Jimellow

I've been straying from rock/pop (Chili Peppers aside) lately, and as a result have been listening to mostly classical music. I'd also like to get "into" jazz, but I know it will be hard without guidance. What I am requesting are suggestions regarding albums and artists that I should look into so that I can be properly exposed to jazz music.

I used to play violin and viola, so it was easy and enjoyable for me to get into classical music. Jazz is a totally different ball game, as I have had no exposure to it, and while I realize it is a superb genre that I am excited about getting into, I do realize it will be difficult initially, as it is "different" and will be an acquired taste (which is ultimately a very good thing).

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated.

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aberkok

Hi Jimellow. The best thing to do, after picking up a few initial recommendations, is to follow one person you like off of a recording. For example, after I got into "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis, I started to follow the recording careers of John Coltrane and Bill Evans, who are both sidemen on that album. With that, here's some concrete album recommendations:

Louis Armstrong - it's hard to recommend an album of his because, well, there were no such thing as albums when he was doing his important stuff. I like the Naxos Historical Series (volume 1 is my favourite). Basically anything with the Hot Fives or Sevens band.

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue - I won't get into the "modal" thing with this album, but it's an extremely significant album for Miles. Another example of him forging ahead. Great band and you'll get interested in all members here.
- Miles Ahead - My favourite of Miles' collaborations with Gil Evans in an orchestral setting.

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme - A great example of the Coltrane quartet. This is representative of the long forms they were getting into at the time and a rare example of devotional jazz which I think helps one to "get" Coltrane.

Charlie Parker - it's hard to do one album. If I had to do one, Bird and Diz would be a good bet, especially since Dizzy's on there too, but if you can find the "Dial Master Takes" or the "Savoy Master Takes" in an affordable package, get those. I have the above collections in double disc sets from a label called Definitive records.

Bill Evans - I'm getting more and more tired of his later stuff, but you just can't beat Sunday at the Village Vanguard for putting you in a certain mood. This is just piano, bass and drums and it'll get you in a place those other recordings can't reach.

That should be enough to start with. I've avoided vocalists because I expect you'll get enough of those recommendations.

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ratbastid

I second all of those recommendations. In particular don't miss Kind of Blue. If you only pick up one jazz album, that's the one.

Also consider:

Oscar Peterson, Night Train. Beautiful blues-inflected jazz. At turns somber, playful, melancholy, and inspiring.

John Coltrane, Giant Steps. This is probably one for later, but BE SURE you come back to it. Trane tore jazz apart and put it back together different on this album. A lot of Miles Davis stuff is about pushing and stretching the envelope. Coltrane put the envelope through the shredder.

Chick Corea, Akoustic Band. This one might be for later too... All the other suggestions are '50s and '60s jazz. Chick is where Jazz went in the '70s and '80s and later. He's all about polyrhythmic exploration, and his signature tune "Spain" is seminal.

jth

welcome to my world. Jazz is everything that I am as a musican. I'll list off some artists to check out

Louis Armstrong - hot 5 and hot 7s
Miles Davis - Huge discography. But 'essential' miles would be Birth of the COol, Kind of Blue, Milestones, Miles Smiles, Sketches of Spain, In a Silent Way and Bitches Brew
Charlie Parker - Yes the Dial sessions
John Coltrane - Bluetrane, Giant Steps, Love Supreme all his work with Monk
Thelonious Monk - anything here is gold
Joe Henderson - Page 1, Inner Urge, So Near So Far, Lush Life
Sonny Rollins - Tenor Madness, Saxophone Colossus

those are all really straight ahead Jazz. I am really into modern jazz, especially guitar. Here are some of my current favorite post '75 jazz albums and into today

Kenny Wheeler - music for large and small ensembles, Widow in the Window, Gnu High
Tom Harrel - Sail Away, Stories, Form
John Scofield - Roughouse, Meant to Be, Works for Me, Enroute
Pat Metheny - Bright Size Life, Rejoicing, Question and Answer, American Garage, so much more
Mark Turner - Dharma Days
Kurt Rosenwinkel - Deep Song, The Next Step
Johnathan Kreisberg - New for Now
John Abercrombie - Anything with him
Jim Hall - These Rooms, Magic Meeting

Other favorite artists

Dave Holland, Marc Johnson, Chris Potter, Wayne Krantz, Count Basie, Maria Schnieder, Ben Monder, Terance Blanchard, Woody Shaw, Freddie Hubbard, Tony Williams, Bill Evans, John Taylor,

sorry I could go on forever.

