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jazz - the best music, discovered last? reccomendation thread

B

bottleneck

pfm Member
I just love Jazz, it gets better and better the more I hear.

Other than classical, I suspect it's the ultimate music (for me) - in that it never fails to be interesting, new, complex or informative.

With a mere 30-40 jazz albums, I have done no more than dip my little toe in the water.

Nothing is better than when you get the combination of fantastic music, and a great recording too.

Would PFM readers be willing to put their top 5 or top 10 favourite Jazz albums.. that also have fantastic recording quality?

With only 30-40 or so, I do not seem to be in a position to make such reccomendations for others..
 
Ok, depends on the sub-genre, but for 'interesting' modern jazz try any Pharoah Sanders after 1982/3 (e.g. Moonchild), if you like the Pharoah, you need to listen to Alice Coltrane.

If you want to try 'contemporary' small group jazz you can do much worse than Bad Plus (start with their ist and best)

I've been listening a lot to Matthew Halsall (Britain's answer to Miles Davis), and his friend and associate Nat Birchall (Britain's answer to John Coltrane)

Enjoy...
 
Walter Bishop jr, on the black jazz, and Muse labels. a new foray for me, bought a bunch on ebay and amazon after owning only 1, "Speak Low", previously.
 
the usual suspects on the usual labels is where I started.

this is a list of the 5* reviewed recordings in the penguin book of jazz on cd, which is normally quite reliable. I'd say almost anything by any of the players would be worth checking out

