Building My Jazz CD/SACD Library

[digitaldave]

My jazz CD collection so far consists of:

Norah Jones - Come Away With Me, Feels Like Home
Harry Connick Jr. - We Are In Love, When Harry Met Sally
Jamie Cullum - Twentysomething
Diana Krall - The Girl In The Other Room, A Night In Paris
Miles Davis - A Kind Of Blue (SACD hybrid)
Dave Brubeck - Time Out

Now I'm looking to expand my collection a bit, and I've drawn up the following list to target next:

John Coltrane - Blue Train (SACD hybrid)
Charlie Mingus - Mingus Ah Um (SACD hybrid discontinued?)
Thelonius Monk - Straight, No Chaser
Charlie Parker - The Essential Charlie Parker
Duke Ellington - Blues In Orbit

As I am also looking at getting an SACD player, I would like to get SACD versions where possible - however, if the SACD version isn't an improvement over the CD version, then I'll stick with the CD.

Finally, I was thinking about getting something by Dizzy Gillespie, but couldn't find much info here about what would be a good album to go for. Any suggestions?

So, does that look like a good starting point? If not, please feel free to make alternative suggestions in case I've picked out any obvious lemons.

Thanks

.

 

[Figo]

Bud Powell - Jazz Giant (or anything, really - he is amazing)
Art Blakey - A night at birdland
The Essential Dave Brubeck (I usually hate compilations, but this one is really good! has a bunch of great live stuff)

 

[Wmcmanus]

Dave, you've listed some rather good ones there.

Some general quesitons for you: Are you new to jazz and looking to get a 'feel' for the various sub genres? Are you interested in exploring mostly instrumental works or vocals, or both? Any preference for male versus female vocals? Traditional versus modern types of songs/styles?

There are just so many ways to go with jazz-based SACD recommendations, this is why I ask. But rather than being just a pest and not very helpful, let me throw some SACD titles out that I've found to be extremely well recorded, and also excellent performances:

Patricia Barber - Nightclub (or any of her discs, really... if you like Diana Krall, you will like her too. The recording quality on the MFSL SACD's is so good, that it's just mind blowing).

Dave Brubeck - 40th Anniversary UK Tour (very nice)

Chick Corea - Rendezvoux in New York (2 disc set)

DiMelia, McLaughlin, de Lucia - Friday Night in San Fransisco (3 guys doing amazing things with acoustic guitars... no words, but none are necessary) Not at all traditional jazz, and maybe not jazz at all come to think of it, but stunning.

Bill Evans - There are several of his titles available on SACD, and on XRCD as well. They're all quite good. This is soft jazz piano, no vocals. Lifts your spirits.

Grover Washington, Jr. - Prime Cuts

Wes Montgomery - Incredible Jazz Guitar

On Redbook CD:

Eva Cassiday - anything the woman ever sang... unfortunately, nothing on SACD yet.

I'm a big fan of the old style female vocals. 'Jazz singers' such as Sarah Vaughn (especially), Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, etc., and there are now a few titles out on SACD. But this may not be your cup of tea, so I won't get carried away with recommendations.

Then there is always the Miles Davis and John Coltrane kind of stuff, which spans a lot of sub genres of jazz. Oh, and Louis Armstrong. Don't forget him when building a jazz collection.

 

[Wmcmanus]

There are, let's see... quite a few jazz titles on SACD. What does 123 x 5 equal? Anyone? Wow! That's a lot to sort through.

And if that wasn't enough, here is something really over the top! These are all of the jazz sub genres as defined by yourmusic.com. If you've got some time to kill, it can be kind of fun to see which categories various music that you're familiar with fall into. But be careful, I've seen them put CCR in the "blues" category, and there are several other similar examples. But it's well worth exploring if you're looking for particular styles.

