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?"

Comments

John Zorn.

[Roto-Rooter Man]

If you're into easy listening, I recommend John Zorn.

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 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.

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!

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?

Re:Good Jazz Labels

[FatRatBastard]

2 great samplers of Verve Jazz are "A Night Out With Verve" and "A Night In With Verve". Both box sets are 4 CDs chocked with great stuff from the Verve vaults and they're pretty cheap as well (around $20 if I remember). You really can't go wrong.

As for a single album: "Mystery Lady" by Etta James. James is more well known for her Blues work, but this album of Billy Holiday tunes is spectacular.

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.

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. 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.

Re:What about modern Jazz

[Goronguer]

Jaco Pastorius was not in the Yellow Jackets. He was in Weather Report, but only on a few albums. "Heavy Weather" is the high point of the Jaco era of weather report.

The bassist for the Yellow Jackets is Jimmy Haslip, also a fine bassist (from what I hear; I haven't heard them myself.)

Re:What about modern Jazz

[Cujo]

What about the real stuff? Jazz that only rehashes the past isn't jazz, IMO. Innovation is its life blood.

There are some great living players. Here are a few:

• Henry Threadgill - alto player and a great composer who easily gets bored of reepeating himself.
• Susie Ibarra - drummer/composer with Eastern influences. A thoughtful, subtle player.
• Myra Melford - pianist and composer who often works with some of the best players around. Her album Above Blue is terrific.
• Dave Douglas - the Masada trumpet player.
• Ken Vandermark - terrific sax player and sophsiticated composer
• Ornette Coleman is still alive and kicking, and will continue to challenge.
• Egberto Gismonti - if you want something a little softer but still brilliantly conceived and executed.
• And of course, John Zorn, who resists labeling as agressively as anyone, but is one of the most talented and accomplished (and devious) musicians we have anywhere in the world

Of those no longer living, I don't see any mention of Eric Dolphy, who was one of the greatest improvisational geniuses of whom we have an accurate record. Check out Out to Lunch to get your neurons humming.

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:My Top Ten album

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

I was just about to add Somethin' Else!

Rahsaan Roland Kirk needs to be added here. Wow, where do you start with this guy? Maybe Domino, with Herbie Hancock as a sideman, too.

On another track: Brother Jack McDuff. Really, almost the most laid-back of the Hammond B3 players. Once you listen close, and see where he's going with the band...

It's hard to go wrong with The New Boss Guitar of George Benson, with the Brother Jack McDuff Quartet . Benson's debut at about 21. McDuff has him lead the group, and you can see just what He built his original reputation on.

Oh Yeah, Herbie! How come no one's mentioned Herbie Hancock so far? I know he doofed bad in the '70's (like Benson) but c'mon! Takin' Off!

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 =]

I like this type of Ask Slashdot

[The Mayor]

When I am new to a music form, I tend to seek out the opinions of "experts" with that music form in order to start my collection. I'd love to see this same question asked with other music forms. Rap, house music, world music, jam bands, alternative music....let's see a string of these questions.

If the music labels would only wake up and realize that people that engage in P2P filesharing actually buy *more* music, they might realize that this is the perfect application for (illegal) downloading of copyrighted material. Want to expose yourself to some of this music? Download a bunch of mp3s. Buy what you like (some of the liner notes on these jazz albums are fantastic), and delete the rest. After all, you don't want the RIAA on your butt when they come to arrest 1/6 of the population!

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 from WBUR in Boston, he used to do lots of great jazz shows. The ones on Kind of Blue & A Love Supreme 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 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" with that of one of the Cowboy Bebop 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 kind of Jazz?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

Question: Pat, could you tell us your opinion about Kenny G - it appears you were quoted as being less than enthusiastic about him and his music. I would say that most of the serious music listeners in the world would not find your opinion surprising or unlikely - but you were vocal about it for the first time. You are generally supportive of other musicians it seems.

Pat Metheny's Answer: Kenny G is not a musician I really had much of an opinion about at all until recently. There was not much about the way he played that interested me one way or the other either live or on records. I first heard him a number of years ago playing as a sideman with Jeff Lorber when they opened a concert for my band. My impression was that he was someone who had spent a fair amount of time listening to the more pop oriented sax players of that time, like Grover Washington or David Sanborn, but was not really an advanced player, even in that style. He had major rhythmic problems and his harmonic and melodic vocabulary was extremely limited, mostly to pentatonic based and blues-lick derived patterns, and he basically exhibited only a rudimentary understanding of how to function as a professional soloist in an ensemble - Lorber was basically playing him off the bandstand in terms of actual music. But he did show a knack for connecting to the basest impulses of the large crowd by deploying his two or three most effective licks (holding long notes and playing fast runs - never mind that there were lots of harmonic clams in them) at the key moments to elicit a powerful crowd reaction (over and over again). The other main thing I noticed was that he also, as he does to this day, play horribly out of tune - consistently sharp.

