I try and stay current on the latest hip hop and electro music and I think of myself as fairly knowledgeable of what is going on in the indie world. While a bulk of my time might be consumed in listening to hip hop and electronic music a close second is listening to jazz. I don't know alot about the nuances of jazz nor am I much of a jazz theorist, but I really love listening to the old stuff (would you say traditional?) especially after a long day pushing papers.
While much of the music I listen to can be criticized as not being organic, spontaneous or improvised, jazz doesn't suffer from this and does a fantastic job of filling that void. A quick run through my iTunes and I have about 211 tracks defined by Apple as "Jazz" many of them are standard big names like Mingus, Monk, Powell, Ellington, Tyner, Rollins and Marsalis. Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell stand out as my favorites. My two favorite jazz albums are Oscar Peterson's 1951 and Duke Ellington's Money Jungle (I think there is possibly no better jazz song than "Fleurette Africaine") Here are the two most listened to AG jazz tracks.
Mp3: Charles Mingus - "Boogie Stomp Shuffle"
Mp3: Oscar Peterson - "For You"
If there are any jazz buffs out there with recommendation of others to listen to I am all ears.
25 interested person(s)
Like you, I listen to jazz along with lots of other stuff. Last year's "Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall" is incredibly good. Hyped, but the hype hardly did it justice. I keep going back to Wayne Shorter, especially "See No Evil" and "Adam's Apple". For classics, Charlie Parker, especially the stuff on Dial and Savoy. The “Best of The Complete Savoy & Dial Studio Recordings” is amazing if you don't have it yet. Or for not much more, "The Complete Savoy & Dial Master Takes".
If you like these recommendations I can give you more.
omg... there is sooo much out there that you *must* listen to. we could be listing all albums and tracks for the rest of the year.
A couple of my favorites:
Art Blakey
Clifford Brown
Horace Silver
Dizzy Gillespie
Oscar Peterson (you got it!)
Louis Armstrong
Max Roach (with Clifford Brown at Basin Street, is an awesome album)
And what about the vocalists?
Mel
Billie
Ella
Sara
Mahalia
Perhaps there are newer standard bearers that belong here, too?
Happy listening, and thanks for sharing.
All the above are worth a listen - but if you want to dip yourself in the fire... try some cecil taylor or ornette coleman!
I should add I do have some Art Blakey, Dave Brubeck, Cannon Ball Adderly, that Coltrane Monk disc is great, have some Dizzie as well. I need to listen to more Roach.
All the other recommendations are great. Here are some of my favourites.
Miles Davis - "Someday my Prince will come"
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0000026DA/
I might have listened to this 300 times.
Kenny Burrell - Soulero
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0000001O0/
I play guitar, so I have stacks of great players. Kenny Burrell is by far my favourite. I believe he's playing in B.B. King's band now.
Ed Bickert - pretty much anything.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Bickert
Gotta represent my Great White North homeboys. I've seen him play about 20 times.
The Bad Plus - any album.
Young, Modern, hip, out there, weird but brilliant.
tjweir
Awesome. I will look into all these. Great thing about eMusic is they have a great selection of downloadable jazz records. I have been investing my monthly downloads in reggae and dub but I think I am going to start investing more in jazz.
I also have a bunch of Coltrane and Davis just didn't talk about them in the post since they are the most obvious.
I'm shocked no one has tossed Bill Evans into the pile here. The man was sublime with a trio and treated the piano like few had done before or have done since. Absolutely fantastic work -- check out Live at the Village Vanguard, which is probably my favorite jazz album of all time.
I figured that Miles Davis would be obvious, but I had to point out Someday my Prince will come due to it's thorough awesomeness.
tjweir
Wow, Ed Bickert - I'm not even familiar. I'll check that out.
See? It's impossible to say one name without leaving unsaid the hundreds of others that need theirs, too.
Here's a few more names from my library that I think are worth every penny:
Count Basie -- Coleman Hawkins -- Benny Carter -- Lionel Hampton -- Benny Goodman -- Lester Young -- Django Reinhardt -- Art Tatum -- Gil Evans -- Kenny Clarke -- Charlie Christian -- Marian McPartland -- George Shearing -- Oscar Pettiford -- Milt Jackson -- Percy Heath -- Ray Brown, Jr. -- Gerry Mulligan -- Cecil Taylor-- Charlie Haden -- McCoy Tyner -- Geri Allen
Ok, some of these are not "the old stuff", as you had originally referenced, but oh so good, anyway.
Do the Big Bands belong here, too? For example, if we say Duke Ellington, shouldn't we also say the Dorseys or Woody Herman?
Dougals who obviously know your stuff you have some current jazz people that are churning out good stuff.
Of the people that are current making records I am thinking of Matthew Shipp, Chick Corea and Wynton Marsalis.
for me, personally:
george benson
grant green
freddie hubbard
jason moran [new school]
everyone else gave a pretty solid list... more when i can think straight.