__________________
"A real leader faces the music, even if he doesn't like the tune." - unknown quote

Daniel_

Don't miss "Time Out" by Dave Brubeck - that's got some great tunes.

Miles' "Kind of Blue" regularly wins polls of "The Best Jazz Album Ever", and I like it a lot.

It's easy to overlook the early recordings by Count Baisie, but as with the Loius Armstrong - you should look them out. It's jazz before it got up it's own arse.

I love 'Trane, but it took a long time for me to understand what I was hearing, and to start with I thought it was all just noise - so tread with caution - same goes for the later Miles' recordings - there's some bloody odd stuff in there.

Good luck - it pays off.

__________________

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Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
╚═════════════════════════════════════════╝

roachboy

o if only i had some time right now....
listen to a lot of ornette coleman, in addition.
george russell
andrew hill, especially the blue note stuff.

later colatrane just needs some repeated listenings. you'll find stuff that you like, i expect, right away, but give it time and your head will come around.

moving. more when this is over with.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

jorgelito

If you're a beginner, you can always start with:

Bigband/swing: Duke ellington, Glen Miller, Count Basie

Then move up:

Be-bop: Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gillespie

My personal favorite:

Cool jazz: John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Chet Baker, Miles Davis, Coleman Hawkins, Ornette Coleman, Sonny Rollins, Thelonius Monk etc.....

One way to do it is go to your local library and borrow the Ken Burns Jazz CD set - It's a little heavy on Louis Armstrong (which I don't like) but it's a decent crash course or starter to get you acquainted with jazz.

Don't forget, jazz is also user friendly with a lot of vocalists as well.

aberkok

I disagree that you should look at any one time period of jazz as "more for beginners." Don't wait to get through one era before moving onto the next. If you have an open mind and ear, you'll get just as much out of Ornette Coleman as you will out of Glenn Miller.

Given that we live in the year 2006, you'll probably get more out of Ornette Coleman.

I was a fool to forget to put a Monk recording on my initial list. Thelonious Monk, to me, best represents what jazz is. I recommend the album Brilliant Corners as a way into his oeuvre.

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chelsea_9

these are my personal favourites:

charles mingus, john coltrane, thelonius monk, herbie hancock, jaco pastorius, bill frissell, charlie parker, ted warren and nina simone.

i love swing music too, and as far as that goes... nothing beats count basie, benny goodman and glenn miller tunes!

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MacGuyver

I would like to second Dave Brubeck. Saw him in concert recently; friggin amazing, continues to entertain me through the years.

It also depends on what YOU dig most, theres plenty of different styles. Personally I'm in love with big band stuff like Duke Ellington.

For another few that ARENT on the list yet, I'm going to throw out Buddy Rich. Rosemary Clooney has a nice thick voice as well, if youre into jazz vocalists. Annnd Horace Silver has some great tunes too like Sister Sadie and Song For My Father. Gary Burton.

__________________
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

trickyy

i don't really like a lot of the typical american jazz. i have tried to like it, but it's boring to me in comparison to other types of jazz (like latin).

anyway, here are some artists that i enjoy

django reinhardt
jean-claude pelletier
tito puente
gerald wilson
henri texier
janko nilovic
anything brazilian

Martian

I definitely agree with aberkok - expose yourself to as many different types of jazz as you can. You may like everything you hear; if you don't, you're more likely to find something that suits.

If you want some good jazz violin, check out Michael Urbaniak. I first heard some of his stuff on a compilation album and I was blown away. Manhattan Man or Friday Night at the Village are two good ones of his that happen to be available on Amazon. Stephane Grapelli also tops the list for amazing jazz violinists; his fast improv is absolutely incredible. If you want to hear some great work of his, check out the Quintette du Hot Club de France. It's the quintet he formed with Django Reinhardt. That's a whole lot of awesomeness in one combo, that is. Of his solo stuff, I like Afternoon In Paris especially. Very upbeat, swinging tunes.

