Jazz Newb

silverwater

I have recently discovered Lionel Hampton and am now very interested in learning about jazz and hearing a wide variety of what it can offer. I have also dug out a Miles Davis CD which I am digging into.

What would be the classics, or even some of the more eclectic corners of jazz that I should check out?

Rigsby

As I'm sure you know, the word "Jazz" covers a huge and varied volume of music. You have got off to a great start with Miles Davis though. What cd of his are you listening to ? I'd recommend "Kind of Blue". Others by him I'd recommend are, "Filles de Kilimanjaro", "In a Silent Way", "Miles Ahead", and "Bitches Brew". This last one is from his more experimental period, but a great album IMO.

You could do a search on You Tube for artists such as :

John Coltrane : (his album "A Love Supreme" should be in any good jazz collection).

Duke Ellington
Bud Powell
Charles Mingus
Stan Getz ( generally a more mellow type of jazz ala "Girl from Ipanema")
Bill Evans
Eric Dolphy
Michael Brecker
Steps Ahead ( a more contempory electric band ).


This is just the tip of a very big iceberg !!!

Happy listening.

Heinlein

I'd add a few things that have survived many years of "natural selection" in my music collection (that is, I delete things that bore me, and so the fittest survive at the end):

Herbie Hancock, performed with Miles in 60's, created his own funk/jazz band in 70's and became famous, showed some nice dance/pop in 80's, returned to jazz with awesome electronic sound in 90's, and now basically hanging around and making easy-listening recordings with some pop superstars. Oh, and giving some fantastic truly jazzy gigs here and there, including Dublin Herbie is a legend.

Wayne Shorter is one of the greatest jazz composers, probbaly one of the most performed composers along with Jobim. Actually Miles performed Shorter's tunes more often than everyone thinks he did For example, MD's Nefertiti, which is, btw, another must-have album, is mostly Shorter's tunes.

Weather Report There is no jazz without Weather Report. Period This band is the greatest constellation in jazz. To anyone who's new to jazz: please, remember these names: Joe Zawinul, Jaco Pastorius and Wayne Shorter = Weather Report. Not knowing them is like learning physics and not knowing the names of Maxwell, Planck and Einstein.

Keith Jarrett: tried to invent a new genre in 70's, somewhere between the worlds of classical, jazz and avantgarde, produced around 100 solo improv albums, but ended up doing classy jazz with his trio in 80's and 90's. Although the format of jazz trio (piano/doublebass/drums) was originally invented by Bill Evans, I think the best incarnation of this format belongs to Keith Jarrett Trio.

John McLaughlin: to be honest, I'm no big fan of him any more, but he's a prominent figure in jazz, and I think at least his Shakti series is something to have in your collection.

Probably forgot something... Well, this is hell of a lot of great music to be researched and enjoyed for many years.

SmileyPaul

Duke ellington has already been mentioned, they were 20's if Im not mistaken, charlie parker if you wanna get into the more upbeat be-bop and dizzy gillepsie has always been a favourite of mine, also bitches brew, was... interesting :P

herbieflowers

Charlie Parker is a must. Try check out some of the compilations, "The Savoy Masters" has all the gems (and without all the repeats!)

Thelonious Monk. My favourite jazz musician. He's a pianist from Parker's era, with a style totally of his own. Whistle-able tunes a-plenty on either of the "Genius of Modern Music" volumes. He always had great bands, a lot of greats played with him.

Django Reinhardt is great, too. He's a guitarist who's had a major influence on practically every great jazz guitarist. Very catchy, great rhythmic uptempo "hot" jazz. Any compilation will have a good selection of his stuff.

Miles Davis. "Birth of the Cool" is from his earlier period, after he left Parker's band. Very easy to get into. His late 50s stuff is great (and different from the "cool jazz" of "Birth"); "Kind of Blue" is a seminal jazz album, the bestselling of all-time if I'm not mistaken. The "Workin'", "Cookin'" series is also worth checking out if you like what you hear.

He's got some more "free" stuff too, but don't let that term put you off. "Bitches Brew" and "In a Silent Way" are worth checking out.

The 50s period spawned the "hard-bop" movement. Trumpeters like Freddie Hubbard ("Ready for Freddie", "Hubtones" are two classics amongst a great body of work), Lee Morgan ("The Sidewinder", "The Gigolo"), the list goes on.

Wayne Shorter is another giant. He made a slew of albums in the 60s, in a relatively short period of time. "Night Dreamer", "Speak No Evil", "JuJu" come highly recommended.

Herbie Hancock has a very eclectic back catalogue. Early period is in the hard bop vein ("Takin' Off is a great place to start). Then, I'd go for "Maiden Voyage" (my favourite jazz album) and "Speak Like a Child", which see him progress from the hard-bop style to a more accessible, dreamey kind of sound.

He dipped his fingers into various musical pies for the rest of his career. "Headhunters" set a precedent in the jazz-funk world, he recorded a couple of spacey albums, too ("Crossings" and "Mwandishi"). His later stuff I'm not as familiar with. (poppy-synthy tripe :pac: )

Charles Mingus was a phenomenal bassist, and a great composer. He has a massive body of work, it's all good. "Mingus Ah Um" and "Mingus at Antibes" are my personal favourites.