Jan Allan:
Jan Allan - 70
Phono Suecia PSCD 130 (1968-69)
Louis Armstrong:
Hot Fives And Sevens
JSP LOUISBOX 100 (4CD) (1925-30)
Albert Ayler:
Spiritual Unity
ESP 1002 (1964)
Count Basie:
The Original American Decca Recordings
MCA GRP 3 611-2 (3CD) (1937-39)
Art Blakey:
Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers With Thelonious Monk
Atlantic 1278 (1957)
Arthur Blythe:
Lenox Avenue Breakdown
Koch Jazz KOC CD 7871 (1979)
Peter Brötzmann:
Machine Gun
FMP CD 24 (1968)
Betty Carter:
The Audience With Betty Carter
Verve 835684-2 (2CD) (1979)
Oscar 'Papa' Celestin:
Papa Celestin & Sam Morgan
Azure AZ-CD-12 (1925-28)
Ornette Coleman:
Beauty Is A Rare Thing
Rhino/Atlantic R2 71410 (6CD) (1959-61)
John Coltrane:
A Love Supreme
GRP/Impulse! IMPD 155 (1964)
Ascension
Impulse! 543413-2 (1965)
Miles Davis:
Kind Of Blue
Columbia/Legacy CK 64935 (1959)
The Complete Live At The Plugged Nickel
Columbia CXK 66955 (7CD) (1965)
Miles Davis & Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Sessions
Columbia CXK 67397 (6CD) (1957-68)
Eric Dolphy:
Out To Lunch
Blue Note CDP 7 46524 (1964)
Bill Evans:
Sunday At The Village Vanguard
OJC 140 (1961)
Waltz For Debby
OJC 210 (1961)
Art Farmer:
Blame It On My Youth
Contemporary CCD 14042-2 (1988)
Trio Ganelin:
Ancora Da Capo
Leo LR 108 (1980)
Charles Gayle:
Touchin' On Trane
FMP CD 48 (1991)
Stan Getz:
The Complete Roost Recordings
Roost/Verve 859622-2 (3CD) (1950-54)
Dizzy Gillespie:
The Complete RCA Victor Recordings
Bluebird 66528-2 (2CD) (1937-49)
Jimmy Giuffre:
Free Fall
Columbia/Legacy CK 65446 (1962)
Al Haig:
The Al Haig Trio Esoteric
Fresh Sound FSR-CD 38 (1954)
Herbie Hancock:
Maiden Voyage
Blue Note 46339-2 (1964)
Andrew Hill:
Point Of Departure
Blue Note 81467 (1964)
J.J. Johnson:
The Eminent Jay Jay Johnson, Volume 1
Blue Note 81505 (1953-55)
Krzysztof Komeda:
Astigmatic
Power Bros PB 00163 (1965)
George Lewis:
Homage To Charlie Parker
Black Saint 120029-2 (1979)
John Lewis:
The Modern Jazz Society presents A Concert Of Contemporary Music
Verve 559827-2 (1955)
London Jazz Composers Orchestra:
Ode
Intakt CD 041 (2CD) (1972)
Joe Lovano:
From The Soul
Blue Note 7 98363 (1991)
John McLaughlin:
Extrapolation
Verve/Polydor 841598-2 (1969)
Shelly Manne:
At The Blackhawk, Volumes 1 - 5
OJC 656 - 660 (1959)
Charles Mingus:
Mingus Ah Um
Columbia CK 40648 (1959)
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady
Impulse! IMPD 174 (1963)
Thelonious Monk:
The Complete Blue Note Recordings
Blue Note 30363-2 (4CD) (1947-1958)
The Complete Riverside Recordings
Riverside 022 (15CD) (1952-1960)
Lee Morgan:
The Sidewinder
Blue Note 95332 (1963)
Sam Morgan:
*Papa Celestin & Sam Morgan
Azure AZ-CD 12 (1927)
Joe 'King' Oliver:
King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band - The Complete Set
Retrieval RTR 79007 (2CD) (1923-24)
Tony Oxley:
The Baptised Traveller
Columbia 494438 2 (1969)
Charlie Parker:
The Charlie Parker Story
Savoy SV 105 (1945)
*The Legendary Dial Masters: Volume 1
Stash STCD 23 (1945-47)
Evan Parker:
50th Birthday Concert
Leo CD LR 212/213 (2CD) (1994)
Position Alpha:
The Great Sound Of Sound
Dragon DRCD 307 (10/84)
Howard Riley:
The Day Will Come
Columbia 494434-2 (1970)
Max Roach:
*We Insist! Freedom Now Suite
Candid CCD 79002 (1960)
Sonny Rollins:
Saxophone Colossus
OJC 291 (1956)
A Night at the Village Vanguard
Blue Note 99795 (2CD) (1957)
Tomasz Stanko:
* Leosia
ECM 1603 (1996)
Sun Ra:
Jazz In Silhouette
Evidence ECD 22012 (1958)
Horace Tapscott:
The Dark Tree
hatOLOGY 2-2053 (2CD) (1989)
Art Tatum:
The Complete Pablo Solo Masterpieces
Pablo 7PACD 4404-2 (7CD) (1953-55)
Cecil Taylor:
Nefertiti, The Beautiful One Has Come
Revenant 202 (2CD) (1962)
Kid Thomas Valentine:
Kid Thomas - George Lewis Ragtime Stompers
GHB BCD-5 (1961)
Sarah Vaughan:
Sarah Vaughan
Verve 543305-2 (1954)
Edward Vesala:
*Lumi
ECM 831517 (1986)
David S. Ware
Godspellized
DIW 916 (1996)
Bobby Watson:
* Love Remains
Red 123212-2 (1986)
Larry Young:
Unity
Blue Note 54616-2 (1965)
John Zorn:
The Big Gundown
Elektra/Nonesuch 9 79139 (1984-85)
 
My rules of jazz purchase:

  • Is the album on Blue Note, Impulse, Verve, Riverside or Prestige and was it recorded before 1966?
  • If the answer to the above is 'yes' do I have it already?
  • If the answer to the above is 'no' then buy it.
There are of course some exceptions, many truly amazing records exist on Columbia, Atlantic and many other labels, and I admit there is even some jazz recorded after 1965 that is worth hearing, but these rules above have served me remarkably well so far.

Tony.
 
Bottleneck, why don't you give us a sense of what you like most so far. It's too vast a genre to advise in abstraction. However, I shall focus on the 60's, and make these three initial recommendations.

Coltrane - 'Coltrane' (Impulse 1962). You have to hear the modal version of 'Out of This World' - its a thrilling 14 minutes; Elvin Jones is on fire and Coltrane has a unique sound at this point. He had a mouthpiece he was obsessed with that got a really searching, but quite grainy and nasal sound - not at all pure like the sound he got on 'A Love Supreme'. Like a slightly rough but very complex and brilliant Islay malt. He broke the mouthpiece after this and his sound was never the same; he had to reinvent. I'd recommend going for this before you move on to 'Crescent, 'A Love Supreme' and further.

