her a good musician, though. It just means that she is marketable.

Want the future of (good, imho,) jazz in the US scene? I think bands like Widespread Panic and the Jazz Mandolin Project are where it's at. The jam band scene has borrowed a great deal from jazz over the past 35 years. The jam band scene seems to me to be showing their jazz influences much in the way that the jam bands from the 60s and 70s showed their influences from folk music.

Jazz on Slashdot?

[yawble]

omg, has the world collapsed?

regardless of the collapse, I'd recommend most anything from John Coltrane, and seriously recommend anothing by Liquid Soul. Its that kinda jazzy grooby jazz that make syou wanna get naked and find pictures of famous movie starts to Photoshop yourself into.

Its serioulsy *that* good.

They have a cover called "salt Peanuts" that may sound familiar to some of you old skool jazz ppls, but their take on it might open up a new avenus of swet sounds to all you "youngsters" ;)

I have the mp3s available, but only to those that ask. I don't need an RIAA enema today =]

Don't ask me, find out for yourself

[babbage]

It sounds like you're off to an excellent start -- you're about where I am in learning about great old jazz. If you want to go beyond this, I highly recommend raiding the CD section of your local library. I've gotten to sample box sets from Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Louis Armstrong, a great Ella Fitzgerald & Duke Ellington set, etc from there, not to mention lots of individual albums.

To go beyond that, read & listen. When Christopher Lydon used to do the public radio show The Connection [theconnection.org] from WBUR [wbur.org] in Boston, he used to do lots of great jazz shows. The ones on Kind of Blue [theconnection.org] & A Love Supreme [theconnection.org] greatly deepend my appreciation of what was already two of my favorite albums, and Lydon's enthusiasm for the music also got me interested in hearing more from people like Count Basie and others. Thanks to the magic of RealAudio and the generosity of Boston University, you can still listen to these great radio shows today. On a similar note, NPR's Curious Listeners Guide to Jazz [amazon.com] looks like a pretty good overview of the genre but deeper conniseurs than me might disagree about that one.

Really though, the library is the best thing. Check out everything you can, make a note of what you like & what doesn't do anything for you, and focus on the artists & time periods that you like the best. For me, the stuff from the late 40s (Davis' "Rebirth of the Cool", 1948 [?]) through the late 50s (1959 gave us Davis' "Kind of Blue", Mingus' "Mingus Ah Um" & "Blues & Roots", and Coltrane's "Giant Steps" -- four of my favorites) and into the early 60s (Contrane's "Blue Train", 1961) seems to have been the golden age of jazz. Before that was a lot of big band & swing (fun, but not as personally satisfying to me) and after that came a lot of avant garde & psychedelic stuff that I only care for in small doses.

As for whether you'll like modern stuff, I dunno. The 60s & 70s seemed to bring a lot of psychedelic free jazz & funk, but personally I haven't yet found anything from that era or since that has won me over. The closest thing I can find to modern jazz that I like is Martin Medesky & Wood, who in some ways do an interesting blend of that older cool jazz mixed well with modern hip hop -- making me wonder just what John Coltrane would have done if anyone thought to have a DJ in a band back in the 60s. My problem with MMW though is the whole hippie jam band thing, which I find great for naptime. Oh well. The other modern jazz person I've found to be consistently interesting is John Zorn; if you've ever heard Mr Bungle's albums and tried to puzzle out how they got to be so different from what Faith No More did, blame/thank John Zorn. To the extent that the first Bungle album didn't sound like "The Real Thing", to my ear it's almost all Zorn's influence (he produced the album). This stuff is fascinating to listen to, but it can barely be described as music in any conventional sense: his Cobra album seems to go out of its way to discard rhythm, melody, harmony & tempo -- it's just vaguely organized bursts of sound on disc. Very very weird.

Bonus points: compare & contrast the album cover for "Blue Train [bluenote.com]" with that of one of the Cowboy Bebop [amazon.com] DVDs -- the cover art & logo are similar, and the back cover tiny font text are like mirrors of each other. First time I ever got a chance to see Cowboy Bebop (again, at the library -- I don't have cable tv :), I could tell just from the cover that the people that did this had excellent taste :) :) :)

Anyway, this is al

Re:What about modern Jazz

[SimplexO]

Can you tell that I am a bass player.

And on the modern saxophone front:

My personal idol, Michael Brecker [michaelbrecker.com]. My fav CD is Two Blocks From The Edge. On there is Delta City Blues which shows Mr. Brecker's extraordinary control over his overtones... It is phenominal!

Also, try Joshua Redmond's Wish. He playes with (among others) Pat Matheny who is always a treat. I know it might sound corny, but you ought to listen to their version of Tears in Heaven. Tasty!

Also:

Any GRP All-Star CD is worth your money. It's like having every big-time artist under the GRP label playing in one of the tightest big-band's ever. I'm just surprised they could keep their egos in check!

