Recommend me some Jazz albums!

My wife is asking me for some suggestions for my upcoming birthday.

I noticed my FLAC library is distressingly shy of traditional jazz. Got tons of fusion jazz though.
So...recommend me some jazz albums that my loving wife will buy me!

Definitely looking for MUST HAVES for starters.

This:

http://www.amazon.com/Vol-1-Jazz-Paw.../dp/B000BZDGF0

SACD, even better. And anything, Diana Krall. SACD, even better.

Kind of Blue - Miles Davis
Ella Returns to Berlin - Ella Fitzgerald
The Great American Songbook - Carmen McRae
Let's do it - best of the Verve years - Louis Armstrong
...

Charlie Parker - this collection looks good:
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Complete-...charlie+parker

Wes Montgomery - Movin' Wes
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Gerry Mulligan/Thelonius Monk - Mulligan Meets Monk
Errol Garner - Concert by the Sea
Modern Jazz Quartert - The Last Concert

Jim

Anything by the usual suspects Miles, Monk, Coltrane, Brubeck, Parker, etc.

I definately recommend Miles Davis' "Workin' With..." Probably my favorite Miles Davis album.

There is an SHM-SACD Japan and an XRCD. Both are spectacular depending on which format you would like.

Here are a few of my favorites:

John Coltrane - Live at Birdland
John Coltrane - Complete 1961 Village Vanguard Recordings (4 CD box set)
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream
Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus
Art Blakey Quintet (w/Clifford Brown) - Live at Birdland
Miles Davis - Round About Midnight
Ornette Coleman - The Shape of Jazz to Come

Sonny Rollins - Saxophone Colossus. Good to see this one recommended. The track - St. Thomas is worth the price of admission alone.
Duke Ellington & John Coltrane - self titled. In a Sentimental Mood, great song.
Pete Fountain - Pete Fountain Presents the Best of Dixieland. Love his rendition of Struttin With Some BBQ.
Ben Webster - 7 Classic Albums

What musical instrument(s) tend to pull you in when you're listening to a song?
Those are the artists I initially seek out.

Here is my (very modest) Jazz SACD collection... The Norah Jones disc is of questionable sound quality (older version), but I can recommend all the rest... :cool:

Attachment 82101

John Coltrane and Duke Ellington - Self Titled: First track alone is worth the price of the disc
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme : some may find it a bit out there, but IMO it is an amazing album
Charles Mingus - This is Jazz : compilation album, kind of a best hits deal. Mingus is a monster upright bass player
Billie Holiday - Body and Soul : available on MoFi and some hi rez versions recently believe
Jimmy Smith - Root Down : Smith plays a mean Hammond

Dave Brubeck quartet "Live at Carnegie Hall", stunning and in heavy rotation for me right now.

Bill Evans "Waltz for Debbie"
Herbie Hancock "Maiden Voyage"
Thelonious Monk "Brilliant Corners"
Dave Brubeck "Time Out"

and bonus picks that you won't see mentioned here:
Donald Byrd "At Half Note 1&2"
Freddie Hubbard "Red Clay"

These are all great recommendations, and I can second most of them.

One of my more recent purchases that really surprised me is "Brubeck & Rushing"

It's the Dave Brubek Quartet feat. Jimmy Rushing.

The Quartet is amazing and Jimmy's voice almost jumps out of the speakers at you.

Great suggestions guys. The wife hates me now but she asked for it! Hehe.

I was listening to some fusion last night (Rippingtons and Fourplay) and my wife came in. She is beginning to understand the allure of good sounding music. Hehe.

Here is what I regard as the best recorded music I have out of thousands and thousands of albums, CD's, DVD's and SACD's. You just can't find this at any price hardly at all. Someone here should get this but it would be cool if you'd give the OP first shot.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Mark-Levinso...item1e77a5457b

Several different types of jazz to blues music on it, that Levinson recorded straight into DSD data. Mostly in his NYC store. Absolutely reference quality and interesting music.

I'd buy it myself, but I already have two copies. It should be gone almost immediately.

CJ

If you want a wide variety of traditional jazz recordings running from the start of mainstream jazz in the 1920's, a collection might help. The Ken Burns Jazz series covers a wide range, but there others:

http://www.amazon.com/Ken-Burns-Jazz...ken+burns+jazz

Of course any collection put out under one major label is going to have omissions, and no collections are perfect, but it's a place to start in what's a very broad genre. Also helps to see how the music evolved over time but still has its roots in music made decades ago.

sonny rollins...the bridge
charles mingus...ah um
wes montgomery...genius
miles davis....for a newbie...anything up to and including: in a silent way

that should be a good start fron the bebop era

If you have FLAC, can you also stream from the internet?

If so, try streaming from jazz88.org

You can get as much free 'traditional' jazz as you want (but they also have great regular feature spots for blues, swing, salsa, etc), mine their playlists, and then decide if you want to buy anything for later.

