Jazz suggestions for noob

S

simonz

New Member
I've been putting together a system with vintage components and was looking for interesting music to play. I had stacked my Boston A100's with KLH 5's to get a warm sound with a great lows and high end. Then I played a 20 year old Wynton Marsalis CD (Marsalis Standard Time Vol 1.) that I lhad istened to only a couple of times in the 1980s. I was struck by how much I love this style of music and realized I want more. Also it sounded great on my vintage setup.

What CDs do you jazz fans recommend for me to add to my collection to help be get started into jazz listening?

simonz
 
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yeah, i've been waiting to refer a jazz album for a while now. i have 1 suggestion, and a must listen for anyone who likes jazz. it is probably well known among the jazz community.

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
MINGUS%20The%20Black%20Saint%20and%20the%20Sinner%20Lady2.jpg
 
Kind of Blue

Kind of Blue, by Miles Davis, is one of the most inspiring jazz masterpieces of all time, an it's the record that's probably initiated more jazz fans than any other. I would love to go back in time and listen to it for the first time all over again.
 
Slip Nixon said:
yeah, i've been waiting to refer a jazz album for a while now. i have 1 suggestion, and a must listen for anyone who likes jazz. it is probably well known among the jazz community.

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
MINGUS%20The%20Black%20Saint%20and%20the%20Sinner%20Lady2.jpg
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Don't get me wrong, I really like that album, but I don't know if I'd recommend it to someone who's looking to get into jazz for the first time, it's a somewhat challenging album.

Aside from Kind of Blue, which is a jazz staple and a great place to start, I also recommend Art Blakey Moanin'.
 
As an introduction to the genre, it's hard to go wrong with the 5-CD box that is a companion to the enormous Jazz documentary series produced by Ken Burns. There was also a single-disc companion (which had some of the same tracks and a few different ones as the box) and a set of "best of" discs from a number of notable jazz artists (I think there were around 20 of the artist CDs). Generally available for good prices in the used bin.
 
Mr. Lin said:
Don't get me wrong, I really like that album, but I don't know if I'd recommend it to someone who's looking to get into jazz for the first time, it's a somewhat challenging album.
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Yeah, I am definitely not a Jazz connoisseur. I would definitely heed your advice if i was simonz, but that album was what attracted me to Jazz. Miles didn't do it for me, Coltrane is good. But none of those artists are comparable to Mingus in my opinion.

Track A blew my mind upon first listen.
 
Look into most anything on the CTI label. That will cover a nice spectrum of the different styles of Jazz.
 
Slip Nixon said:
Yeah, I am definitely not a Jazz connoisseur. I would definitely heed your advice if i was simonz, but that album was what attracted me to Jazz. Miles didn't do it for me, Coltrane is good. But none of those artists are comparable to Mingus in my opinion.

Track A blew my mind upon first listen.
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Well, I'm certainly no jazz connoisseur myself, that's for sure. You bring up an important point here: everyone has different tastes, so even though I'm nuts about Mile Davis, the OP might well find that he's not. The only reason I made my comment about the Mingus album is that it's rather unusual, I would even say somewhat strange, so it might be too much for someone who's just getting into jazz. That said, I'm in total agreement with you that it's something every fan of jazz should eventually listen to.
 
Go to pandora.com and create a station of songs by Ella Fitzgerald.

Listen to this for a few weeks and you will begin to understand and get hooked on jazz.

Cheers, Snade
 
Mr. Lin said:
Well, I'm certainly no jazz connoisseur myself, that's for sure. You bring up an important point here: everyone has different tastes, so even though I'm nuts about Mile Davis, the OP might well find that he's not. The only reason I made my comment about the Mingus album is that it's rather unusual, I would even say somewhat strange, so it might be too much for someone who's just getting into jazz. That said, I'm in total agreement with you that it's something every fan of jazz should eventually listen to.
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:yes:

Just curious, is it the timing of the album that makes it strange to you? Mingus was a strange cat anyway, I read a documentary about him, and he would do crazy stuff. One time he was playing a show and he thought the crowd chatter was too loud, so he had his band stop playing completely (with a huge uncomfortable silence) until the crowd stopped talking, then proceeded. He had a huge attitude problem and didn't mind showing it.

