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Author Topic: The Jazz Thread  (Read 14762 times)

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burnspbesq

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #40 on: November 25, 2012, 05:38:32 PM »
Quote from: itshot on November 21, 2012, 10:43:28 PM
Quote from: Questhate on November 21, 2012, 04:43:40 PM
What jazz albums have you tried? We should put together an intro guide, or essential listening, on the first post perhaps.

Please do! I'm growing tried of the stuff I listen to nowadays... I think it'd a good opportunity for jazz newbs like me to get started on the right track as well!

As far as Coltrane is concerned, there are five albums that, while perhaps not his best or most historically most important work, are pretty accessible: "Ballads," "Duke Ellington and John Coltrane," "My Favorite Things," "John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman," and "Blue Train." That might be a good way in.
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Tari

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #41 on: November 26, 2012, 05:29:58 AM »
All good suggestions, accessible Coltrane. 


For people with zero jazz background, this is usually the first album I suggest they listen to if they want to get into instrumental jazz:







It's rhythmically inventive but not too complicated musically (mostly chords in the piano) and with a bit "poppier" of a sound, with a melody that coalesces fairly quickly and solos that "stick to the script."  Very "catchy" as far as Jazz goes.


If they find themselves enjoying this, my second suggestion is usually this:





Also accessible and catchy, but with some longer tracks and a bit more experimentation, especially in Lee's trumpet playing.


Next up:





Perhaps this is plunging in a bit fast but it's definitely the easiest Hancock pill to swallow. 


Then:





Followed by (of course they have to hit it sometime, but it's usually not the first album I'll suggest as many unfamiliar listeners then associate Jazz with being "a downer")





If it seems like I'm focusing on the 50's and 60's, I do that for new listeners because I notice:


1) Recordings from the 30's and 40's with the real bad hiss and "bad" recording quality are often unlistenable to those who are used to listening to Elvis and onward. 
2) I personally believe the brunt of the best work in jazz was done in the Bop, Hard Bop, and Post Bop eras. 


So there are plenty of suggestions in Stride, ragtime, dixieland, or big band (or conversely later third stream, fusion, etc) that I would suggest if inclined to think that's a direction the listener is interested in taking.


Things branch off, too.  Someone who loves Brubeck but not others listed may gravitate towards say the Cool Jazz movement, and enjoy artists like Baker and Mulligan.  It really starts with one thing you can say you "like" and you can take it from there.
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fishski13

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #42 on: November 26, 2012, 07:09:56 AM »
Tari,
great list.  here's the first jazz album i ever bought - it still never fails to move me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mingus_Ah_Um
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Torpedo

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #43 on: November 26, 2012, 11:29:38 AM »
Excellent list, Tari. However for a beginner, I'd recommend Hancock's Empyrean Isles over Maiden Voyage. Cantaloupe Island is so fun :)



And would like to add this other "starter"

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis



Yeah, I know, it's not instrumental, but there's so much beyond the singing in this recording, that could help a lot to "get it".
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LFF

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #44 on: November 26, 2012, 05:01:31 PM »
Quote from: Tari on November 26, 2012, 05:29:58 AM


Then:





I need the Hoffman/Gray 45RPM of this. It's the only version with the first song completely restored.  :)
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donunus

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #45 on: November 26, 2012, 05:05:33 PM »
I love Jazz. Such an awesome genre... but shouldn't we also include fusion and smooth Jazz here too? David Benoit, Fourplay, Lee Ritenour, etc...? :D
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Tari

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #46 on: November 26, 2012, 05:39:25 PM »
Quote from: Torpedo on November 26, 2012, 11:29:38 AM
Excellent list, Tari. However for a beginner, I'd recommend Hancock's Empyrean Isles over Maiden Voyage. Cantaloupe Island is so fun :)

And would like to add this other "starter"

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong - Ella & Louis

Yeah, I know, it's not instrumental, but there's so much beyond the singing in this recording, that could help a lot to "get it".


Empyrean Isles is indeed another great option for starting with Hancock - I suggested Maiden Voyage as it has more "famous" songs - but they're both marvelous and relatively accessible for a newcomer.


Ella and Louis is almost always one of my first five suggestions for jazz vocals, unless I know that the person won't be able to take Louis' voice.  (I personally have a very hard time listening to him sing, his voice is just too harsh and grating for me.  Listening to him do duets with Ella [purely to my taste and ears] is like listening to a gently flowing crystalline stream followed by periodic bursts of a trash compactor.  If I know someone else has that same reservation I probably wouldn't recommend it.)  This is a case of an album I'd usually recommend even if I personally don't/can't listen to it.


If I were to suggest vocal jazz to beginners, I'd probably start off with:





Chet is mellow, pleasant, and accessible.  Easy to transition to, though perhaps a bit boring for some used to other musical genres.





To my ears, the best vocal jazz album ever made.  And if you insist that Hartman isn't a "real" jazz singer (he uses classical voice production techniques), I'd say... who are you to define jazz? 
Also a very slow album, pretty much all ballads. 



It's hard to choose with Ella for beginners.  Chose this as it's well recorded, gives you an idea of her "live" sound (sometimes she's a bit too smooth in the studio) and because the band is tastefully muted so you can really hear her.


Of course, I'm leaving out hundreds of great vocalists picking these three, but ... there's a list coming for that.




RE: Jazz Fusion, yes by all means bring that into the conversation.  Here's a jazz fusion (actually more funk than jazz) album I've been enjoying recently, Donald Byrd's Ethiopian Nights:


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donunus

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #47 on: November 26, 2012, 05:49:39 PM »


Funky Jazz Fusion
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LFF

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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #48 on: November 26, 2012, 06:17:59 PM »
Best Ella for beginners:



Awesome music with awesome arrangements and amazing sound (if mastered right...)
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Re: The Jazz Thread
« Reply #49 on: November 26, 2012, 08:59:03 PM »
Tari & donunus, thank you both for the fusion suggestions. Excellent stuff. Searching for a place where I can put orders right away :) Can't believe I've been completely ignorant of those two..

As far as Fusion and Herbie goes, 'Thrust' and the 'Flood - Live in Japan 75' are great albums.
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