Grondar

Heya everyone.

I have taken a few music classes so far, and have enjoyed them.

My one professor leads up the jazz band and teaches a jazz specific class I haven't been able to get into yet.

Lately, I found a station on my radio that plays "Smooth Jazz," which plays some good stuff, but also a fair amount of "pop-jazz," IE Kenny G, etc.

I was wondering if any of you that enjoy jazz (good jazz, mind you) could recommend some newer albums and artists?

I think that I am more excited about listening to some of the new/modern jazz musicians than I am the jazz greats (Dizzy, Coltrane, etc.), just because I am looking for a means to get "into it" initially, and go from there.

I came across a list at a Jazz Radio station site (Jazz with Bob Parlocha), in which he lists the top 25 new jazz albums.

Note: this isn't the station I have been listening to lately.. I came across this site via web search.

His list is as follows:

• 1 HORACE SILVER - ROCKIN' W/ RACHMANINOFF
  2 GEOFFRY KEEZER - FALLING UP
  3 RUSSELL GUNN - MOOD SWINGS
  4 JAMES CARTER - GARDENIAS FOR LADY DAY
  5 PAT MARTINO - THINK TANK
  6 JAY THOMAS - BLUES FOR JW
  7 ROB McCONNELL - MUSIC OF THE TWENTIES
  8 GEORGE CABLES - LOOKING FOR THE LIGHT
  9 ADAMO RAFFERTY - THREE SOULS
  10 FRANCK AMSALLEM - SUMMER TIMES
  11 BRUCE FORMAN - DEDICATION
  12 JACKIE RYAN - THIS HEART OF MINE
  13 GORDON GOODWIN - PROPERTY OF...XXL
  14 GREAT JAZZ TRIO - AUTUMN LEAVES
  15 GEORGE SCHULLER - ROUND ‘BOUT NOW
  16 JEREMY PELT - CLOSE TO MY HEART
  17 JOHN SANTOS - BRAZOS ABIERTOS
  18 RED HOLLOWAY - COAST TO COAST
  19 GEORGE COLLIGAN - MAD SCIENCE
  20 NED OTTER - POWDER KEG
  21 ELMER GIBSON - LIVE LIFEFORCE
  22 NICK BRIGNOLA - THINGS AIN’T WHAT...
  23 BARRY HARRIS - LIVE IN NEW YORK
  24 MARIO PAVONE - ORANGE
  25 BILL CUNLIFFE - HOW MY HEART SINGS

If any of you have heard any of albums above and have comments, recommendations, etc., I'd love to hear them.

Again, I am new to jazz, so would be grateful of any kind of information regarding good artists, albums, etc,. to get me "into it."

I'd prefer to start with some newer releases, but I'm flexible.. I'm ultimately interested in getting to the good stuff, and hoping those of you that have listened to good jazz, can help me out.

Many thanks.

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BonneFan

I personally like Brad Meldau: The Art of the Trio.

The Harry Connick Jr Trio is great too!

Good luck with your search

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wilbjammin

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

Everyone should have that album. It's not new, but I think it is a place to start.

Jazz has been so categorized and can be so many different things, cool jazz and avant-garde jazz are hard bop are kinds of jazz and I like some of all of them.

I guess I would suggest that you try to find the types that you're into before you get into specific groups more. I guess I'm also wondering why you're looking to newer musicians to help you get into jazz, it seems that starting with the "godfathers" of jazz is also a good place to start.

The Marsellis family are all very good modern jazz musicians, listening to any of them is something that I would suggest - I find them tasteful.

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bellzboy

I agree with the above, Kind of Blue is a must have. My favorite jazz musician is Pat Metheny, but he does more of a jazz fuzion thing, lots of guitar, I dont really know what you're looking for. Other names I would throw out there to look at are Weather Report, Jaco Pastorius, and Charles Mingus.

mikeylips

Everyone has to get Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, it's one of the most essential jazz albums. Bellzboy knows what's up with that one. Pretty much get anything that the real well known artists have done, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Charlie Parker...those guys. I'm exposed to one of the best jazz educators in the country right now and he stresses really going to the roots of the music. Good luck.

mikeylips

Oh also, if you want to really learn jazz, stay away from that smooth jazz for a while. You're going to learn a lot more by listening to Bebop and that kind of jazz. You might like Miles Davis better than some of that smooth jazz also, he made jazz "cool".

Mantus

Listened to Kind of Blue and it's a bit too mellow for my tastes. Can any one recomend an something a bit...well...louder ?

whoizzy

hey bro all I can reccomend is looking backwards (Thelonius Monk. Miles Davis, etc.)

Mr Scorcex

Mantus, I'd suggest Charles Mingus. He has some crazy stuff, not very traditional.