Finally I don't think any list is complete without mention of the Marsalis family. Wynton gets a lot of flack for his *ahem* alternative views, but I dig his sound all the same. The parallel I'd draw would be like watching a Tom Cruise or John Travolta movie; you may think sceintology is a load of crap, but it doesn't have to prevent you from enjoying their work as actors. You might like Wynton if you're into classical as well; he's done his fair share of classical work. In Gabriel's Garden is definitely worth listening to if you want to hear some of that.

One of my favourite Marsalis albums is Joe Cool's Blues. It's a cd of Wynton and Ellis doing Peanuts tunes. Branford Marsalis is also an accomplished saxophonist who you might want to check out.

And I reckon that and the above is plenty to get you started.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

aberkok

Good call on the Marsalis family, Martian. The late Kenny Kirkland is my main main these days and he did a lot of piano for Wynton and Branford. My favourite Wynton album is Black Codes From The Underground, which I've probably recommended on TFP before. I just like it that much.

I feel that the Marsalis family embodies the ideals of self mastery and striving to learn as much as possible. To me that is an essential part of the jazz musician of the 80s to present. I'm not a fan of Wynton's revivalist/transcription projects at the Lincoln Centre and I don't really know why Branford did A Love Supreme, but their amazing achievements still stand.

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sgn43

Most of what I was going to suggest is already covered, but if you get into Django Reinhardt, Stephane Grapelli and gypsy jazz in general, you should look into a modern artist named Bireli Lagrene.

__________________
To be great is to be misunderstood. -Emerson

Martian

I don't think very many people are a fan of Wynton's whole revivalist deal. I still think the most pertinent (and entertaining) quote is Miles calling him "confused."

I'm actually a bit ashamed for not mentioning Black Codes From the Underground. It's definitely worth a listen. Or fifty.

__________________
I wake up in the morning more tired than before I slept
I get through cryin' and I'm sadder than before I wept
I get through thinkin' now, and the thoughts have left my head
I get through speakin' and I can't remember, not a word that I said

- Ben Harper, Show Me A Little Shame

twister002

Miles Davis -"Kind of Blue" and Dave Brubeck "Time Out" are great starts. They are easy to listen to, catchy, but so musically deep that you can listen to them over and over again and find something new.

Monk - "Straight, no chaser". As you listen to other jazz artists, you'll hear them do versions of the songs on that album. So why mess with the covers, go straight to the source.

There are bunch of songs you could listen to just to get a feel for the Jazz genre. "One O'Clock Jump" by Count Basie, "Take the A Train" by Duke Ellingtons Orchestra, "A Night in Tunisia" by Gillespie. "Caravan" - listen to several artists do this song. It's interesting to hear different takes on it.

Aurakles

I was waiting/looking for someone to mention him. Great musician. All the others mentioned, like Miles, I second those recommendations.

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aberkok

Agreed, but please, please, please...I urge anyone reading this thread to give equal attention to living artists. Jazz is a living music! Check out artists like Dave Douglas, Dave Holland, Jason Moran, Greg Osby, Kenny Garrett, Don Byron...there's so many around these days and so much music to choose from. Keep it alive. It's more relevant and vital than most people realize...all you have to do is seek it out and I'm happy to help.

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twister002

Kenny Garrett did a Coltrane tribute album not too long ago that was pretty good. The rest of that list I'm not familiar with at all.

The living artists all seem to be leaning towards the "smooth jazz" genre. David Sanborn is still active. "Tintin'" is probably my favorite song of his. Stanley Clarke and George Duke are still touring together.

Matt Wilson went to my Alma Mater (Wichita State University), but his music isn't as accessible to new listeners IMO.

