So what do you think?

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » April 25, 2003, 2:20 am

So what do you think?

Aight added Trane and Dexter...

Drolgin Steingrinder · Post by **Drolgin Steingrinder** » April 25, 2003, 8:28 am

You left Dexter out, you philistine!

GO and Our Man In Paris are two of my all time favorite records.

Pahreyia · Post by **Pahreyia** » April 25, 2003, 9:37 am

EDIT: the vote was enough.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » April 25, 2003, 11:16 am

Out of that list I would say Dizzie. A Night In Tunisia is one of the best Bop-era songs ever!

Drolgin Steingrinder · April 25, 2003, 12:13 pm

Adhering to the list, I'd choose the Monk - but then, I'm a pianist.

miir · Post by **miir** » April 25, 2003, 12:37 pm

Bah, no Coltrane....

Truant · Post by **Truant** » April 25, 2003, 1:04 pm

I had to vote Bird on general principle (I was a jazz major, on saxophone)

But it's a hard pick...for various specific reasons, I would pick any of those over another...and there are others (specifically trane) that I would write in.

Acies · Post by **Acies** » April 25, 2003, 6:06 pm

Dizzie ownz you

Arborealus · Post by **Arborealus** » April 25, 2003, 6:27 pm

I've alway been of the...

"Blessed are the cool for they shall understand Monk"

school of jazz...

Spangaloid_PE · Post by **Spangaloid_PE** » April 25, 2003, 7:09 pm

take the F out of funk, you get unk

take the B out blues and you lose

take the Z out of jazz, you get Ja

Post by **Sylvus** » April 26, 2003, 4:33 am

Any suggestions on where I should start to get my feet wet with Jazz? I have listened to many different pieces here and there but is there like some seminal work that anyone would recommend?

Drolgin Steingrinder · Post by **Drolgin Steingrinder** » April 26, 2003, 7:29 am

Dexter Gordon: "GO" and "Our Man In Paris"
Miles Davis: "Kind of Blue"
Thelonious Monk and John Coltran: "Monk / Trane"

are definately seminal works.

Just don't think that all jazz is *quite* that good, you'd be disappointed

Vaemas · Post by **Vaemas** » April 26, 2003, 1:40 pm

One of the more interesting collections is Ken Burn's Jazz, The Story of America's Music. It's the audio companion to the Public Broadcasting special he did a few years back. It provides a wide sampling of music over 5 cds. 94 tracks ranging from Armstrong to Ellington to Goodman, Miller to Gillespie to Miles, Billie to Coltrane to Getz and Byrd. More artists than I could easily list.

Definitely one of my favorite jazz collections. The companion website is http://www.pbs.org/jazz/

Truant · Post by **Truant** » April 27, 2003, 5:14 pm

Ken Burns collection is definitely a good place to get started, it has a complete overview through the course of jazz's development. Listen to it and see who and what you like, and then go searching from there. Everyone has slightly different tastes. Some are partial to a particular horn, some to piano, and some specifically to drumers, see what you like, and don't hesitate to ask questions...

Drol's list is good.

A follow up to Kind of Blue, should you like it is "Somethin Else" by Cannonball Adderly. It's very similarly styled, with only minor personel changes.

If you are a sax man, find some good remasters of Bird (Charlie Parker) Also check out a disc called "Cannonball and Coltrane" (it's an orgasmic combination of saxophonists) If you like trane, there is a gentleman named Michael Brecker who is very heavily influenced and quite good. Just be sure to find his solo work, and the newer the work, the more 'straight-ahead' it will be. The older into his work you go, the more synth, and funk you shall find.

If you happen to favor the trumpet. Find some Dizzy, both with Bird, and after...Dizzy did amazing things for the genre. Then find some Miles Davis, polar opposites on the scale, but just as amazing. On the newer side, any of Wynton Marsalis' work is quite wonderful...whether solo or with orchestra...and if you prefer the BIG trumpet sound. Find some Arturo Sandoval (for a lil latin spice) ((You'll notice most of these people are listed in the poll)) Even some Maynard...some of the pieces may be a bit glitsy at times, but the guy could blow the walls out of a building.

Going to quit rambling...but if your tastes are more piano, drums, bass, guitar of vocals, you'll have to give me some time to dig through collections and books for quintessentials

Hope it helps...

As a complete random addition to the topic, while I wouldn't put him in this poll, my primary influence was Cannonball, but he was less influential in the grand scheme of things.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » April 28, 2003, 10:24 am

Many folks that want to check out Jazz, but don't know where to start might enjoy Lou Donaldson, Grant Green, Brother Jack McDuff or Art Blakey. A good mix of Hard-Bop and funky 12-bar blues stuff

Grant Green > all other guitarists.

Best starter album ever = John Coltrane: Blue Train

Basically, buy almost any artist that was on the Blue Note Label.

Also, many albums have been re-pressed on high quality vinyl. If you have a record player, go that route as Jazz sounds better on wax

miir · Post by **miir** » April 28, 2003, 11:12 am

I couldn't recomend Coltrane to anyone who wants to start getting into jazz.. he's just too intense.

What you wanna do, is check out a Blue Note compilation.

http://www.bluenote.com/artistpage.asp?ArtistID=3556

The comps have the some most easily accesable tracks from the aforementioned artists....

Pure Cool has a little bit of everything... Coltrane, Miles Davis, Dexter Gordon, Sarah Vaughn and Chet Baker. A good starting point to find what style/artist suits your tastes.

Another noteworthy jazz label is Verve.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » April 28, 2003, 2:51 pm

My 3rd jazz album was Giant Steps...and I really couldn't listen to it for a while...it IS intense...so, I agree, be careful with starting out on trane.

Abelard · Post by **Abelard** » April 28, 2003, 4:54 pm

Miles Davis is personally my favorite jazz artist but BB king is also worth checking out if no one mentioned it.

Post by **Sylvus** » April 30, 2003, 10:17 pm

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm just now working my way through some Dexter Gordon, and I like everything I've heard so far. I'll move on to some of the others after I've familiarized myself with one.

As far as personal preferences go, I'm a big fan of the bass, but I like most of the horns too, and tend to shy away from vocals. I used to play a little sax back in the day, too bad I wasn't at all familiar with jazz at the time, playing old compositions didn't really do it for me and I ended up putting my sax down.

Drolgin Steingrinder · Post by **Drolgin Steingrinder** » May 1, 2003, 8:10 am

If you're a bassman, then check out

"Double Bass" - Niels Henning Orsted Pedersen
or
"Digital at Montreux" - Oscar Peterson with NHOP.

Truant · Post by **Truant** » May 1, 2003, 1:20 pm

Bass? one word...

MINGUS

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » May 1, 2003, 11:09 pm

Mingus was off the wall in a big way. Free jazz is an experience fer sure

masteen · Post by **masteen** » May 13, 2003, 6:50 pm

Drol or Cane, I appreciate the replies, but y'all should have just pointed me to this thread. Any help limiting my assclownery is appreciated!

Voronwë · Post by **Voronwë** » May 13, 2003, 7:18 pm

coltrane for me