 

[slt]

There are obviously a large amount of great jazz records to choose from, and since no specific preferences were mentioned,
here are some of my personal favorites from different periods and different styles:

Dizzy Gillespie - Shaw Nuff

The Quintet - Jazz at Massey Hall (with Parker, Gillespie, Powell, Roach, Mingus - also known as 'the greatest jazz concert ever')

Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool + Round About Midnight + Steamin' + Milestones + Sketches of Spain + Nefertiti + In a Silent Way + Bitches Brew
(a lot of Miles Davis, but they are covering 25+ years and all are great)

Thelonius Monk - Brilliant Corners + Monks Dream

Charlie Parker - The Complete Savoy Sessions

Bud Powell - Tempus Fugue-It (4 cd-set of Powells early years)

Chick Corea and Return to Forever - Light as a Feather

John Coltrane - Giant Steps

Duke Ellington - Ellington at Newport (live 1956)

Bill Evans Trio - Sunday at the Village Vanguard + Waltz for Debby

Keith Jarrett - Nude Ants

Armstrong and Ellington - Together for the First Time

 

[digitaldave]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Wmcmanus,

I'm new to jazz, as the small number of albums in my collection shows. I really have very little idea about what is what - I know some of the names, but in many cases couldn't even tell you what instrument they play! This is why I drew up the list I did - from reviewing some of the many jazz threads, these seemed to come up quite often as being some of the best by the particular artist. I did really enjoy 'Time Out', I can see why so many people put it on their jazz essentials list!

As for styles, I'm leaning more towards the instrumental rather than vocals. However, for vocals I would prefer female vocals, so I'll check out some of the Ella, Nina and Billie suggestions. I've never heard of Sarah Vaughn, but will check out some of her albums. Any recommendations?

Can't believe I forgot Louis Armstrong! Must add him to the list.

slt,

Thanks for the Dizzy Gillespie suggestion, I'll add it to my (rapidly growing) list.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Sarah Vaughn is my personal all time favorite female jazz singer, although on a more contemporary plain, Eva Cassiday also had an amazing voice and is well worth checking out.

For Eva, I'd say "Songbird" and "Live at Blues Alley" would clearly be the ones to start with.

Sarah Vaughn (or "Sassy") melted my heart the very first time I heard her voice. I can remember it so clearly, the song was "Misty" and I said to my new girlfriend at the time, "Who is that woman? What a voice!" She just laughed and shook her head... it was the first time I had dated a black woman, and this music was a complete culture shock to me. Anyway, music sure does have a way of uniting people and extending the experiences they share. I've since become a bit of a Sarah Vaughn collector, although she does have an extensive catalog and I'm not an expert by any means.

In terms of SACD, the choice is simple: Sarah Vaughn - Sarah Vaughn (it's the only one so far). It's not too bad, but was recorded in mono, so its got that 1950's-ish feel. I'd also recommend the XRCD's, which are beautifully done "Send in the Clowns" and "How Long Has This Been Going On?". Those would be the 3 to srart with, and if you become a fan, the next step would be anything she has done on the Pablo label, and then the ultimate would be the 8 disc collection put out by Mosaic (awesome in terms of sonics, and is called "The Roulette Years").

Speaking of the Pablo label, perhaps the best redbook CD recording I've ever heard is by Ella Fitzgerald and Joe Pass, called "Take Love Easy". This was recorded in 1973 and is obviously close mic'ed because you can hear every smack of Ella's lips, and of course Joe Pass could really play the guitar. Such a soft, gentle, and enchanting albulm. Highly recommmended.

 

[saint.panda]

Mike Zwerin, former band member of Miles Davis and later musical journalist, once put together a list of what he considers "Essential Jazz of the 20th Century". Please notice that there are also some titles that might be essential but not necessarily ideal when you're only starting out with jazz (Ornette Coleman for example). Still, although I'm far from having heard all the titles from that list, I think it has some really good suggestions.