Miles Davis - 'ESP'. Since I presume you already have 'Kind of Blue', you might as well go to his towering masterpiece of a decade later. It did take me many years to properly appreciate this, but you might be lucky and get it right away. Try the slow ones like 'Little One', 'Iris' and 'Mood'. This was Wayne Shorter at his peak, and the same for everyone in the quartet. Shorter and Herbie Hancock did decent albums around this point, but none come close to the incredible group empathy they achieved here.

Alice Coltrane - 'Journey in Satchidananda' - Ok its not the 60's anymore, but this carries the spiritual legacy of Coltrane into the next decade. Alice's harp playing is wonderfully expansive and for me this is Pharoah Saunders's best playing - all on soprano. Also fantastic bass playing from Cecil McBee, and various eastern drone instruments add to the lush mix. From an audiophile point of view, the very rich, thick and complex texture of sound really tests your system.
 
I discovered Jazz courtesy of Tony L, never clicked with it before, and his advice was what I followed to start with.

A few other pointers:

The Miles Davis Complete Box Set is just amazing, worth it's weight in gold
If you haven't got any of these albums you need them:

Out of the cool Gil Evans
The Blues and the Abstract Truth Oliver Nelson
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady Charles Mingus
Cannonball Adderley Something Else
Keith Jarrett The Koln Concert

They're probably the five I pull the most, I'll look through tomorrow and pick five really good but not so famous ones. Can't think tonight, I'm knackered
 
you've gotta love pink fish

pink_fish_tshirt-p235425171181041014qrja_400.jpg
 
Bottleneck, why don't you give us a sense of what you like most so far. It's too vast a genre to advise in abstraction.
Click to expand...

I agree. Even confined to the labels and eras mentioned above, there's quite a difference between, say, a Dolphy and a Dorham.

Nonetheless, here a few titles that I think are on a par with the usual 50s-60s greats (such as many of the titles on the list john posted), but that aren't mentioned as often:

- Andrew Hill "Point of Departure"

- Eric Dolphy "Outward Bound" (Nearly as good as "Out to Lunch" and a bit more accessible)

- Joe Henderson "Inner Urge"

- Thad Jones "The Magnificent Thad Jones"

- Sonny Rollins "Sonny Rollins vol. 1"

- Wayne Shorter "Juju".
 
some good suggestions, and I will check them out ...

I am new to jazz ... only started listening to jazz when I hooked up to spotify .... these are albumns which I enjoy so far .... not sure if they are classed as jazz? ...

I have most, and a few others are on my 'wish list' .... all of these are on spotify, and are regarded as well recorded

Joao Gilberto ... Getz Gilberto #2

Di Meola Mc Laughlin De Lucia ... Friday Night in San Francisco

Diana Krall ... Love Scenes

Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall

Dave Brubeck Quartet at Carnegie Hall

Miles Davis ... Tutu

Shirly Horn ... May the Music never End

Sonny Clark ... Cool Struttin'

Sonny Rollins ... Saxaphone Colossus

Jimmy Smith ... Bashin

Jim Hall ... Concierto

Paola Fresu ... Melos

Ali Farka Toure Ry Cooder ... talking Timbuktu

Antonio Forcione ... Tears of Joy

Melody Gardot ... My one and only thrill

Hugh Masekela ... Home

Orchestra Baobab ... Made in dakar

Hadouk Trio ... Baldamore

Monty Alexander ... Live!

Madeline Peyroux ... Careless Love
 
Some others worth considering, these are not from the mighty ( Coltrane, Davis, Parker, Mingus, Monk) but I do find myself going back to them:
Duke Jordan - "Flight to Jordan" piano based swing/bop - meets Tony's pre '66 Blue Note caveat
Roland Kirk - "We Free Kings" Blues & Be Bop plus Kirk's amazing multi instrument playing, without the pop covers of his later albums.
Ahmad Jamal - "At the Pershing - but not for me" the spaces say as much as the notes
Clifford Brown - "Memorial Album" ( the blue note one) or "Clifford Brown & Max Roach"

Enjoy
 
A few others have touched on this above, but I agree that it is such a wide idiom, that a little more info would help.

what are you listening to now that you enjoy?

