Jazz- where to start?

[Symmetry]

I've been listening to a bit more jazz recently, and I've gotten into Charles Mingus and a bit of Thelonius Monk. I guess I know most of the big names, but I've got no idea what to pick up next. Albums, artists, tracks... if any of you have a sideline in jazz, let me know if you have anything you'd recommend.

Charles Mingus- Moanin'

[Metsfanmax]

Well, Mingus is generally considered to be the successor of Ellington, so if you haven't gotten into him, you should.

Try out Horace Silver if you like Monk.

[Symmetry]

Well, Mingus is generally considered to be the successor of Ellington, so if you haven't gotten into him, you should.

Try out Horace Silver if you like Monk.

Thanks- I'd not come across Horace Silver at all. Listening to his stuff on YouTube now- I might have to pick up an album or two.

The Natives Are Restless Tonight

Good stuff- Song for my Father sounds like a great album.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

Hm I've always been more of a blues guy (and I don't like how blues and jazz are often classified together), but I do like some of the older jazz, like big band and swing styles, and also some who do blur the lines between blues and jazz (like Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald). I could never get into the "new age"-type jazz. I did like the song in your OP though.

Cab Calloway's always good. Again, Big Band style.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy--Mr. Pinstripe Suit for a modern swing-type band.

Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday have some of the greatest voices in all of music history.

And of course, as a fellow trumpet player, Satchmo is pretty much king.
Satchmo and Ella Fitzgerald--Dream a Little Dream of Me.

I know these are probably some of the more popular acts that you may have already heard of before, but it never hurts to listen to the classics.

-TG

[jonesthecurl]

Jazz is such a big arena that you only know your bit of it.
Having said that, I'll recommend two things I like cos I like em a lot.
Nucleus - "We'll talk about it later"
Chick Corea - "Return to Forever".
(there's potential confusion over the latter - I mean the first album wth this title, not later stuff by the band of the same name)
...actualy three, tho the third is more general.
Anything by George Bensson before he started singing. Some of the stuff after he started singing is passable, but then he stopped playing guitar. Check out his finest album White Rabbit.

[Army of GOD]

Really the only Jazzist that I consistently listen to is Louis Armstrong.

I played tuba in High School and I played a lot of jazz and I highly suggest if you can you try to do the same. It's one thing to listen to jazz and it's another thing to play it. Now, I didn't really improvise because I played tuba (I got to play the bass during all of the improvisations) but it's just great being around people who play well.

Our version of this song was a bit different, but Louis plays this very very well: Just a Closer Walk with Thee

[pimpdave]

The best living jazz pianist is without doubt Brad Mehldau. He's of the Bill Evans school, so check out Evans too, if you like piano trios (my favorite setup, anyway).

Mehldau is probably most famous for his Radiohead covers, where he takes the theme of the song and goes off on his own tangent.

Brad Mehldau Trio- Exit Music (For a Film)

Here's a forty minute live performance, to give you a better idea of his own original compositions:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xjzmx_ ... live_music

I highly recommend his album Places, full of all original work. After that, he started including a cover or two on every album, because that was how his name was getting out there.

[Nola_Lifer]

I love Mingus. Mingus-A-Um is an excellent album. I wouldn't say he was the successor to Duke though. If you read anything that Mingus wrote or said, he would tell you Charlie Parker is the successor. Check out Duke Ellington, Coltrane, Miles Davis, Eddie Harris, Wes Montgomery(Best Jazz guitarist ever, everyone tries to emulate his sound), Jimmy Smith(This dude originated the jazz organ sound), and Lester Young. If you need more info about other jazz musicians, just shoot me a pm.

[pimpdave]

Yeah, it's a safe bet the person from New Orleans knows jazz. I definitely support everything NOLA says above.

[Nola_Lifer]

Also, check out the Mingus Big Band. They are a modern group started by Mingus' wife after he died. He always wanted to do a big band but was never able too. He was bi-polar so it made him hard to play with, not so much musically. Monk was insane too. He would communicate better through music then normal interaction with people. Their style of jazz, both monk and mingus, is bop or bebop.

[Army of GOD]

Yeah, it's a safe bet the person from New Orleans knows jazz. I definitely support everything NOLA says above.

f*ck that shit. Everyone knows Wales is the center of jazz music. Thanks jonsey!