Oh, speaking of moving from Rock to Jazz, check out Jaqui Naylor. She is a pianist/vocalist who often combines pop lyrics with jazz melodies. She combined the talking heads song, "Once in a lifetime" with a Herbie Hancock song. Really interesting mesh.

roachboy

maybe the folk who get air play on "quiet storm" format stations. i am nt sure that is jazz. but then again, i am not sure at this point what jazz is. i know what is was, but not what it is now.

here is a short list of folk still very much alive and doing stuff who you will not hear on quiet storm stations:

ornette coleman
anthony braxton
cecil taylor
bobby braford
fred anderson
ethnic heritage ensemble
ken vandermark
supersilent
anthony davis
roscoe mitchell/art ensemble of chicago
the sun ra arkestra
john zorn
....

there are many many more, but i am sleepy.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite

aberkok

This is not true. To anyone considering seeking out jazz by living artists, know that there is plenty of music that is not "smooth jazz." Roachboy's list is pretty great and there are many younger artists who are creating original and exciting music all the time.

Oh yeah, and the moment you call something inaccessible it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are more people willing to try new and challenging things than most people (and especially musicians) thought. Now that the mega-labels are on the way out, I think we'll see a lot less pandering to the lowest common denominator and more savvy music lovers seeking out what they find interesting. The performers will become more connected to their audience.

I've recently experienced a lot of things which are showing me this perspective. One of the most recent and inspiring things I've been able to find is Robin Eubanks' podcast, available free through iTunes and his website: http://www.robineubanks.com/
Robin shows us quite the opposite of the starving artist/tortured genius stereo-type that the image of the jazz musician often conjures, and also conveys a sense that the music is not inaccessible. I hope some of you check it out 'cuz it's super cool.

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MacGuyver

Living jazz artists eh? Dave Weckl Band.

Thats my most recent stint. Amazing drummer.

(Technically Dave Brubeck IS a living jazz artist, so THERE.)

__________________
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit.
---Aristotle

Deeds, not words, shall speak [for] me.
---John Fletcher

aberkok

Brubeck fans (I'm not a huge fan of his stuff other than Time Out and Brubeck Plays Brubeck) should be aware that he has been doing a lot of classical writing and a lot of these pieces are available on the Naxos label. A quick search shows that he's done 2 recordings for them with one piece for an ensemble of 20 cellos.

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flat5

Golly! A jazz thread.

Go hear some live jazz too. You can learn from watching how the musicians interact, etc.

With a little experience you may be able to hear why some players are great and most are not :-)

Good jazz is a wonderful art form.

There are a few free (no cost) jazz video sites you can visit too.
Example:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKX3U...ch=jazz%20bass

oracle2380

Right now I'm listening to a modern Jazz group called simply "Medeski, Martin and Wood". I guess you classify them as more 'acid jazz' than anything else, but they make pretty good music.

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And that has made all the difference." - Robert Frost

jth

yay. glad this thread is still going.

Jazz festival in town soon got my tickets for Jim Hall & Geoff Keezer and am totally pumped.

Big gigs for myself coming up that I'm looking forward to. Jazz is alive and well. it's just not a public mainstream music that everyone is fully aware of.

and when I get my album out next year you can all buy it MUAHAHAHA

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"A real leader faces the music, even if he doesn't like the tune." - unknown quote

Paradise Lost

For most better jazz artists, especially those whose majority of work was in the 1950s and 60s, it's really hard to pick up a completely bad album.

Also, be aware that many jazz artists, even within the same time period sound completely different, using different players and different instrument set ups even within one's own career.

Year is a partially good indicator of what type of jazz is being put forth by an artist, but knowledge of an artist helps too.

Guys like Miles Davis were all over the place, from 'cool jazz', not to be confused with smooth jazz, with I tend to classify as any cookie-cutter jazz that has no real heart, skill, or any real progression of the music itself. He did 'modal jazz', which I've felt is the most beautiful if executed correctly and with taste. He even did 'fusion', which, with a few exceptions, is probably the most commerical, slick, overly-produced, and most important, boring type of jazz there is. Please stay away from this unless you really do your homework on what is good in the genre, i.e. Weather Report... that's it. He also did many others, and so did most other jazz artists, with a few exceptions (Art Blakey). But this also doesn't mean that just because they didn't 'progress' with jazz that their later stuff was any less good or interesting.

Other significant artists:
John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Andrew Hill, Chick Corea (before he became all commerical), Bill Evans, Dave Holland (or anyone else from the ECM label, for that matter), Joe Henderson, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, McCoy Tyner, Pharaoh Sanders, Art Ensemble of Chicago (early stuff only), Donald Byrd, Herbie Hancock, Dave Brubeck, and many others.

