Well, I've been so bored with the rock/pop music coming out this year that I've suddenly found myself stumbling around in the world of jazz for the first time after all but ignoreing it up till now. So, I'd like recommendations about what people on the board think are some of the essential albums that a new jazz listener should pick up. I'm not completely green to the music, but I'm pretty darn close. I will say that I'd prefer to stay away from the more recent fusion stuff, but if you think it is too good for me to pass up, I'd even be willing to give some of that a try.

I know I should leave this to LT, but I have to make sure that two icons do get mentioned: Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. I'm sure that LT will fill you in on Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker, oh well, I'm gonna shut up because this is a waste, so just remember those "other" guys, for sure.

This is a deceptively difficult question, klt. On the one hand it is easy to build a massive collection of key artists since the trend in jazz reissues over the past twenty years has been to collect their entire output for a single label into box sets. It's easy to spend a lot of money building a collection that is deep without necessarily building a collection that is broad, but as a relatively new jazz listener, you want to hear as many different styles as possible without breaking the bank.

With that in mind, I would like to recommend a number of recordings that I think are both essential and unlikely to be duplicated when you decide to spring for some of the complete box sets out there.

Miles Davis The Complete Birth of the Cool
Between his years as a young lion in the world of bebop and his trailblazing work in hard bop and modal improvisation, Miles was a catalyst for the West Coast cool that would define the careers of Gerry Mulligan, Art Pepper, Chet Baker and many, many others. This is the one and only set of recordings he made in this style and virtually defines essential.

Miles Davis Kind of Blue
For all the times I've waxed rhapsodic about how much John Coltrane's A Love Supreme means to me personally, Kind of Blue is the one jazz album I believe should be in every music collection. I sincerely believe this album is flawless.

John Coltrane A Love Supreme
Great enough for me to have opened its own thread and to have made it a part of my first ever post to these forums.

Oliver Nelson The Blues and the Abstract Truth
I love the fact that you will never see this album listed as one of the most influential or groundbreaking albums in the history of jazz, but I have never known a serious jazz collector or listener who does not own a copy and return to it time and again. It's your favorite comfort food and warm sweater wrapped into a thirty-five minute aural package. It's also worth noting that Oliver Nelson wrote the theme to The Six Million Dollar Man and was a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (if you're reading this, pE).

Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage
It's not that Herbie Hancock's other Blue Note recordings or the rest of his catalog isn't worth owning as well, but Maiden Voyage holds together so well that even if you duplicate it as part of a larger set, you'll still pull it off the shelf just for the sheer joy of listening to it start to finish.

Duke Ellington ...And His Mother Called Him Bill
The single greatest composer in the history of jazz and one of the three greatest American composers period. And yet, for all his individual genius, much of his life was spent in collaboration with Billy Strayhorn. When Strayhorn died of cancer, Ellington and his orchestra were devastated, yet they took to the studio and created an album that is a singular jewel in a long and illustrious catalog.

There are six for you, klt. I could give you sixty, but I think I've spent enough of your hard-earned cash for one night.

Now Playing: "Blood Count" Duke Ellington ...And His Mother Called Him Bill (Bluebird) <-- I'd be hard-pressed to name thirty better seconds in jazz than the final thirty seconds of this recording alone...

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
John Coltrane - Giant Steps
Ornette Coleman - Shape of Jazz to Come
Dave Brubeck - Time Out!
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Thelonious Monk - Brilliant Corners (advertised as Riverside's most important jazz lp...while I prefer Underground, this's a no-brainer)
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch (if you want it to be a bit out-there)
Sun Ra & the Myth Science Arkestra - When Angels Speak of Love (Sun Ra's always out there but some rockers/ space-freaks get him instantly. I certainly did)
Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame or Birds of Fire (even if you hate fusion, this is the grand-daddy. Sounds like South Indian scales played on the guitar. Very passionate music. John McLaughlin's Extrapolation also is recommended though it isn't grounded in S. Indian music)

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll let you know as I pick up these albums.