I wish I could help you, Grondar, but I know nothing about modern jazz. If you really get stuck looking for music I'd suggest the same to you as I did to Mantus.

powerclown

First, figure out what instruments you like to listen to.

piano: thelonius monk, bill evans, bud powell, vince guaraldi
vibes: milt jackson, lionel hampton
saxophone: john coltrane, bill clinton
trumpet: miles davis
keyboard: jimmy smith

Monk: Thelonious Alone in San Francisco
Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Powell: Jazz Giant
Guaraldi: A Charlie Brown Christmas
Jackson: Bags Groove
Hampton: The Lionel Hampton Quintet
Coltrane: Love Supreme, Kind of Blue
Davis: Relaxin' with the Miles Davis Quintet, Kind of Blue
Smith: Sermon

Mantus

Good call Mr Scorcex,

Also I found some good traks by or with Cannonball Adderley (sax). He is pretty good, upbeat and smooth.

NoLa

I like traditional Jazz.

Dixieland
Big Band
Swing

Anything past that I'm not really keen on.

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Mantus

I know Louis Armstrong does dixieland.

Who would you recomend for Big Band?

alkaiser

can someone recommend me some instrumental guitar jazz/blues. i usually don't like vocals in jazz/blues

NoLa

Benny Goodman

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teflonian

I have picked up These Are The Vistas by The Bad Plus recently and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Check it out.

flamingdog

Horace Silver and Brad Melau are good. Medeski, Martin and Wood are probably my favourite modern Blue Note act, they owe a lot to hip hop and psychedelia.

Looking back, I always go for Miles, Trane, Gillespie, Krupa and Rich. Herbie Hancock is another big favourite of mine.

quadro2000

I have the answer to all your questions.

Charlie Hunter

This cat is awesome. I've written about him here before. He's a new, modern, funky jazz guitarist on an 8-string guitar (5 guitar and 3 bass strings), and he plays with some kick-ass musicians. One album will feature a sax as the main instrument, another one will feature the vibes, some just have him and drums...

alkaiser, grondar, mantus:

Start with Bing! Bing! Bing! and work your way up. You'll love it. I think it's just what you're looking for.

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Mantus

Had a chance to listen to some of the sugestions.

The Bad Plus are kinda hit and miss, some of their songs are very creative and others become so abstract that melody leaves the music.

Charlie Hunter is damn cool, highly recomend him.

Medeski, Martin and Wood arnt my thing cuz i hate the damn 60s piano that they use.

Benny Goodman is pretty good.

Thanks people keep the sugestions comming.

:::OshnSoul:::

Norah Jones- her whole album is excellent, so melodic and relaxing. She's coming out with a new album soon.

HYEHORSE

im really ino smooth jazz. check out marc antoine, peter white, and steve oliver. great stuff.

Mantus

Oh yes she is wonderful.

I recently discovered Nancy Wilson who has a great sound as well.

Any one know of some good male Jazz singers besides Armstrong?

NoLa

Norah Jones is great I liked her first album better. Her new one has more of a country feel. She does do a cover of a Duke Ellington song (she wrote her own lyrics for it). Nevertheless it's still a good album, one that I reccomend.

__________________
Through the warmest cord of care
your love was sent to me
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or where to put it

NoLa

Mainly I listen to:
Duke Ellington,Pete Fountain, Benny Goodman, Al Hirt, Glenn Miller, Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, also Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

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gibingus

haven't seen any guitar nods: check out django rheinhardt, les paul, and wes montgomery (in that order, chronological)

you need a good male jazz vocalist, start with chet baker. also check out mel torme.

these albums are must haves to go with kind of blue:

coltrane - a love supreme, blue train, my favorite things
miles davis - sketches of spain, miles ahead
dexter gordon - go
sonny rollins - saxophone collossus
mingus - mingus ah um
charlie parker and dizzy gilespe - bird and diz live at carnegie hall
clifford brown & max roach - clifford brown & max roach
duke ellington and louis armstrong - the summit master sessions
stan getz and joao gilberto - getz / gilberto
count baise - april in paris
herbie hancock - Empyrean Isles

you may want to jump start your collection with some compilations, you can figure out what you like from there and build more. here are some good boxed sets with links to buy at amazon (these three alone will set you back a few hunnie, but they're well worth it):
smithsonian collection of classic jazz


the verve story 1944 - 1994

ken burns' jazz collection (from his pbs show, heavy on swing, light on later stuff)

there are also great box sets out on the greats. check out the rca recordings of dizzie gilespe, the complete hot five and hot seven sessions of louis armstrong, billie holliday, sarah vaughn, bix beiderbeck, king oliver's creole jazz band and more.

if you want modern stuff, check out both branford and wynton marsalis -- their side men are all putting out wicked stuff. wayne shorter is still cranking too.

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jazzmanzem

Smooth jazz.... I always cringe when I hear that term. Remember, it's not jazz just because someone is playing a saxophone.