Good resources:
MurraytheCat on Amazon.com, look for his profile, he has an incredible knowledge of jazz and has extremely good taste when it comes to his selections of good jazz.

www.allmusic.com, also a good site, that I've noticed, hardly gets it wrong when reviewing a jazz or classical album. (They're kinda iffy on rock/other stuff)

One last thing, be careful of most jazz albums released after about 1975, as for older artists they just start to re-hash older stuff without much of their old flair, or it tends to be overly electronic or slick, it loses much of what I feel made jazz great. Still, there are plenty of good albums, especially by resident artists of ECM.

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rsl12

Two things:

1. What's your motivation for wanting to get into jazz? Have you heard pieces you've liked in passing, on the radio, in movies, on teevee? Or is it something like how a midwesterner wants to try sushi, never having had the opportunity living in Iowa?

2. I'm going to assume for now that the former is your motivation, as jazz is sufficiently pervasive. In that case, you've probably heard enough jazz by now from movie soundtracks and elevator music to decide if you like the genre or not, right? Have you ever heard a piece from teevee or whatnot and said, 'wow, that's an amazing tune! i have to know who did that!' If you ask me, that's a great place to start. What have you heard that you like so far? Based on that, more refined recommendations can be made.

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jth

the best online resource for reviews, interviews and overall knowledge on Jazz is www.allaboutjazz.com. I post heavily on their forums. But if you want to just read up on the state of Jazz today, loads of help getting started picking 'essential' music

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"A real leader faces the music, even if he doesn't like the tune." - unknown quote

aberkok

Great. This is just the sort of attitude I was hoping to quash in my contributions to this thread. Talking about jazz in the past tense might work if there is a very specific sound you expect, but imagine saying rock ended with the Beatles...

I can't stress enough that there is an abundance of jazz that is still being created now! It never went away. Paradise Lost has made sweeping generalizations about the genre. Older artists re-hashing old material? What do you say about Joe Henderson, Kenny Wheeler, Herbie Hancock or Wayne Shorter, just to name four off the top of my head?

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jth

yeah that's one thing about a lot of jazz listeners are that they often times pick an era of the music and stick to it and don't want much to do with anything outside of their own area of interest. Not to say taht's the case here. But yes, refering to Jazz as an artform that reached it's peek in the 60's is ignorant.

Even naming off those 4 names of guys who came to the scene in the 60's still playing (besides Joe Hen who died 10 years ago) there are artists out now who dominate their instruments and take the music to new places on a level as high as if not higher then those of the masters of the past. Because Jazz no longer is main stream these people are not high profile and often times Jazz listeners do not care for the more complex music they play now. The music is being pushed hard in new directions with new influences.

Modern Jazz artists like Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Adam Rogers, Terance Blanchard, Brad Meldhau, Areon Goldberg, Seamus Blake, Jeff Ballard, Larry Grenadier, Richard Bona, RObin Eubanks, Dave Holland, Bill Stewart the list goes on and on and on. Those are just HIGH profile modern Jazz players, not including the people who are coming now in the last 5 years who are completely out to lunch good.

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"A real leader faces the music, even if he doesn't like the tune." - unknown quote

flat5

If you really want to understand and deeply enjoy jazz, study/listen and enjoy it's history.

I'm no fan of "The Church of What's Happening Now".

aberkok

I agree, but how far do you take this mentality? Bird was the precedent for Coltrane...Hawkins the precedent for Bird...Armstrong the precedent for Hawkins...ragtime...African music...Straus waltzes...Schubert...Beethoven...Mozart...Bach... Monteverdi, Palestrina....you can go on forever. How far back do you have to go to enjoy listening to music?

I know people who deeply enjoy music without studying its history. Personally, I get great fulfillment out of trying to discover an artist's influences and precedents, just by listening, but I don't consider myself at an advantage, necessarily. It might be expected knowledge for professionals and distinguish a professional, but the majority of listeners aren't players (though I fear that's not the case).