Bill Evans Trio's "Live at the Village Vnguard" is also a fantastic entry point to the more melancholy, introspective jazz.

mike65

Wot no Glenn Miller Band?

More seriously don't forget the ladies of jazz - Julie London, Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee, Nina Simone.

Some fusiony stuff

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055359545&highlight=fusion

Heinlein

herbieflowers wrote: »

His later stuff I'm not as familiar with. (poppy-synthy tripe :pac: )

You're ol-skool obviously His "Dis Is Da Drum" is as Herbie-y as it is synthy. Check it out if you haven't yet. There are a few of his older tunes (Butterfly, f.ex.) re-made with higher quality sounds. So basically with this album you enjoy Herbie transposed to pretty advanced modern sound, never mind that it was recorded in 1995. This album usually shocks sound engineers because it's too good for 1995

Rigsby

Heinlein wrote: »

You're ol-skool obviously His "Dis Is Da Drum" is as Herbie-y as it is synthy. Check it out if you haven't yet. There are a few of his older tunes (Butterfly, f.ex.) re-made with higher quality sounds. So basically with this album you enjoy Herbie transposed to pretty advanced modern sound, never mind that it was recorded in 1995. This album usually shocks sound engineers because it's too good for 1995

Another "old-skooler" here.

OP ; Be careful when/if choosing a Herbie Hancock album. His catalogue is very varied. After many hours of playing "Dis Is Da Drum", I sold it as it did not do anything for me, and I'm a big Herbie fan. You may like it though. To each his own.

Gussie Finknott

Weather Report,Fusion wrapped up in one,You gotta get Forecast Tommorow cd-dvd box set, it covers it all.Also have a listen to Jan Garbarek group with Rainer Bruninghaus.Marilyn Mazur and bass player to die for Eberhard Weber.

silverwater

Thanks for all the posts. I plan to get to all of your advice, but as you can see it may take some time...

The Miles CD I have is Sketches of Spain, and it's quite enjoyable although it's not grabbing me as strongly as I might have thought.
I have just gotten John Coltrane's A Love Supreme and will be checking that one out post-haste.

silverwater

A Love Supreme is a treat.
Trying Mingus Ah Um now...
If anyone has any more suggestions, please put an album title up also, as I don't want to be thrown by a fluky bad album of an amazing artist, as Rigsby said re: Herbie Hancock.
Thanks again

Gussie Finknott

Jaco Pastorius Untitled

Rigsby

silverwater wrote: »

A Love Supreme is a treat.
Trying Mingus Ah Um now...
If anyone has any more suggestions, please put an album title up also, as I don't want to be thrown by a fluky bad album of an amazing artist, as Rigsby said re: Herbie Hancock.
Thanks again

You said you have "Sketches of Spain" by Miles. Seeming it has not "grown" on you yet. Give his "Kind of Blue" album a try. It's another "must have" album for any collection, and I'd be really surprised if you did not like it.

equivariant

silverwater wrote: »

I have recently discovered Lionel Hampton and am now very interested in learning about jazz and hearing a wide variety of what it can offer. I have also dug out a Miles Davis CD which I am digging into.

What would be the classics, or even some of the more eclectic corners of jazz that I should check out?

I think that all the artists mentioned in this thread are great. However.... I'm not sure that (for example) 'A Love Supreme' is the best thing for a jazz newbie to listen to. Of course, it's absolutely a great album, but, let's face it, if you haven't listened to much jazz, it's not going to make much sense.

I reckon that the best thing to do is to get some good compilations and start exploring from there. For example there is a compilation called "Blue Note: A selection from 25 Best Albums" that would be a good starting point.

NiallMH

I wouldn't know how much "Jazz" youd call him but since were the trumpeter list you should listen to Herb Albert . . Fantastic . .

stevejazzx

Heinlein wrote: »

Probably forgot something... Well, this is hell of a lot of great music to be researched and enjoyed for many years.

Yeah there's this guy called John Coltrane - you should check him out!:p

inverted_world

If you like Lionel Hampton, I'd suggest you check out Benny Goodman's Small Group stuff. Hampton played quite a bit with Goodman, particularly with his Trio and Quartet.

SmileyPaul wrote: »

Duke ellington has already been mentioned, they were 20's if Im not mistaken

Ellington's career spanned from 1914 right up until his death in 1974. Most "best of" compilations I've found don't even come close to giving an idea of the variety of his work. My favourite Ellington is from the 30's. I especially love his "jungle" period from the late 20's to early 30's. There are some pretty good early Ellington sets available.
Also, "The Great Summit" (with Louis Armstrong) is a great album.
As far as box sets go, the Proper box "Masterpieces 1929-49" is a very good introduction, and includes a good bit of the material he did with Johnny Hodges.
I mostly listen to trad jazz and swing era stuff, which you might not be looking for, but I thought I'd suggest anyway since you mentioned Hampton. I hope it helps anyway!

d'Oracle

Dave Holland Quintet. - For Vibes, like Hamp Plays and incredible music.
Art Blakeys Jazz Messengers - For butt shaking brilliance
Jimmy Smith - For more buttshaking brilliance.