With that said, I always tell people that the first two jazz albums you should buy are "Kind of Blue" and "Blue Train".

Since "Kind of Blue" was kind of too mellow... maybe you should try some Bebop... Charlie Parker. I know you said that you wanted to stay away from Gillespie and what not, but I think you may really enjoy it.

You may like some of Stan Getz's stuff.

As for newer artists... Joshua Redman may be to your liking, although there is some mellower stuff.

See if you can find some Christopher Holliday... I haven't listened to him in a while, but I think a really good cd is "Scorpio Rising"

Have you ever tried Branford Marsallis Marsellis Marrsallis, Marrrssaallalaiasiass How the hell do you spell Branford's last name? Anyway, he really covers just about every jazz style there is.

I promise you will LOVE this: a band from Madison, Wi. named Phat Phunktion. I'm pretty sure you can get their stuff on Amazon. You may even be able to find some on Kazaa.

asudevil83

i'm looking for some jazz music right now....something with some good bass is it. nothing modern, just classic, slow jazz. can anyone help me with that?

bundy

i cannot recommend Oscar Peterson - For My Friends enough.

fantastic artist. brilliant album. definitely worth looking into.

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gibingus

check out Wynton Marsalis: Marsalis Standard Time, Vol. 1.

The first track is a killer take on Caravan and the bass is solid gone. There's a clip to listen to it at the Amazon link.

If you are looking for jazz bass... look no further than Charles Mingus.

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jobu

my favorite is chalres mingus - ah um
i really love his music

Booray

gibingus pretty much listed a lot of the same stuff I would recommend.

Bill Evans - Sunday at the Village Vanguard is another really good listen. Relaxing and laid back

As far as instrumental jazz guitar, in addition to checking out Django, Wes Montgomery, and Les Paul, make sure to try out some Charlie Christian, Joe Pass, Grant Green, Bill Frisell, and Pat Metheny as well as some Al DiMeola for a bit of fusion stuff. If you like DiMeola, be sure to check out DiMeola, DeLucia, and McLaughlin's "Friday Night in San Francisco" acoustic performance.

Fusion: Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, and Return to Forever, as well as some of Miles' later stuff are basically the definitive fusion groups (focal points from all three of the other bands had been part of Miles' various groups previously).

If any of you have never heard any Soulive, do yourselves a favor and check out their selftitled live release that came out about a year ago. You can check out some soundclips of songs (not sure if they have any from that disc) at http://www.soulive.com/mx/site.html. They're a guitar, organ, and drum trio from Boston. Kind of a jazz-funk hybrid sound. Their live shows are a really fun time. You might hear words on a couple of the tracks, but they are almost strictly instrumental (which I definitely prefer). To give you an idea of their talent, their guitarist, Eric Krasno was among several guests to join B.B. King on stage in New York City in June of '03 for a private event held at King’s Time Square venue, which was celebrating its 3rd anniversary. Following Krasno’s solo, B.B. turned to Les Paul, who was also on stage at the time, and joked, “You better start practicing.”

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nash

Dave Brubeck is a jazz pianist and composer. His album "Time Out" is up there with Miles Davis's "Kind of Blue." First jazz album to go platinum if I remember correctly. "Take Five" is the most famous song on that album, so do yourself a favor and check it out.

Also, if your local library system lets you check out CDs then that's a very very good place to start. If you don't like it, just return it the next day and get something new.

QuasiMojo

Grant Green has a beautiful jazz guitar...particularly like a song of his(i think it's his anyway) called "Creature'

Also-
Jazz is something that,no matter hard I tried, I just didn't "get"
for a long, long time. I sat glassy eyed and slack-jawed through many an explanation on what Jazz means..progressions...the repititions, timing and improvisations all very blahblahblah at the time.
But I did "get it" one morning at about 4AM on the downside of a dark night of the soul listening to "Kind of Blue"
oh yeah...I "got it."
And I don't ever think I'll be able to explain it.

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Booray

Can't believe I forgot to mention Brubeck. His name popped in my head when I mentioned Bill Evans, but I forgot about it. Brubeck is in his eighties and is still playing occassional shows.

__________________
Persuaded, paraded, inebriated, and down
Still aware of everything life carries on without

Roark

My first Davis album was Birth of the Cool, soon after I got all of his other stuff. I have to say the remasted Sketches of Spain is my favorite right now (changes the more I listen to 'em go figure).

Pat Metheny is good. I've got all his PMG albums but haven't picked up his latest solo effort yet which I hear is good.

One disc I recomend is called The Rite of Strings which features Al DiMeola, Jean Luc-Ponty, & Stanley Clarke together as a trio. There's really not one bad song on it. Lots of good bass and pretty much covers the spectrum dynamically and stylistically.

Vocalists there's alot out there new and old. I just wish there were better recordings of some of the older stuff but that's to be expected.