i see that no one (besides kdawg, i'm assuming, since he was a jazz student) here is a hardcore jazz fan like me, but that's alright, you guys are still awesome anyway for at least appreciating this eighth wonder of the world.1. miles davis, kind of blue, is of course, brilliant. for anyone who is interested in jazz, i would 110% recommend this as the first album you buy. this album is the essence of jazz... it demonstrates the ideas of improvisation (motives/statements/ideas, expression, conversation between players, etc.) brilliantly and shows the simplicity yet beauty of this art form. once you hear "so what" and memorize/transcribe miles's solo, you'll recognize it at a bunch of places... weather channel music, party music, movie music, etc.2. i'm a fan of dave brubeck, sure, but if you're into west coast, check out paul desmond, my favorite west-coast saxophonist by far. he is the one that plays on take five on the take five album, but he has done a lot of stuff independtly of brubeck also (i think, and many critics have said, that desmond was too restricted in his brilliant expressions when he played on brubeck's charts, because brubeck's waltzes and time signatures [3/4, 5/4, etc.] limited desmond's ideas... nevertheless, desmond's solos were still brilliant, though). stan getz is also a brilliant west-coast jazz sax cat if you're into that stuff.3. charles mingus is by far one of my favorite jazz cats of all time. his compositions have tremendously influenced my writing, and his innovations are freaking out of this world. i remember the first chart of his i played, fables of faubus, and how outside and crazy it was. at first, i didn't like it, but after you come to appreciate it, you start seeing how insanely ingenious it is. definitley listen to his albums like "ah um" and "mingus says ____" ("mingus speaks ____"? blanking on the name right now), but after that, check out the mingus big band--out of this world!!! holy shit, listen to fables of faubus, ecclusiastics, goodbye porkpie hat, and other mingus charts played by his big band--insane!!! his big band was brilliant, and his arrangements were brilliant. mingus is godly in my eyes, definitely check him out if you haven't already.4. sonny rollins is great, but i haven't gotten into him too much. i'll get a hold of more of his stuff, kdawg. but the stuff of his i've heard is really great, of course. i really dig his solo on st thomas.5. coltrane, of course. i don't want to get into it too much, but i was never too big a fan of coltrane. it's funny actually because everywhere i go, i seem to be the only one. everyone else accepts coltrane as god, but i never dug his music too much. i never liked his tone or intonation or arrangements, and while i grant that his soloing is genius, i just never dug it either. personal taste i guess.6. kenny g... i won't go there

. well, to each his own, but there are reasons why virtually every jazz musician on the planet hates him... namely: intonation, soloing, sell-out, intonation, classic sounds-good-to-general-public-syndrome, etc. i don't mean to get into this too much, but i really can't listen to his music for more than a few seconds. the way he holds a "climactic" note for 7 seconds then plays a random fast lick (with actually several wrong notes if you transcribe them) then holds another climactic note for 15 seconds... ick. i don't mean to rag on your favorite artist, sorry, haha.7. blues... man, this is by far my favorite form of jazz! i really don't know too many actual blues artists, but i listen on the radio whenever i get the chance (NPR plays blues a lot on the weekends). i'll talk about blues more later, but man... i die for blues.ok, this thread is already long enough, i just wanted to address the guys you all brought up. i'll make another thread soon about people i'm currently into or that i've been into before:- peter cincotti- herbie hancock- keith jarrett- chick corea- bobby mcferrin- jamie cullum- duke ellington- ella fitzgerald- frank sinatra- charles mingus in more detail- lincoln center jazz orchestra- arturo sandoval- jj johnson and kai winding- some modern funk guys like michael davis- some fusion guys like andre bush- modern jazz quartetanyway, there's much to talk about. i look forward to awesome discussion of jazz.groove on,aseemedit: forgot to mention... i'm a jazz trombonist mainly as well as a jazz composer/arranger. i also play some jazz mallets (vibraphone and marimba) and some weak, weak jazz piano. as for my composing, i'm all over the place... i've written for my combo (quintet), my big band, a trombone funk quartet, an organic wind ensemble chart, etc. that's my background.