Official jazz thread. Good albums? Favorite artists? etc


Come on guys, I know jazz isn't as unknown as pop culture would make you think it is.

Ok I'll start with a great album I got recently: Percussion Bittersweet by Max Roach. Recorded in 1961....great, great music. And if you haven't heard his bebop era recordings with Bird, Diz, etc, then you haven't lived.

Maybe too obvious, but I don't go anywhere without Sketches of Spain.

Miles Davis is...well, he's Miles Davis.

ever since Karl Malone and John Stockton left, they aren't the same...

sorry... just had to post this... carry on...

i love jazz, but i dont keep up with recent albums that much. i have a greatest hits album of max roach and clifford brown that i listen to a lot.

i also like some miles davis, coltrane, monk, sonny rollins, and some others.

oh yea and i love the dave brubeck trio

the most recent jazz album ive come across is the Jaco Pastorius self titled album, which i also like.

That is a great album. Also love his recording of Porgy and Bess.


Do any of you guys listen to Cecil Taylor? That dude ****ing blows my mind, no joke.




He rocks.


I'm also not very up on the modern jazz world, although I wish I was. But jazz isn't alive the way it was 40 years ago...

Mingus - Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus
Coltrane - Blue Trane

Jazz is dead, tag it and bag it then go buy some AC/DC

Monk is one of the sickest piano players. He just feeeeels the instument.

The cd I play te most is miles davis with 'Birth of the Cool', some realy easy listening jazz for every moment.

Jan

PM me if you want to really know what is up with jazz albums. I generally don't like sharing my finds and what not. I was originally a jazz performance major at rutgers before I decided on a social life as opposed to getting very serious with playing

Ray Charles

Recommend some albums for me... anything from the more accessible stuff to the free jazz stuff... or which album is the mindblowingest.

Coltrane - My Favorite Things, Love Supreme, With Duke Ellington

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue Milestones Round Midnight

If you really want to learn about Jazz I recommend miles' autobiography - he played essentially with everyone from Diz and Parker to Coltrane to well everyone

it's a history of jazz has great language great stuff on drugs and racism - and of course the story about sitting in a cab while Charlie Parker ate out a chick while simultaneously enjoying a bottle of whickey and a chicken leg!

I just love Big Band music in general

Oh yes it is. Jazz is alive and strong in many ways. In the areas of progressive rock and "jam" rock--you've got other genres HEAVILY influenced by jazz.

If you're looking for straight jazz artists still writing music, look at these bands:


Medeski, Martin & Wood (the best, IMO, jazz trio out there)
John Scofield (you should already know who this guy is)
Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey (very cool jazz band--a little abstract at times)
Steve Kimock (sick guitarist)
Karl Denson (sax player--his music is funk/jazz)
Charlie Hunter (plays 8-string guitar--runs bass with thumb and plays guitar at same time)

Once you look at these guys, PM me and let me know what you do/don't like and i'll send you more names of artists who play the style that you like.

Look around--Jazz is everywhere--though not usually in its typical form. I personally love the jazz influenced rock. If you also like progressive rock--check out Umphrey's McGee (www.umphreys.com)---they play what I call "improg"--improvisational progressive rock. Absolutely amazing band. Probably the best touring band out there right now. Download one of their podcasts and let me know what you think. I'll point you to a place where you can find more UM than you could ever have the time to listen to. Plus, new CD is out the first week of April.

That should get you a taste of what is out there right now.


To everyone--if you like rock and enjoy jazz--there are a whole host of bands out there incorporating the best parts of each genres and making some really amazing music.

Chicago has a pretty sick post-rock/jazz scene. Jeff Parker, John McEntire and the whole Thrill Jockey clan have been making amazing records for a long time now. Tortoise is one of the best bands in the world. Their side projects are also mostly excellent. Isotope 217 made a couple nice modern jazz records.

I'm a big fan of Ahmad Jamal and Dave Brubeck. No particular albums, they're all good.

Tortoise is phenominal. I was going to recommend that--but it is such an eclectic band--i usually hesitate recommending them until i know the person's tastes better.

Chi-town? You've prolly heard of Umphrey's then... They're actually on sirius right NOW. Great band.

Yeah, lots of the college aged kiddies around here love Umphreys. They don't do much for me, but it's mostly because I hate jam bands and hippies.

heh amen to that

I've been listening to Pajo's Aerial M.

Meh, they aren't really a jam band. Not nearly loose enough. And the hippies, well, i can't defend that one. Though, there is a clear anti-wook sentiment among the UM fans. (note: wook (i.e. wookie) is the term used by many to identify the hippie who rarely showers, smells like pachouli, etc.) Most of the old UM fans are professionals in their 20's or 30's.

jazz died around 1965 for me

Can someone recommend a good (but common/popular) jazz album for me? I prefer the more upbeat style.