Dexter Gordon's "Go"
It seems like you have a taste for pianists, so i'd like to recommend Art Tatum and Luckey Roberts for old-style stuff. Cecil Taylor (recommended already by someone else) would be an excellent choice. More recently i also like Jason Moran. it is a deep deep field so you've got a lot of great listening/buying ahead of you.
Ooh blog celebrity. Love Ear Fuzz. Thanks for swinging by J. Next purchase/listen is Jason Moran thanks JT and J good rec. Flatlander I know you love "Go" I got it back when you picked it in your album pick'em thing. Great record for sure.
hi k.
if you would be interested in getting a newsletter from me (i work at fanatic promotion) let me know...they come with downloadable mp3s and streamable records.... anyway let me know if you are interested, we can talk more.
best, mark
mark@fanaticpromotion.com
Some of the "current" jazz I'm listening to includes:
Medeski Martin & Wood
Chic Corea
Herbie Hancock
Dave Grusin
Geri Allen
Paul Motian
Chuck Mangione
Herb Albert
Dave Holland
Here's a kick: Kevin Eubanks is an overlooked, great talent. He has backed all the greats and has a nice run of his own albums. Absolutely impossible to listen to him without hitting *repeat* :)
For whatever reason I have never gotten into Medeski. I have seen them a couple times live and just don't get into it. Perhaps its too minimalist for me? Couple other albums I do like is Greyboy's "Freestylin'" and Soulive's stuff which might be more funk than jazz.
Herbie Hancock is always a staple. Can't count the number of times I have listened to Maiden Voyage.
Ohh loving hip hop it doesn't get better than "Rockit"
No one has listed the early Bill Evans Trio stuff so I throw that your way; start w/ "Sunday Live at the Village Vanguard" or alt. "Live at the Village Vangaurd." Scott LaFaro laid down some of the sickest jazz bass solos ever. Yes, better than Mingus, believe it. Motian (d) and LaFaro (b) were a telepathic ryhthm section and that's what it's all about no matter genre the music. Also, check Grant Green's early stuff for some some smikin' jazz guitar that's heavier on rhythm than show boating.
Any particular Jason Moran record? I previewed his stuff and I dig it.
Mr. Dubbs Bill Evans is definately on "the list."
Nobody mentioned the obvious Bill Evans because "Everybody Digs Bill Evans".
Ba-dump-dum
Thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the chicken.
How can no one have mentioned Sun Ra yet? He's one of the all-time greats. Everyone should give a listen. I'd recommend "The Futuristic Sounds of Sun Ra" personally.
Lot's of great suggestions here K. As a jazz head since like, forever, my list of recommendations could go like, forever. A few quick thoughts. I second the Sun Ra suggestion (I've done Sun Ra posts in the past) and Rod's encouragement to explore more adventurous jazz at some point. I did an Ornette post not too long ago including the harmolodic classic "Dancing in Your Head" and the more recent (mid 90s) hip hop infused "Tone Dialing." I'd also suggest a few post 1965 Coltrane pieces (you do have "A Love Supreme," right?), including "Expression" and "Meditations" (either version; the "First Meditations" quartet version is a bit more accessible, w/ a direct connection to A Love Supreme).
I just did a bostonist "weekly music pick" write up on Charlie Haden (Petra and Josh's dad, btw). Check out the orig. 1969 Liberation Music Orchestra album and 1983's "Ballad of the Fallen." Mixing great (10-12 piece) ensemble writing (mad props to Carla Bley) w/ folk songs from the Spanish Civil War and left progressive political messages. (you'd appreciate it on several fronts, K) Also Charlie Haden's work on Keith Jarretts' late '70s quartet/quintet that experimented w/ North African and Middle Eastern music. ECM's "Survivors Suite" is still in print and a good starting point.
And as for Jason Moran, "Facing Left" and "Same Mother" are two good starting points.
Oh, and one glaring omission from all of above: Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Start w/ "The Case of the Three Sided Dream in Audio Color" (a must own).
Well, there's al lot more I could mention. But I'll leave it at that for now. Email me if you want other ideas or samples. -– best --matt
p.s. A couple jazz focus blogs in case you are not aware of 'em: my man etno (also loves hip hop) and my man pappa jazz (formerly taxi driver).
yo K
great choice on Money Jungle...
check out Cannonball Adderly's
"Inside Straight"
it was recorded in the studio, but they set it up like a nightclub, complete with a crowd and a bar...
you can hear in some tracks it will go from a noisy room sound straight into a clean close-mic studio sound... great album.
also check out some of the classic Wayne Shorter albums...
JuJu, Speak No Evil, Night Dreamer, Schizophrenia...
dare I say, I find more nuance and complexity in Wayne's playing than I do In Coltrane's!!!!!
Don't forget Stevie Wonder.
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