Sorry to derail somewhat.
 
Pandora

Great suggestion to play selections using Pandora.com. With Pandora I can create a virtual station for each of your recommendations and try before I buy. Very nice.

simonz
 
Snade said:
Go to pandora.com and create a station of songs by Ella Fitzgerald.

Listen to this for a few weeks and you will begin to understand and get hooked on jazz.

Cheers, Snade
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How about some instrumental Jazz recommendations? I can do without lyrics.
 
Of course you should get Kind of Blue, Miles. Also Dave Brubeck, Time Out is a classic. In addition, try the Telarc label, In the Digital Mood by Glenn Miller; a very dynamic sound that will be great on your vintage system. The Pandora suggestion is a very good one indeed; you will figure out what you like following the suggestions above. One of my favorite jazz groups is the Modern Jazz Quartet; they played together forever, and with just about everybody at one time or another.

Sonny Rollins, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Coltrane, Wes Montgomery, Spyra Gyra, Weather Report...just type the names in Pandora and see what appeals.
 
Here is a thread I started a while back:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=150118&highlight=live+jazz

Maybe that will help.

It is a slippery slope. Once bitten with a taste for jazz music you find quickly that it is a very broad subject and that styles intermix and transform as the decades move forward. Your local library may have a wealth to choose from too. I like to separate by instrument:
Trumpet:
Miles Davis
Lee Morgan
Art Farmer

Sax:
Coltrane
Sonny Rollins
Charlie Parker

Drums:
Shelly Manne
Art Blakey
Louis Bellson

Bass:
Ray Brown
Oscar Pettiford
Leroy Vinegar

Piano:
Oscar Peterson
Dave Brubeck
Ahmad Jamal

Trombone:
JJ Johnson
Jack Teagarden
Tommy Dorsey

Vibraphone:
Cal Tjader
Milt Jackson
Terry Gibbs

Guitar:
Wes Montgomery
Kenny Burrell
Grant Green

Enjoy!
 
RawDeal lists the who's who of jazz. I am a big Mingus fan and an Art Blakey fan.Also early herbie hancock is great and note his later stuff such as The Joni Letters
 
A good place to discover music is at the library. You can check out all kinds of music without spending a dime. You can pick up the Ken Burns CD box and the DVD set as well as many other titles in any genre, Bob
 
I like the Charlie Brown soundtracks from Vince Guaraldi. Nice mellow jazz.

There's always Time Out from Dave Brubeck...
 
RawDeal said:
Here is a thread I started a while back:

http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=150118&highlight=live+jazz

Maybe that will help.

It is a slippery slope. Once bitten with a taste for jazz music you find quickly that it is a very broad subject and that styles intermix and transform as the decades move forward. Your local library may have a wealth to choose from too. I like to separate by instrument:



Drums:
Shelly Manne
Art Blakey
Louis Bellson



Piano:
Oscar Peterson
Dave Brubeck
Ahmad Jamal

Enjoy!
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Good list, but no Buddy Rich?

One more I'd throw in the Piano list is Nat Cole. Although he's more famous and regarded for his singing, he was a hell of a jazz pianist.

My suggestion for an introduction album would be Mile's "Bag's Groove" That was my intro to Miles (and jazz).
 
Coltrane "Blue Train"
Miles "Kind of Blue"
Brubeck "Time Out" "Countdown, Time in Outer Space"
Lee Morgan "The Sidewinder"
 
It's nice to get suggestions but honestly, Jazz is such a wide and varied genre that making suggestions is like throwing darts at a dart board.

I would do some reading on the history of Jazz and all its forms, then go to a LP/CD shop where you can listen to artists from the different styles. That might give you a better feel for what might appeal to you. Once you figure that out, you can focus on some of the greats and not-so-greats within that or those particular styles.

If that doesn't sound appealing, pickup some jazz compilations that span different styles or focus on one or era's.

I know that doesn't sound immediatly helpful but it will same you money in the long run and expose you to the 10's of dozens of musicians that won't be mentioned here.

RC
 
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