List of top 25 Jazz albums mostly old ones - http://www.thejazzresource.com/top_25_jazz_albums.html

The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz (5 or 6 Cs) is, in my opinion, the best single overview of the history of jazz. It has wonderful representative selections from every major jazz style - from ragtime, Louis Armstrong, Big Band, bebop, free jazz, jazz fusion, etc. It also has a wonderful booklet covering jazz history and evolution. I used the vinyl record version of it in a History of Jazz class I took my senior year in college and it really introduced me to a whole new world of music. I highly recommend it if what you are looking for is a compilation/anthology.

Excellent suggestions. Here's an 8 CD set of 100 excellent jazz tunes, all from the 1950's. Hard to beat for around $16:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

Nobody has mentioned Wayne Shorter yet, so I will. His current quartet is terrific! He just put out another live album "Without a Net" excellent!!! Perfect choice, as long as you aren’t looking for smooth jazz... it is not.

Great suggestion Emlyn!

Please take all of the following screed with a big ol' grain of salt; "as-is" and FWIW...

I am going to make the heretical assumption that the OP, like me, doesn't like jazz! :-)
I don't care for 'serious' jazz (e.g., hard bop, Coltrane, Mingus - all of the complex/atontal stuff) at all; I don't, frankly, "get it" and given my age, I don't think that is likely to change.

That said, there is, of course, a wealth of truly superbly recorded jazz; and some of it can be pretty darned pleasant even for a non-fan.

some that I enjoy:
Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out
Sonny Clark Cool Struttin'
Sonny Rollins Way out West

EDIT: Special mention - Charlie Byrd's eponymous, ca. 1977 direct to disk (not disc!) 45 rpm 12" on Crystal Clear Records. Ideally the white vinyl version; it was also pressed in standard black vinyl (the noise floor of the latter is higher due to the carbon black pigment in black vinyl - at least, according to the lore of the itme). The music is pleasant; musicianship is quite good, and the recording and overall sound quality is phenomenal. This album features just about the best recording/reproduction of drums that I've ever heard. It's also easy to find in good condition (as an "audiophile" record) and inexpensively.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...bbin081212.jpg

FWIW (and not that anyone asked!) I find almost all of Diana Krall's recorded output to be quite vapid, and, while she's a good pianist, I think she's a terribly mannered and ineffective vocalist. She projects, to me, a spoiled brat persona that I just cannot get around. I tend to think of Martha Stewart whenever I see or hear her.

Final grouchy old geezer comment: Jazz at the Pawnshop sounds tremendous, but is otherwise just dreadful. I've heard it described as "like listening to the Jr. High School jazz band" and that's about right - especially if one bears in mind that it's a Swedish Jr. High School jazz band.



YMMV, of course - and there's no reason that my tastes should be expected to conform to anyone else's (or vice versa).

I am right there with you mrh.

I *like* Jazz but I don't love Jazz. I find myself skipping past songs that seem discordant or random to me. Most likely what you dubbed "atonal". I listend to a bunch of Miles Davis last night and find a lot of his music to be enjoyable but also found nearly as much to be in the category mentioned above.
I have been previewing a lot of the suggestions given so far and I am finding a lot of stuff I really like and a good amount that I want to punch in the face. Hehe.

It has made me realize one thing though...as much as I love the Rotel RSP-1068, it is almost too much of a pain to use as a stereo pre.

hifi's all about pain - a little masochistic streak's a plus in an "audiophile" - actually I think it's why otherwise normal folks will listen to things like Jazz at the Pawnshop and say things like, "Listen to the ice cubes tinkle in someone's glass. It's like it's right here in the room with us!" ;-)

Yeah, like not love - that's where I am, too. I enjoy it if it is melodic and (of course) sounds great - some of the best recordings of brass, percussion and piano you'll ever hear on those late 1950s jazz albums - minimal extraneous EQ or compression, good sounding rooms, three-track recordings on Ampex decks through Neumann or Telefunken mics and top-quality vacuum tube consoles; then engineers lovingly cutting the lacquers through to stampers that were not used to press too many copies before being retired.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...647/Barney.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...6647/budv2.jpg

Back to the old folks' home now...

Here are some suggestions a bit more recent, albeit from artists who have been around awhile:

1) Yellowjackets: Timeline
2) Jeff Lorber: Galaxy
3) Fourplay: Esprit de Four

If you like any of these and would like to see more, checkout my webpage with links to (mostly jazz) CD reviews I've done over the years: http://mysite.verizon.net/res1tsng/id15.html

I like Fourplay...actually have that album already.

FWIW (and not that anyone asked!) I find almost all of Diana Krall's recorded output to be quite vapid, and, while she's a good pianist, I think she's a terribly mannered and ineffective vocalist. She projects, to me, a spoiled brat persona that I just cannot get around. I tend to think of Martha Stewart whenever I see or hear her.

Although I'm a Diana Krall fan I know what you mean. Her voice is not technically great, but to me her phrasing is interesting. She also has a great small group.

. . . . .Martha Stewart :cheesygrin:


Did you know Diana is married to Elvis Costello?

yeah, i dont buy the diana krall pitch either....madeleine peyroux can do some greatness..her band cooks as well