Dave Grusin Presents: West Side Story is a remake of the original, but (in my opinion) is better than the original soundtrack.

Hope someone found these helpful.

P.S. It is always the best to get CD's of people you have played live with. I have played with Patitucci, Jim Widner, The Jazz Ambassadors, and other less-known yet still stellar guys.

MMW, Monk, and JMP

[phisheadrew]

A few of my favorites:

Thelonious Monk - Specifically Solo Monk and Traditionals

Medeski Martin & Wood - The Dropper and Uninvisible

Jazz Mandolin Project is also good.

If you can't afford it, you could always look for live recordings of them (not sure about Monk though) online, legal and free. www.furthurnet.com , www.etree.org

Jazz for beginners

[Van Halen]

A few years ago I stumbled upon this page [tripod.com] and really enjoyed what this guy had to say. I'm still building my collection and slowly expanding my own tastes. Right now in the Jazz genre of my collection, my biggest favorites are Herbie Hancock and Wynton Marsalis. I've got a fairly basic collection of early Miles Davis stuff, and lately I've been getting into jazz guitar (as you may guess from my username, I'm a huge fan of instrumental rock guitar already). Lately I've been really digging Charlie Hunter (plays an 8-string guitar, doing the bass and guitar parts simultaneously -- quite amazing) as well as Frank Gambale, whose style I suppose may be considered a bit of a fusion of jazz and rock (though is it "Fusion"? I don't think so, but I don't know much about that genre yet).

Anyway, just some ramblings and potential starting points if anything interests you.

Re:Let's See

[The Mayor]

Hmm...Weasels Ripped My Flesh is definitely a good one in my book. But, just for some contrast, one of my favorite Miles Davis albums has to be Sketches of Spain. Nothing like Zappa, and it might even be a little too orchestral to be considered true jazz. But to hear Miles pumping that trumpet on the opening...I am almost brought to tears just thinking about it!

Re:What about "modern" Jazz?????

[SimplexO]

Trolling? Why yes you are. I'll bite.

Since I think you are talking about Joshua Redmond, I just want to let you know that back when Wish was released, he was rated (don't ask me how, I don't remember exactly -- I think it was a contest of some sort) the number 2 sax player in the world. He might sound like MUZAK to the untrained ear, and Tears in Heaven might sound a be a little corny, that doesn't mean that he doesn't rock. However, I don't think I can say anything that will change your mind.

And you are damn right I dropped names... in the same way that geeks 'round here drop languages they can program in. It's shit you put on your resume. I played with him, him, and them. It's kinda like what you did with Billy Cobham (who?). Also, there is almost always somebody better than the other guy.

And you should know better than to argue musical tastes. It's not like I'm advocating Kenny G (whom I can't stand) -- we're talking about renowned pros here different strokes for different folks.

If I spelled John's name wrong, you ought to tell his website [johnpatitucci.com] that they got the domain name wrong too.

While I'm replying, if anyone is reading my flame here, go and pick up anything from the Chick Corea Elektric Band. Akoustic is good, but Elektric is better.

Out Jazz!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Gotta get some good out/free jazz, for sure.
Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz
John Coltrane - Ascension, Interstellar Space
Albert Ayler - Spiritual Unity
Cecil Taylor - Nefertiti, Unit Structures

Also look for Arthur Doyle, Sunny Murray, Don Cherry, Milford Graves (!!!), Marion Brown, John Tchicai, Peter Brotzmann, Frank Wright...

Also, most of the Actuel label represses are amazing, as are a lot of the ESP Disk Reissues. I could go on, but check it out for yourself.

Must have jazz...

[maiasaurus]

Just spent the day at the Playboy Jazz Festival yesterday *drool* Must say that Dve Brubeck and Al Jarreau together was truly awesome. That being said, here's Playboy's list, and I agree with almost every choice:
Cannonball Adderly: Somethin' Else
Art Blakey: Moanin'
Dave Brubeck: Time Out
Benny Carter: Further Definitions
Ornete Coleman: The Shape of Jazz to Come
John Coltrane: Giant Steps
A Love Supreme
Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool
Kind of Blue
Miles Smiles
with Gil Evans: Sketches of Spain
Duke Ellington: And his Mother Called him Bill
Bill Evans: The Village Vanguard Sessions
Dizzy Gillespie, Charlis Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, Max Roach: Live at Massey Hall
Herbie Hancock: Speak Like a Child
Coleman Hawkins: Body and Soul
Charles Mingus: Changes Two
The Modern Jazz Quartet: Django
Thelonius Monk: The Complete Genius
Oliver Nelson: Blues and the Abstract Truth
Charlie Parker: The Savoy Recordings
Bud Powell: The Amazing Bud Powell (Vol. 1)
Sonny Rollins: The Bridge
Art Tatum: The Complete Art Tatum
Weather Report: Heavy Weather

As I said, I agree pretty much with their 25 must haves, and I'd add to it starting with the Rippingtons.