Essential Blues+Jazz for Newbie

torturedsoul

OK people, apologies if this is a common thread that annoys people.

Can the wise ones on here recommend essential Jazz+Blues artists/albums for someone who is an extremely compendent(semi-Pro) guitarist who has recently realised that he has been playing the wrong musical style for the last 15 years:):D

I have come to realise that Jazz and blues makes my heart sing. I have been playing and gigging quite extensivley in the folk circles and also play in a Latino band. while I do not nor have I ever filter any musical styles out of my life and enjoy them all I find that the back catalogue of Jazz and Blues is so extensive it is very hard to know where to start.

So with that in mind I re-iterate my plea. Can the wise ones on here give me a good starting point within both genres?

Kindest regards
Tortured

Rigsby

Some good jazz and blues albums/artists to start with would be :

Blues :

John Mayall - The "Beano" album with Eric Clapton. (This is a "must have" in any blues collection IMO ).

Paul Butterfield Blues Band.

Buddy Guy.

Taj Mahal

Freddy, BB, and Albert King

Peter Greene (early Fleetwood Mac)

Johnny Winter

Howlin' Wolf

Muddy Waters

John Lee Hooker

Jazz :

Miles Davis - "Kind of Blue" ( This would have the same status as the Mayall album above)

John Coltrane - "A Love Supreme"

Stan Getz

"Cannonball" Adderly

Bud Powell

Bill Evans

Gil Evans

Michael Brecker

"The Jazz Crusaders"

Chet Baker

Rick Margitza


You are only scratching the surface with all of the above, but hopefully they will get you off to a good start.

Happy listening

torturedsoul

Savage Stuff.

Thats certainly a nice list there. It will get the ball rolling and hopfully from there it will link into other areas for me.

thanks a mill.

All I need now is too start smoking, buy some bourbon and a nice 1950's telecaster and I'll be laughing:D

Rigsby

torturedsoul wrote: »

Savage Stuff.
All I need now is too start smoking, buy some bourbon and a nice 1950's telecaster and I'll be laughing:D

....and find a "juke joint" to play in !


The blues list I gave is generally on the more traditional side. Hopefully someone else will chime in with some more contemporary blues artists/albums.

win2one

If your interest is Jazz/Blues then just 1 name from me Duke Robillard he has dozens of albums and has produced countless more ,so I reckon his work should lead you in multiple directions from T Bone Walker to Joe Louis Walker.

WilcoOut

get your hands on 'West side soul' by Magic Sam

holy ****tin hell it will make every fiber of your being rejoice!



this is the album that made me realise i was listening to the wrong stuff for years

this IS music

PaulieBoy

torturedsoul wrote: »

..... has recently realised that he has been playing the wrong musical style for the last 15 years...I have come to realise that Jazz and blues makes my heart sing.

Talk to me about it! I have played about every instrument over the years trying to find 'my instrument' only to recently realize that it's been the music that needed changing. D'oh! Better late than never.

Anyway a good introduction to the whole jazz thing-and it's free-is Jazz Insights available from iTunes. It's a good introduction to all the major players you should know about.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/itunes-u/jazz-insights-media/id405935692

leakyboots

Just listen to Steely Dan and you'll be fine!

Rigsby

leakyboots wrote: »

Just listen to Steely Dan and you'll be fine!

One of my favourite all time bands !! However I would not consider them to be in either the jazz or blues camps. Granted their music leans towards jazz, but IMO they would not fall into either genre.

torturedsoul

Nice one lads! and ladies?

slowley getting through them now and its a pleasure. That itunes link is a real help and rigbys essentials have been a god send. I was recently talking to an double bass friend of mine and he recommended EST. Have ye ever heard of them... They blew my mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7KXq6RJ0PA&feature=related

Rigsby

torturedsoul wrote: »

Nice one lads! and ladies?

slowley getting through them now and its a pleasure. That itunes link is a real help and rigbys essentials have been a god send. I was recently talking to an double bass friend of mine and he recommended EST. Have ye ever heard of them... They blew my mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7KXq6RJ0PA&feature=related

Glad you are enjoying your new found interest in jazz and blues. There is a LOT of interesting material out there to be discovered, especially in jazz. Yes, EST are great. If I'm not mistaken, they played in Dublin a few times. When I was giving my initial list, I forget to mention our very own Louis Stewart and Richie Buckley. Shame on me....