Further, is there a kind of instrument or formation which you are especially interested in? And do you prefer the - broadly generalized - "old school" jazz, meaning Miles Davis and friends or would you be interested in contemporary jazz as well? Personally, while contemporary jazz is at times more difficult to grasp, it can be nonetheless - at times - easier to gain access to as contemporary artists often utilize sounds and emotions I'm more familiar with. Well, this is just a broad and simplified generalization since you could as well say that contemporary jazz simply influenced our rock, pop and hip hop musical mindset to such a great extent.

I think if you just want to enjoy some really great jazz tunes, contemporary jazz with all its directions has a lot to offer but if you want to go deeper into jazz, it is probably necessary to start from the beginning and explore some of its roots. Well, beginning can mean a lot but I guess 20s should be early enough. There was the Early New Orleans Style or Classic Jazz (1900-1920) with its most prominent representative Armstrong and the Chicago Style around 1925. The Swing as a pop phenomena lasted approximately from 1930 until 1945 (also called Swing or Big Band Era). Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald were quite famous then. Jazz after 1945 is usually called modern jazz with bebop as its first representative. I find that while classic jazz has its appeal, modern jazz is a lot more interesting to listen to and you'll find most "standard" jazz recommendations to be from the time period around the 50s, 60s and early 70s. After that you had rock fusion, funk, acid in the 80s and 90s but the opinions on these directions are rather divided whereas Miles, Coltrane, ... are usually regarded as real gods or at least demi-gods in the eyes of most jazz aficionados. Please note that these classifications into time periods and styles is sometimes just a rough approximation and many artists can hardly be classified by one style only with Miles Davis being the prime example.

In any case, if you like piano in the slightest, definately check out Keith Jarret's Köln Concert (solo piano), which is almost "contemporary" by the textbook definition but a real classic nonetheless. A lot of today's pianist take their influence from Keith Jarret and he was at his best at the Köln Concert. Definately not your typical "jazz" sound but bordering on classical music patterns at times. Absolutely unique and highly recommended! It's also one of the most popular jazz records around just going by the number of sales.

 

[bundee1]

Im in the same boat as you and I really liked "Soultrane". Its easy to listen to and his playing is prodigious. I like it better than "A Love Supreme".

 

[digitaldave]

saint.panda,

It's funny you should mention Keith Jarret's Köln Concert - I bought a copy of this on vinyl about a week ago for my new vinyl rig (something else I'm just getting in to), based mainly on the fact that I remembered the title from reading on here

. I tried listening to it, but it needs a good clean as there were so many pops I turned it off half way through side two

. It was certainly different to what I was expecting, but in a good way!

As for the different pereiods, most of what I've heard is 'modern' (going by the definition you quoted), buyt I think I will eventually branch out in to some of the older stuff once I've got a handle on the modern stuff.

Wmcmanus,

Sarah Vaughn added to list

.

Thanks for all the help - you guys are great

.

 

[TwoFiveOne]

Just to be bit-perfect, Sarah's last name is spelled Vaughan.

I've heard everything she ever recorded, sat 10 feet from the stage 4 different times when she did Blues Alley in DC. Oh my, oh my...

I think her best recording was "Crazy and Mixed Up," on Pablo I think. She was neither young or old then, just in prime time. Originally an LP, this CD has her doing "Autumn Leaves," a track I'd nominate for "Best Single Jazz Vocal Performance EVER." Excellent recording, too. Not enough thumbs for this one.

Look into Carmen McRae as well. The names Sarah Vaughan and Carmen McRae always make me ponder the question "Ella who?"

YMMV. And when you're ready for 498 more recommendations, just say the word. My avatar ain't my avatar for nothin'.

Enjoy...

 

[pframe]

digitaldave,

Look here for SACD mini-reviews; a number of them are recommendations for jazz.

I second (third, and fourth) Wmcmanus's recommendation on Di Meola, McLaughlin, and de Lucia's Friday Night in San Francisco. The music's not really jazz, but the playing is not of this earth!