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saut

Bohren & Der Club of Gore - Sunset Mission

I'm not usually too much into jazz, but this album really grabbed me. It's a lot darker and doomier than most jazz, which is probably why it appeals to me so much.

warrrreagl

From a long-time jazz player's perspective, I can't understand why anybody would want to simply listen to jazz. Unless you play it yourself, I don't see how you could possibly relate to what you're listening to.

I know that's probably not a very popular opinion, but it's mine.

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erlee

just to offer another suggestion to someone who has no jazz background...i initially came to like jazz a lot from listening to a jazzish/funk/rock group called soulive - in the past i had not been exposed to a lot of the harmonic complexities of jazz music, only the simple harmony of rock and pop. but soulive introduced these sounds to me in a fun, rock-like context. soon i found myself digging through my parents' jazz records and a couple years later i consider jazz my favorite music. I respect, enjoy and study older jazz - particularly coltrane, miles...but i find that i am much more partial to players like kurt rosenwinkel, brad mehldau, john scofield, etc..i really like that more modern type of sound. so along with checking out the classics like parker and miles, definitely also check out some of those modern guys, because you may end up liking them more

i guess to add to that, i dont think you have to play to enjoy jazz (though i do)...you just have to train your ear to become familiar with its harmonic language...listen to a lot of jazz music, and whether you can say what different sounds are called, try and recognize harmonic and rhythmic ideas that you may have heard before. then you will come to appreciate the unique qualities of certain players.

Jimellow

The amount of recommendations here is very impressive. I've been referring to it constantly, and have started to acquire a small collection of Jazz myself through the many suggestions. If you have more suggestions, please continue to share them!

Initially I am trying to listen to those that performed earlier in the 20th century.. Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, and most recently Benny Goodman. I am not familiar with where they all "fit" chronologically, and right now am just enjoying listening to their music, while trying to be able to differentiate their styles from one another. It's a very enjoyable process overall.

I don't agree with this, but I'm curious as to why you feel this way?

I love reading, but I've never fully understood, or gone through, the process of publishing a book. Similarly, I really enjoy viewing art, but am by no means an artist, even on the most basic level. I seek out these things because they allow me to be more cultured, and I get great enjoyment out of exposing myself to them.

I would think that if one limited their interests strictly to things they were intimately familiar with they would have a very sheltered and limited experience of life and culture.

When I attempt to relate to your comment, I use violin/viola as comparison, as I played both through high school, was in various orchestras, and performed. I enjoy listening to classical music as well, but my exposure to it through playing only makes me appreciate the technical skill/ability required to perform the pieces at the level they are played, but does not directly add to my enjoyment of a particular classical piece.

Jazz is appealing to me because I find it to be truly unique and enjoyable music. On a technical level, I am truly impressed by the musicians' ability to do the things they do with their instruments, specifically the brass and wind instruments.

That being said, I am curious why you feel one must be intimately familiar with jazz in order to enjoy and appreciate it as music?

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aberkok

This is a highly confusing statement. I completely disagree. My fans disagree. My non-musician friends who enjoy listening disagree. 2-3% of the record buying public disagree. I'd love to hear an in-depth explanation.

That's great news. One thing I often like to think about the different times in jazz history is how even though we know the chronology, there are a zillion examples of earlier material sounding more "modern" than later examples. There is a factual timeline of artists, but with the vast amount of recordings out there, we can Time Travel through the history of the music. I was amazed, for example, to discover how much more advanced* Art Tatum's music was than Red Garland, who came many years later, but most of my interest in Art came after listening to Red Garland for a long time. Similarly, I am currently interested in the music of Roscoe Mitchell after a long period of listening to Dave Douglas. You go back and forth through time.

*I am aware of my suspect use of the term "advanced" in a musical context, and apologize, but it was the best way to get my point across at the time.

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Suave

I love Medeski, Martin and Wood (specifically the "World Party" album). Another artist that might be easier to get into right away, since she's "pop/jazz" is Mindi Abair.

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"Few people are capable of expressing with equanimity opinions which differ from the prejudices of their social environment. Most people are even incapable of forming such opinions." - Albert Einstein

"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say something." - Plato

warrrreagl

I knew this wouldn't go over very well when I said it, but that's the way I feel.

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Living is easy with eyes closed.