I got a copy of Mingus Ah Um last night and have it playing in the classroom today. So far it seems really good. My students even seem to be ok with it, which is kind of cool.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: keylimetrev,

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I posted alot of great jazz records that i inherited a little while ago.Alot of em' are really good.I dont get alot of time to listen to them.I wish i could dedicate some time each day to do so.

I forgot to ask before:

LT- who are the two other greatest American composers?

quote:

Originally posted by keylimetrev:
I forgot to ask before:

LT- who are the two other greatest American composers?

In my estimation, Aaron Copland and Charles Ives.

Though I am IMing with my sister-in-law as I type this and she's reminded me that John Cage ought to be right up there as well. Intellectually I know she's right, but as much as I admire Cage, his work has never reached me on a personal, emotional level. My own failing as likely as not.

Now Playing: NPR's All Things Considered

I picked up a used copy of 'Jazz at Massey Hall' by the quintet of Charlie Parker, Dizzie Gilespie, Max Roach, Bud Powell, and Charles Mingus. Have not had a chance to even listen to it yet, but I know it has quite a reputation. I'm looking forward to hearing it, as I'm pretty new to Charlie Parker. Is this a good place to start with him?

I thought since it has been a little slow on the board the last couple days I'd update on the albums I've had a chance to pick up.

I now have everything that LT recommended earlier in this post except for the Oliver Nelson, and must say that his selections are pretty excellent. I have not had chance to listen to it all, but the Ellington album in particular is very, very good. I'll also say that I finally got all of the Hot 5s and 7s and they are up there with the very best stuff in my collection. Those early Armstrong recordings are played often at my apartment.

Among my favorites that I have picked up so far though, is the album that I'm listening to right now- Jazz at Massey Hall. I read a few reviews that said that the sound quality and the performances were both sub-par on this recording, but I don't really find much at all to complain about in it. It seems like all the performances come through very well in terms of recording quality, and as far as performances are concerned-- I'm consistently floored by them.

I am really glad you're liking the albums, klt, especially Ellington's ...And His Mother Called Him Bill. As I mentioned before, I treasure that album. It's always a pleasure to share something that means a lot to you with a friend.

I can understand reviews that fault the sound quality of Jazz at Massey Hall, but never the performances. I had not listened to that album for years until you reminded me of it, and I agree with you. The performances are superb.

I have a few more recommendations for you if you like. As I've suggested before, a lot of jazz musicans' work is taken as easily in collections and box sets as individual albums, but there are still a few albums that should be taken unto themselves.

Duke Ellington/Charles Mingus/Max Roach Money Jungle
Your love of Live at Massey Hall brought this album to mind. It's rare to see three distinct generations and styles of jazz in a single session and rarer still for it to work so well. This is all the more remarkable for the fact that the always temperamental Mingus reportedly walked out of the sessions early over some perceived slight by Ellington, for whom he had worked briefly many years earlier. Fortunately, Mingus' reputation for truculence is matched only by Ellington and Roach's reputations for patience. The sessions continued and the result is one of a handful of true masterpieces in jazz.

Max Roach We Insist: Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite
Most of the boppers who, for lack of a delicate way of putting this, survied the bebop era went on to create innovative music throughout their careers. This is especially true of drummer Max Roach, who not only has experimented heavily with the traditional forms and instrumentation in jazz, but has also brought a strong voice of social conscience to his music. In 1960 he collaborated with a diverse group including his jazz elder-statesman Coleman Hawkins, young lion Booker Little, and future avant-garde great Julian Priester among others to create a seven-part suite on the history of black America and the nature of racism for Nat Hentoff's pioneering Candid label. It is inspired, powerful music and I think you will especially appreciate it for Abbey Lincoln's vocals, not only because they are so passionate, but because they were the result of Roach's collaboration with your recent discovery Oscar Brown, Jr. I'm sorry to say the album is hard to find, you may have to spring for an import, but it's well worth the trouble and expense.