If your present listening is earlier, more "easy" listening, it could be a step too far to start listening to some stuff. In my opinion 60's coltrane, Eric Dolphy, Ornette Coleman, Evan Parker etc is not for a newcomer to the music. It may be that it is for you, but more likely not. check these names (or any others) out on, for example, You Tube, before you part with your hard earned. We dont want to put you off by suggesting the "wrong" stuff. Ie "Yes, Ive listened to some Jazz. Albert Ayler, Ornette Coleman, Sun Ra. I dont think Jazz is for me"

If you find a recording that you like, the obvious thing is more of the same. Also check out other recordings by the sidemen on the recordings. for example, Miles Davis could lead you to Cannonball Adderley, who, leads to Joe Zawinal (check spelling!!) who leads to Weather Report, who leads to Jaco Pastorius, who leads to Wayne Shorter, who leads to Miles Davis etc.

Good luck
 
I agree with the sidemen method of discovery katie r, but I wouldn't avoid the big 60's firestarters, just start with their more accessible sides. This is why I recommended 'Coltrane' by Coltrane rather than (say) 'Live at the Village Vanguard Again'.

Also, for example, something like Eric Dolphy, 'Live at the Five Spot' would be a good start - its pretty intense, but so immediately infections. With Ornette, or Ayler, its a different thing; its sometimes deliberately opaque and can take a shift of thinking to get it, but I think with the Coltranes, Pharaoh etc its ok to just leap in. Worked for me.

Another 60's classic I would recommend for immediate beauty, infectious swing, and fantastic recording quality is Yusef Lateef, 'Live at Peps Vol. 2'.
 
katie r said:
If you find a recording that you like, the obvious thing is more of the same. Also check out other recordings by the sidemen on the recordings. for example, Miles Davis could lead you to Cannonball Adderley, who, leads to Joe Zawinal (check spelling!!) who leads to Weather Report, who leads to Jaco Pastorius, who leads to Wayne Shorter, who leads to Miles Davis etc.
Click to expand...

That's exactly how I started. My first album was the mid-80s £1.99 Blue Note 50th Anniversary sampler. I initially bought albums that featured my favourite tracks, then branched out to sidemen, then eventually concluded Blue Note, Impulse, Verve, Riverside etc are all to my taste and it's pretty much impossible to put a foot wrong. I just love the bop / hard-bop period of jazz. There is other stuff I like too, e.g. Miles Davis' 70s funk stuff, the odd bit of free jazz, and some of the very early jazz e.g. Louis Armstrong 78s etc, but bop & hard-bop is my comfort zone and I could happily spend decades mining that particular vein - there is tons of it!

Tony.
 
Tony L said:
That's exactly how I started. My first album was the mid-80s £1.99 Blue Note 50th Anniversary sampler. I initially bought albums that featured my favourite tracks, then branched out to sidemen, then eventually concluded Blue Note, Impulse, Verve, Riverside etc are all to my taste and it's pretty much impossible to put a foot wrong. I just love the bop / hard-bop period of jazz. There is other stuff I like too, e.g. Miles Davis' 70s funk stuff, the odd bit of free jazz, and some of the very early jazz e.g. Louis Armstrong 78s etc, but bop & hard-bop is my comfort zone and I could happily spend decades mining that particular vein - there is tons of it!

Tony.
Click to expand...

Exactly the same for me too - starting with that £1.99 sampler! Same pattern has followed, with purchases mostly on vinyl. The problem with a lot of current Blue Notes is that the RVG Remasters on CD are a travesty compared to the originals. If you collect on CD, go back to early releases, or the Japanese versions. On vinyl, the current Music Matters 2x45rpm are fantastic (alongside the earlier series from Analogue Productions). Riverside, Verve and Impulse CD transfers fare better, but I still prefer to collect them on vinyl wherever possible. Some of the DMM Blue Notes from the 80s are really good quality.

The ECM thread also covers a wealth of great jazz.

Most of the recommendations here are pretty safe bets. Jazz is well covered on Spotify, so you can always listen beforehand.

Finally, my favourite online jazz shop is this one:

http://www.jazzhouserecords.co.uk/

Give Alan a call: he's very helpful.
 
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