Dave Brubeck is another name I forget to mention. A lot of people who are not even interested in jazz might know "Take Five". Brubeck usually gets the credit for this number, but it was actually written by the alto player Paul Desmond.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmDDOFXSgAs

Bootsy.

Some great recommendations so far.

As a guitarist, check out T-Bone Walker, Charlie Christian, and Wes Montgomery.
If you're into slide, Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor.

If you like EST, you might try Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau.

You should definitely check out 'Martin Scorsese Presents: The Blues', it's excellent and essential stuff. There are other really good blues and jazz docos online and on Sky Arts and BBC 4.
'The History Of Jazz' by Ted Gioia is a great book.

Custardpi

Some great suggestions there. If you want to see what a great jazz guitarist is capable of you could do a lot worse than check out John McLaughlin's stuff, both with Miles Davis (eg Tribute to Jack Johnson) & his own projects such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Our own Louis Stewart is worth a listen too, listening to tapes of him a few years ago helped get me into jazz. Another performer who I really like is this guy who is very impressive considering how young he is. Got his album "Questions" with David Lyttle a few months ago & loved it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiRxLgyN_Lo

In blues some of the stuff that came out on Fat Possum a few years back is definitely worth exploring to give a different perspective to the more mainstream stuff. It's based on the more rural, hill country blues than the more commonly heard delta style associated with Robert Johnson & others so has a somewhat rougher & occasionally chaotic sound. RL Burnside, Robert Belfour & Junior Kimbrough would be my favourite of these, RL & Junior occasionally crossing the line into what could be considered rock.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm06GowX3gU

Auvers

hey OP just have a gander and listen to this

clonmahon

No one mentioned any early acoustic blues recording artists so here are some names to check out

Mississippi John Hurt
Blind Blake
Blind Willie McTell
Skip James
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Robert Johnson
Blind Willie Johnson
Memphis Minnie
Charley Patton
Victoria Spivey
Laura Smith
Bessie Tucker
Bukka White
Sonny Terry
Brownie McGhee
Mississippi Fred McDowell
Son House
Lightnin' Hopkins
Reverend Gary Davis
Bo Carter
Etta Baker
Elizabeth Cotton
Sam Chatmon

Keyzer

Do yourself a favour and get listening to the Allman Brothers Band.

I think there is a misconception with some people that the Allman Brothers were a bunch of long haired hill billy rockers - not so. They were great musicians and players but, and I'm open to debate on this, they had one of the finest guitarists ever to play the instrument: Duane Allman. A slide and improvisational master. He was phenomenal playing in standard tuning also.

They played Blues, Blues Rock but they also fused elements of Jazz in there too.

Check the below links out for some examples:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp1nyDF9Wak

Also, check out the Derek Trucks band - an absolute phenomenal talent on the guitar.

geetar

robert johnson and BB King are good places to start.

Clapton's "Unplugged" album is a goldmine too, its what got me playing.

rje66

had a similar question to yours a while back, its more blues based but was helpful
see link
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=75419394&posted=1#post75419394

Shakti

Rory Gallagher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_D0LZwqDU8

Charlie Parker

Auvers

hay OP watch this

http://www.rte.ie/player/#!v=1127815

part of the tv50

*sound quality is pretty bad though

dr gonzo

Well said Keyzer, Duane Allman was a legend, and grossly underrated. I'll just leave this here...

geetar wrote: »

robert johnson and BB King are good places to start.

Clapton's "Unplugged" album is a goldmine too, its what got me playing.

Clapton is excellent and one of my favourites but I would say dont get his Robert Johnson album though. I thought it was quite weak tbh