Charlie Haden and Carla Bley The Ballad of the Fallen
The ECM label does not credit it as such, but this is the second album from the Haden and Bley led Liberation Music Orchestra. As with the 1969 album, TBotF features an all-star group of musicians fusing traditional songs of protest and revolution with avant-garde jazz. In 1969, the focus of the album was the war in Vietnam. For TBotF the focus was on U.S. policies toward Central and South America, so traditional music of El Salvador and Portugal is in abundance. I'm actually surprised that I've not brought this album up before because along with Coltrane's A Love Supreme, it is one the albums that really formed by thinking as a music lover in general and a jazz lover in particular. The title track ranks favorably with any of Charles Mingus' best arrangements and Haden's composition "Silence" is as moving a ballad as has even been written in jazz or any other genre.

Now Playing: "Tears for Johannesburg" Max Roach We Insist! Max Roach's Freedom Now Suite

Wow. that Freedom Now Suite sounds really excellent. I'll start looking for it. Thanks for keeping the suggestions coming.

LT, hi, how have you been? doin well over here. The other day i heard a peice on the radio and it sounded terribly like DE/JC's In A Sentimental... same progressions, feel, color, but totally revamped.. turns out it was sonny rollins playing it...do you know what album i can find that on? can't find it on Amazon.

quote:

Originally posted by Machols:
LT, hi, how have you been? doin well over here. The other day i heard a peice on the radio and it sounded terribly like DE/JC's In A Sentimental... same progressions, feel, color, but totally revamped.. turns out it was sonny rollins playing it...do you know what album i can find that on? can't find it on Amazon.

It has been a while indeed, Machols. I have been well and am glad you have been, too.

I know of two instances in which Sonny Rollins recorded "In A Sentimental Mood" and they're both sufficiently different that you should be able to track the one you heard down pretty easily.

The first is from the 1951 album Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet on Prestige. I suspect that is the version you heard as it reminds me very much of the John Coltrane/Duke Ellington version (sans the double-time bridge) with some very understated vibraphone from Milt Jackson vibraphone taking the place of Ellington's elegant piano accompaniment. I believe the album is readily available and a worthy addition to any jazz collection in its entirety.

Rollins recorded "In A Sentimental Mood" again in 1978(?) for Milestone in a live duet with McCoy Tyner, which was released on vinyl under the title Milestone Jazzstars in Concert. I don't know that it has ever made it to CD. I am only familiar with it from the collection at the radio station where I worked in St. Louis, so it's probably been more than a decade since I heard it. Live chops are pretty much a given among jazz musicians, but even so Rollins is a giant live especially with the addition of Tyner, who was a member of Coltrane's classic quartet. If you see a used copy of the vinyl, it would be worth checking out.

Good luck and let us know if the '51 recording is the one.

Now Playing: "Brilliant Corners" Thelonious Monk Monk's Blues

Hey, thanks...it was the second. The first minute or so i couldn't help but think, this has the same form as IASM, but was wildly different and imaginitive in approach, so much so that i doubted myself until the very end when it became apparent that that was what was happening. If the dj came on and laid out his list, i was away from the radio by then. That it wasn't released on cd would explain why I couldn't find it on Amazon. I really appreciate it.

quote:

Rollins recorded "In A Sentimental Mood" again in 1978(?) for Milestone in a live duet with McCoy Tyner, which was released on vinyl under the title Milestone Jazzstars in Concert. I don't know that it has ever made it to CD. I am only familiar with it from the collection at the radio station where I worked in St. Louis, so it's probably been more than a decade since I heard it. Live chops are pretty much a given among jazz musicians, but even so Rollins is a giant live especially with the addition of Tyner, who was a member of Coltrane's classic quartet. If you see a used copy of the vinyl, it would be worth checking out.

quote:

Originally posted by keylimetrev:
Well, I've been so bored with the rock/pop music coming out this year that I've suddenly found myself stumbling around in the world of jazz for the first time after all but ignoreing it up till now. So, I'd like recommendations about what people on the board think are some of the essential albums that a new jazz listener should pick up. I'm not completely green to the music, but I'm pretty darn close. I will say that I'd prefer to stay away from the more recent fusion stuff, but if you think it is too good for me to pass up, I'd even be willing to give some of that a try.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "more recent fusion stuff." Do you mean what has been marketed as fusion for the last 20 years or so? Smooth jazz crap? If that's what you mean, then I agree. But the fusion heyday of the late 60s through very early 80s was filled with incredible, passionate music. A brief list if you're interested:

The Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire (already mentioned, but worth a second nod)
The Tony Williams Lifetime - Emergency!
Billy Cobham - Spectrum
Soft Machine - both Third and Fourth
Al Di Meola - Splendido Hotel and Casino
Weather Report - Heavy Weather and Black Market
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
John Abercrombie - Timeless
Stanley Clarke - School Days and Journey to Love
Chick Corea - Return to Forever
Return to Forever - Musicmagic and Romantic Warrior
The Crusaders - 1
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

The preceding list is not in any particular order, and higher placement should not be taken as stronger endorsement.

Thanks for the recommendations Kevin. I'm semi-familiar with most of the stuff on your list, and it is actually pretty much what I was talking about in relation to fusion stuff. I guess my post was a bit misleading with my use of recent, but I was thinking of fusion as recent compared with traditional jazz and bop, even most of the avante garde stuff. I just don't find any of the fusion bands I have heard (including several on your list) to be very interesting. I always feel like they are taking the worst of rock and the worst of jazz. Maybe with your list in hand I will go back and give some of it another try.

You're right, in the timeline of jazz, fusion is a relatively recent sub-genre. Unfortunately, many of the fusion greats drifted into irrelevant, toned down, mainstream crap by the mid-80s. And some of them got that way even earlier. For some of the artists on the list, I really wouldn't recommend straying far from the albums listed. The Tony Williams Lifetime, Al Di Meola, and Mahavishnu all managed to become pretty cheesy by the end of their runs.

As for taking the worst of jazz and rock, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree if you check out the aforementioned albums and your mind isn't changed.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ¡KevinHess!,

quote:

Originally posted by ¡KevinHess!:

quote:

Originally posted by keylimetrev:
Well, I've been so bored with the rock/pop music coming out this year that I've suddenly found myself stumbling around in the world of jazz for the first time after all but ignoreing it up till now. So, I'd like recommendations about what people on the board think are some of the essential albums that a new jazz listener should pick up. I'm not completely green to the music, but I'm pretty darn close. I will say that I'd prefer to stay away from the more recent fusion stuff, but if you think it is too good for me to pass up, I'd even be willing to give some of that a try.

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by "more recent fusion stuff." Do you mean what has been marketed as fusion for the last 20 years or so? Smooth jazz crap? If that's what you mean, then I agree. But the fusion heyday of the late 60s through very early 80s was filled with incredible, passionate music. A brief list if you're interested:

The Mahavishnu Orchestra - The Inner Mounting Flame and Birds of Fire (already mentioned, but worth a second nod)
The Tony Williams Lifetime - Emergency!
Billy Cobham - Spectrum
Soft Machine - both Third and Fourth
Al Di Meola - Splendido Hotel and Casino
Weather Report - Heavy Weather and Black Market
Jaco Pastorius - Jaco Pastorius
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters
John Abercrombie - Timeless
Stanley Clarke - School Days and Journey to Love
Chick Corea - Return to Forever
Return to Forever - Musicmagic and Romantic Warrior
The Crusaders - 1
Miles Davis - Bitches Brew

The preceding list is not in any particular order, and higher placement should not be taken as stronger endorsement.

That is a great list dude.I have a bunch of those records and love alot of them.I listen to quite a few of them frequently.Esp. Billy Cobham,Weather Report,herbie hancock,stanley clarke and the crusaders.

Can i just say, i'm not really qualified to fully follow up on what i'm about to say here, but no one seems to have mentioned any vocal jazz. I just got the Verve Billie Holiday box set and there is really little on it that isn't killer- class A musicianship, songs and definitely one of the best singers ever.