[Metsfanmax]

I love Mingus. Mingus-A-Um is an excellent album. I wouldn't say he was the successor to Duke though. If you read anything that Mingus wrote or said, he would tell you Charlie Parker is the successor.

It depends on how you're defining it. I'm just basing it on the commonly accepted interpretation, which is that Mingus revived the format of a big band playing classical jazz. Parker may have spiritually (or what-have-you) been Duke's successor, but Mingus definitely took over Ellington's place as a leader in jazz.

[TheSaxlad]

Jazz People

As a sax player my favourite stuff is dave brubeck quartet, take 5 etc followed by big band stuff. Have a look at stuff like oye como va, groovin hard, sign of the swinging cymbals, and dancing men.

And just go from there. PM me if you want any more help. As I am applying next year to study jazz at Music College

[Symmetry]

This was way better than I expected- there's an awesome mix of new and old jazz in here, and I've not really found anything I didn't like yet (although there were a few mehs). And thanks for the PM offers- I'm really enjoying the stuff you guys posted, so I might well take you up on the offer of more recommendations.

I've got plenty to go on with for now, and picked up some CD's today, but I really like this discussion, so, if it's ok, I'll change the question a bit:

If you had to introduce someone to jazz, what would you play? What would be your primer, or your top 5, 10, or whatever? How would you start someone on to jazz?

[Metsfanmax]

If you had to introduce someone to jazz, what would you play? What would be your primer, or your top 5, 10, or whatever? How would you start someone on to jazz?

I would play some Wayne Shorter.

[jonesthecurl]

I think I would start with "Sometime Ago" from Chick Corea on the Return to Forever album.
You won't hear castanets like that anywhere else.

[pimpdave]

If you had to introduce someone to jazz, what would you play? What would be your primer, or your top 5, 10, or whatever? How would you start someone on to jazz?

If they can't get into something like T Monk- Hackensack, they'll never get into jazz.

There's no real place to start man, you just have to groove to it, ya dig?

[Quirk]

I've introduced several people to jazz with Sun Ra's "Sound of Joy".
Any of his 1950's albums are a good start.

Charlie Hunter is a contemporary artist worth checking out.

[jonesthecurl]

I haven't heard Sun Ra in years. Wow, I just went off in such a flashback, I was arguing with someone I haven't seen in 20 years...

[jonesthecurl]

I think I would start with "Sometime Ago" from Chick Corea on the Return to Forever album.
You won't hear castanets like that anywhere else.

I'd follow up with some George Benson from the days when he was just a Jazz guitarist.
His version of California Dreaming is stunning, and very accessible.

http://www.last.fm/music/George+Benson/_/California+Dreamin%27

[jonesthecurl]

Here's the Chick Corea...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65ptyxdulD4&feature=related

[oVo]

There's so much good jazz out there... Dixieland is another direction
to investigate... Pete Fountain, Dukes of Dixieland... Sachmo!

Miles Davis... Wynton Marsalis... John Coltrane... Charlie Parker... Dizzy Gillespie... Artie Shaw... Thelonious Monk... Billy Strayhorn... Bob James... Stanly Clarke... Larry Carlton... Billy Cobham... Al DiMeola... Earl Harvin Trio... Christian McBride... Joshua Redman... David Sanborn....

Ella Fitzgerald... Billy Holiday... Nina Simone...

Horace Silver has a lot of good music out there... Señor Blues,
he was also part of the Jazz Messengers.

[TA1LGUNN3R]

hm yes Miles Davis and Pete Fountain were the next I would recommend.

As for introducing somebody, I would probably start with the trumpet or trombone-style jazz, like Satchmo, Davis, or Jack Teagarden's Big Eight, just because that's probably the simplest and easiest for someone who may be unfamiliar with the genre to get behind, and a good starting point. Or piano jazz, because again, it's accessible. Like Art Tatum, just for his sheer talent:

Tiger Rag--Some serious playing here.

His rendition of Dvorak's Humoresque--I actually just found this one on the youtube, pretty good stuff.

From there you could then go into other branches.

One style I could never really get into would be guitar jazz. Don't know why.

-TG

[Nola_Lifer]

Check out http://www.allmusic.com. Gives you everything you want to know about an artist or band. Tell you influence, time, genre(s), who they influenced, bios, etc.

[TheSaxlad]

Birdland - Maynard Ferguson (The original is by weather report but this version is soo much better heard it when I was a kid it was the first jazz song I heard and I fell in love.)

-------------------->Birdland