If you're talking more danceable groove jazz, i recommend:

Medeski Martin and Wood: Combustication or Uninvisible (both incredibly sick albums)
--check out audio clips on: http://www.medeskimartinandwood.com/music.jsp

John Scofield (played w/ Miles Davis back in the day--seriously amazing jazz guitarist): A Go Go and Uberjam
--check out audio clips on: http://www.johnscofield.com/music.html

Actually, MMW and Scofield are in the studio together--disk out in the fall with a tour together.

None of his **** is "accessible." It is all blow-your-mind, knock-you-out wild (except possibly his very early stuff, which I haven't heard).

I would recommend:

Looking Ahead by the Cecil Taylor Quartet

Unit Structures [which is a classic]

Also recommend any of his live albums....Live in the Black Forest is a good one



Unit Structures is pretty wild, and a little weird, but listen the whole way through and you'll probably love it.




I don't think this kind of music is similar enough to straight jazz to be called such. To me, many of the musicians who you suggested in your post about how jazz is still rockin it are more rock and roll musicians....yes jazz is infused in rock and hip-hop, but I am talking about a very different form of music.

Sorry if that sounded rude or snobby, it wasn't meant to....just personal preference.





I would recommend anything by Charlie Parker (be sure to find an album which DOES NOT include a string orchestra....he sometimes played cheesy crap for the radio, and it is hard to hear for my ears).

Almost anything recorded by him is pure gold. They have recently released a live album of him and Dizzy Gillespie at Town Hall in 1945, and it is quite good. But again, anything ever recorded by Parker (without strings) is great. I would recommend a live album.

Bird is the second artist to completely knock me on my face and spin my head around a million times. I still think (and many others do too) that he's the greatest musician of the 20th century.

You aren't being rude or snobby---jazz can take millions of different forms, which is why i prefaced my recommendation with "if you like dancable groove jazz..." It is hard to think what people are looking for---Jazz is a word that means different things to different people. That's why i mentioned a host of artists each with a sound that isn't even close to one another and after i heard what they like/dislike--i could recommend some of the personal gems.

If he want's "straight" jazz--he can look to some of Scofield's earlier stuff, maybe when he was playing with Pat Metheny (someone else he should check out)--Sco doesn't pigeonhole himself in one form of jazz over another. Then again, neither does MMW--if he wants more traditional jazz, Tonic (live show with some Coltrane and Lee Morgan) and Farmer's Reserve.

But Jazz is so subjective--its best for someone to take a sampling of different types and see what you like. Jazz is like a drug--you have to experiment to find out what works for you and go from there. Once you get used to some kinds, you'll find that other types will be more "accessible".


Tim, if you like the to more off the wall jazz--definately take a look at Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey.

One thing i find kind of annoying is when people refuse to give newer jazz artists a shot. Of course Coltrane, Miles, T. Monk, Jaco and the usual suspects are great, but it didn't stop with them--there is SOOO much great jazz out there to explore.

I will check them out.



Part of the reason I started this thread was to learn more about the current jazz scene. So please do keep giving suggestions...................but my knowledge of jazz IS much larger than Miles, Trane, etc.


edit: Perhaps this guy is old news to most of you, but Eric Dolphy was a ****ing genius. He is not a household name like Miles etc, but his influence on music is perhaps just as great.

Nope--haven't heard of him--though, when it comes to jazz--i have some rather large blind spots. Too much out there to know it all. I'll check him out.


You should also check out (if you don't know them already):

1. Keith Jarret
2. Pat Metheny
3. John McLaughlin

guilty i suppose - but i'm not into it if its there

don't really dig the jamming - don't dig the free - don't dig the fusion

Have YOU listened to Eric Dolphy? Out to Lunch is his most famous album, but pretty much all of his stuff is great. Died very young in the early 60s (NOT from heroin). He played with Coltrane for awhile, but turned down an offer to join the group permanently.

yeah i've heard and seen clips of him with coltrane

funniest thing about them was a critic who said they went onstage and made bird sounds and they said "what's wrong with making bird sounds"

he sort of led Coltrane to free jazz which to tell you the truth i suppose i admire but can't really handle listening to

Try "Out To Lunch." It is pretty straight ahead.

I hate to turn this into the “Fuuuuusssssionnnnnnnn” thread, but I just started listening to Blow by Blow, again… God damn. Beck was a lot more talented than Page AND Clapton.

Heart Full of Soul – The Yardbirds
Over under Sideways Down – The Yardbirds
Stroll On – The Yardbirds

The Yardbirds of course at one time featured the incendiary guitar work of gods in waiting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. God I hate when I hear that crap. Clapton might have done some brilliant live stuff for the band, but as far as their recorded output goes it’s all Jeff Beck and the triumvirate of guitar gods theory only serves to diminish his greatness with the band.