Of course, I am aware of what he has played since, the success it has had, and the controversy that has surrounded him among musicians and serious listeners. This controversy seems to be largely fueled by the fact that he sells an enormous amount of records while not being anywhere near a really great player in relation to the standards that have been set on his instrument over the past sixty or seventy years.

And honestly, there is no small amount of envy involved from musicians who see one of their fellow players doing so well financially, especially when so many of them who are far superior as improvisers and musicians in general have trouble just making a living. there must be hundreds, if not thousands of sax players around the world who are simply better improvising musicians than Kenny G on his chosen instruments. It would really surprise me if even he disagreed with that statement.

Having said that, it has gotten me to thinking lately why so many jazz musicians (myself included, given the right "bait" of a question, as I will explain later) and audiences have gone so far as to say that what he is playing is not even jazz at all.

More right here...

One word.. Squarepusher.

[Peter Cooper]

Squarepusher is typically known as a techno/drum'n'bass demi-God, but he released one album a few years ago which was actually pure jazz. He played all of the instruments himself and did the recording, and it came out amazingly. It has often been compared to the best of Miles Davis, which is high praise indeed.

What's so interesting about it is you can clearly tell that there's a big modern influence, even a drum'n'bass influence if you will. Where the influence really occured the other way around, his jazz album makes it sound like D&B came first, and then jazz was a progression on from THAT. This leads to some extremely interesting tunes.

The album is called 'Music is Rotted One Note'. I suggest you look at the reviews of it at Amazon (not an affiliate link) and even listen to a few clips. The best track by far, in my opinion, is 'Don't Go Plastic' which has a real Miles feel.

Django

[MaxQuordlepleen]

Lots of the Good Stuff (Monk, Coletrane, Ella, Brubeck) has already been mentioned.. But you should check out Django Reinhart, the original guitar god ;)

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

Dave Holland!!

[chocolatetrumpet]

In the "modern" category, I'm afraid Dave Holland carries the torch.

His work with his quintet is really amazing- some of the finest ensemble playing anytime, by any standard. The style his group has developed is really wonderful; heavy on improvisation and eastern influences. Billy Kilson takes the drums from a "groove" role to the front of the ensemble - taking on almost melodic roles. Generally, there are multiple solos going on at any time. Even the written music sounds improvised.

This is some of the most wonderful, euphoric recording... really great. My favorite recordings of anything, ever.

Here are some to check out:
Prime Directive
Points of View
Not for Nothin'

Enjoy!

Jazz for beginners

[Van Halen]

A few years ago I stumbled upon this page 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:WTF?!

[The Mayor]

eh? /.'ers can't listen to jazz? I can understand the stereotype with respect to pickup lines (even if I disagree with it)...but to music? Haven't there been enough studies done on the links between music & math with respect to brain development? Haven't you realized that there is a fair share of musicians among the computer literate crowd? Come on, now!

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 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.

Short-sighted

[superyooser]

"Everything that can be invented has already been invented." - Charles H. Duell, U.S. Commissioner of Patents, in 1899 (Disclaimer)

Even if you were right, there are millions of us youngsters born in the 70s and 80s who don't know a lot of these names, much less ever heard the music. It's new music to our ears.

There would be lots of life left in jazz if the music got more exposure and promotion.

Kurt Elling! Plus Oscar, Keith, Chick....

[briggers]

Kurt Elling is IMHO the finest male jazz vocalist alive today, if not the finest jazz vocalist alive today full stop. His 'vocalises' (settings of poetry to transcriptions of great instrumental improvisations) are pretty extraordinary, and his subtle phrasing and clean (mainly) vibratoless sound is a delight. 'Flirting with Twilight' is a subversive disc of standards and is a good (if somewhat atypical) introduction to his art, while 'The Messenger' contains a version of Nature Boy that has to be heard to be believed.

Some pianists you must consider:

* Oscar Peterson - wonderfully big-hearted, and a great example of a phenomenal technique used brilliantly for emotional expression. 'Exclusively for my Friends' is an essential four-disc set.

* Keith Jarrett (The Koeln Concert in particular is a powerhouse of free, unbounded improvisation)

* Chick Corea. The gonzo jazz-rock fusion of Return to Forever isn't to everyone's taste (it is to mine), but he has a wonderfully crisp style with a totally distinctive harmonic language. A fine composer too (his Piano Concerto is one of the more successful jazz-classical crossover attempts).

* Michel Pettrucciani. This man is was a genius, despite being quite badly disabled. A triumph of the human spirit. I highly recommend the two-disc set of him live at the Champs-Elysees (solo) - the highlight is an incredible continuous 30min+ 'Medley of my Favourite Songs'. Talk about stamina!

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.

Re:Why is this on Ask Slashdot?

[Soothh]

it wouldnt be so bad, but jazz sucks hard, hoover like. you need some good megadeth, gets your heart rate up, mind peaking, keeps coworkers from screwing with you because they think you may go postal. Atleast thats what I do at work.

Sun Ra, Ultimate for Jazz Geeks

[asapien]

Get Sun Ra "Strange Celestial Road", Sun Ra is the Ultimate jazz geek music!