Stroll On, a reworking of Train Kept a Rolling, that the band did for Michelangelo Antonioni’s otherwise impenetrable movie classic Blow Up, is pretty much the only evidence of Page and Beck going head to head and it’s pretty damn out there impressive. Like Beck doppelganger Nigel Tufnel said “This one goes to eleven.”

Antonioni wanted The Who to do their smash the guitar act, but somehow wound up with The Yardbirds. Beck smashes his fake guitar at the end of the song, and tosses the fragments into the crowd. Disaffected London swinger David Hemmings desperately fights the crowd to claim the biggest piece and promptly walks out of the club and tosses it into the trash.

Here’s a personal story about the movie Blow Up and the kind of luck I have in life and with women in general. I watched it on video with my roommate Dave. After about 30 minutes, we get a knock on the door. It turns out to be two cute girls, who have been paid to tuck Dave into bed for charity. They of course walk into our room right as Hemmings is rolling around in crate paper with two naked women. Dave immediately points out that it’s my movie choice and not his. This is after all a movie snob classic, what are the odds

The exact same thing happened to me when at 14 I played Steve Martin’s Wild and Crazy Guy Album for my previously mentioned once favorite Aunt. My dad, not a huge fan of profanity, walked in just in time to hear the punch line – “That cat was the best **** I ever had.” As you can expect like Dave my Aunt immediately said “Don’t look at me it’s his album.”

One more thing about Beck, I went to a guitar show in San Jose once. The featured attraction was the Fender guitar Jeff recorded all of his Yarbirds hits with. Imagine 500 guitar wonks creaming their pants over a guitar that had it not been Beck’s wouldn’t bring more than $200 dollars in trade from a reputable guitar dealer despite its late 50’s vintage. Beck had constructed this thing from maybe 3 different guitars. The strings hadn’t been changed in over 25 years. If I remember correctly, it had a Stratocaster neck and a Broadcaster body. Best of all, Beck wished he had a Stratocaster body, so to replicate that model’s angled arm rest he had crudely sanded one off of the base of the Broadcaster’s body about as well as I sanded half of my high school Industrial Arts projects. OK, I admit it; I was drooling over it too.

thats a fine looking sandwich you got there

I've been spinning Big Fun-era Miles for about a week.

Heeeey! Great thread!

Favorite song: Misterioso

My personal all-time line up:
Thelonius Monk, piano
Sonny Rollins, sax
Art Blakey, drums
Charles Mingus, bass

Lots more great names out there: Lester Young, Ornette Coleman, Coleman Hawkins, too many to name...

Favorite style: Hard Bop

...Pretty much.

Mingus.

now this thread is marked for personal reference.
thank you for your time.

Bill Evans


Pharaoh Sanders

this thread needs to come back. jazz is sweet.

im actually trying to start a jazz trio or quartet. i play bass clarinet, thats right, a bass clarinet led jazz band. its gonna be so awesome.

heres a website i found that has a lot of cool live jazz videos. has some old ones and some new ones. http://www.jazzwebcafe.com

LOL?

Ornette coleman, btw.

I don't even remember making that post, dunno what I was thinking. Since I'm lazy though, someone can search 2p2 as I've done some jazz rec threads in both EDF and the lounge


also, don't recommend ornette coleman to someone new to jazz, they won't get it and will most likely hate jazz because they won't have a basis to understand it

I don't know if I really have a basis to understand it, but I love it, I love free jazz in general. I like to paint, and listen to free jazz, and pretend I'm Jackson Pollack or Rothko or something.


I'm also a big bee-bop guy. Well, that is I'm a big charlie parker, dizzy gillespe guy.

That post was super funny, however, it was one of the most elitist things I've ever seen on this forum, about a genre of music that lends itself to elitism and as an elitist myself, I had to respect the sheer audacity of that post. I'm kinda disappointed you're backing down from it. My guess, on what you were thinking, is that you're a jazz snob, a true jazz snob ( I don't mean that as a prejorative, btw, just a descriptor) an extreme one, with a high level of knowledge of the genre and the music itself, as a fan and performer, and listening to people with only an entry level knowledge of the genre, and a less than entry level understanding of the music itself knaws on your tits.

Or maybe you just didn't take your meds that day, I dunno.

.

I worked in a jazz club 2-3 nights a week for almost 2 years, and I now officially hate jazz. I used to enjoy the occasional jazz listen, but now I just can't stand it.

I really like Andrei Kirilenko though. Every time I see him on TV I like to yell "KLENKO!!!!!!"

Weeeee nice bump .


Lately been listening to Ahmad Jamal, Sun Ra, Bill Evans (as always), Charlie Mingus.

The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady by Mingus is an amazing album.

Mingus is sexy.

anyone heard the guitar player kurt rosenwinkel? hes sick. his tune zhivago is probly the best jazz composition of recent times.