[ngower]

I do like some jazz, but I've tried to get into parts and just can't do it.
 
The only two albums I can say I like as a whole are:
 
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Tsuyoshi Yamamoto Trio - Misty
 
I've heard there is a Japanese edition of Kind of Blue that's a must own. Essentially what I'm asking is, are there any better reproductions on vinyl, SACD, CD, or DVD-A worth investing in over the $10 typical CD you find in stores?
 
As for the Misty album, is there anywhere I can get it anymore? I've found prices around $80, not willing to pay that much for an album I'm not 100% on yet.
 
Anyhoo, I've tried some other jazz like Davis' "Relaxin" as well as Blue Train, Soultrane and Dakar by John Coltrane. I'm not huge on any of these really, they're just sort of background music and don't invoke the same response. I also love the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack, though I don't own it. If that gives any insight into the sound I like, then go for it!
 
I grabbed Norah Jones' "Come Away With Me" on SACD the other day and I like it, but not as much as the two up top.
 
Basically, help me get into jazz with some essentials as well as some personal recommendations. Thanks a bunch!

 

[bigshot]

There's a lot more to jazz than just free jazz, bop and fusion. Although the tv series sucked, the companion CDs to Ken Burns' Jazz were great. It doesn't work to listen to jazz the way you listen to rock. It's a different animal. If it sounds like background music, you probably just don't understand it yet.

Unless it's smooth jazz and then it actually is background music...

 

[ngower]

Well that's what I'm sort of getting at. I dig the bebop sound and really get into it, whereas some, but not all, of the softer jazz just sort of bores me. I'm hoping we can take my tastes, integrate elements of the other subgenres, and overall get some damned good albums.
 
Oddly enough, I'm watching the Ken Burns series right now haha!

 

[bigshot]

I like red hot jazz myself, especially Harlem and early swing. Nothing soft about that. Trad jazz kicks ass too.

 

[ngower]

Any album recommendations?

 

[Groomsy]

If you're into the bebop and hard bop sound, definitely check out any of the earlier material by Thelonious Monk or John Coltrane. I can't think of specific recommendations off the top of my head, but I will say to start with the earlier material of those guys - especially in Coltrane's case; his later material got pretty crazy.

 

[TJ Elite]

 
Quote:

Basically, help me get into jazz with some essentials as well as some personal recommendations. Thanks a bunch!

 
Here are some essential albums and some of my personal favorites. I've only selected albums that I think are at least reasonably accessible on the essential albums list. Personal favorites list may contain some albums that are not as easily accessible, but are very rewarding if you are able to like them. I've left out all the albums you mentioned you had already heard. If there are many albums from the same artis in the list, I've arranged them in chronological order starting with the earlies recording (note: albums have been arranged according to their recording dates, not their release dates).
 
Albums I'd call essential (or almost essential) AND reasonably accessible:
 
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers: Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers (nowadays known as Moanin')
Bill Evans Trio: Waltz for Debby
Charles Mingus: Blues & Roots, Mingus Ah Um
The Dave Brubeck Quartet: Time Out
Hank Mobley: Soul Station
Herbie Hancock: Maiden Voyage
John Coltrane: Giant Steps, My Favorite Things, Crescent
Keith Jarrett: The Köln Concert
Miles Davis: 'Round About Midnight
Oliver Nelson: The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Stan Getz & João Gilberto: Getz/Gilberto
 
Some of my personal favorites (some of these could also be called essential):
 
Alice Coltrane: Ptah, the El Daoud
Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers: Free for All
Charles Mingus: Tijuana Moods
Eric Dolphy: Out to Lunch!
Herbie Hancock: Takin' Off
Joe Henderson: Page One
John Coltrane: Coltrane live at Birdland, A Love Supreme, Interstellar Space
McCoy Tyner: Sahara
Miles Davis: Workin' with The Miles Davis Quintet, Milestones, Miles Smiles, A Tribute to Jack Johnson
Ornette Coleman: The Shape of Jazz to Come, Free Jazz
Patricia Barber: Modern Cool
Pekka Kuusisto & Iiro Rantala: Subterráneo
Thelonious Monk: Monk's Music
Trio Töykeät: Kudos, Wake
Wayne Shorter: JuJu
 
In case that feels like a lot, I'll name five albums that are in my opinion most essential on the list and five albums that I recommend based on my personal preference (from the personal favorites list).
5 most essential albums from my list: The Blues and the Abstract Truth, Crescent, The Köln Concert, Mingus Ah Um, Time Out
5 personal recommendations: Coltrane live at Birdland, Monk's Music, Ptah, the El Daoud, Subterráneo, Wake
 
If one could only hear 3 of the albums I've listed they should be: The Blues and the Abstract Truth, The Köln Concert, Time Out

 

[amhso]

Anything by the greats is gonna be a safe choice. Jazz is so diverse that you have to find your niche or you can take it all in. I'll just list off some of my favorites:
 
John Coltrane
Charlie Parker (his recordings are so old sometimes it is incredibly hard to enjoy)
Michael Brecker
Dave Brubeck
J.J. Johnson
Miles Davis
Kenny Garrett
Charles Mingus
Oscar Peterson
Pat Metheny
Sonny Rollins
Ahmad Jamal
Stanley Clarke
Chet Baker
 
And anyone who's played with them.

 

[phanboy_iv]

Mingus.
 
Black Saint & The Sinner Lady
Mingus Ah Um
Changes Two
 
Also try 60's Herbie Hancock.
 
TJ's list is an excellent primer. Try and sample things on YouTube/Last.fm/whatever and get an idea of who you like.

 

[9pintube]

Don't forget all the GREAT JAZZ GUITAR ARTIST......I cut/pasted this top 100 list....MY FAVORITES IN RED......My Father(Henry "Hank" Fecteau) was a killer guitar player..

[size=xx-small]1. Wes Montgomery   2. Django Reinhardt[/size] [size=xx-small]  3. Pat Metheny   [/size][size=xx-small]4. Joe Pass[/size] [size=xx-small]  [/size][size=xx-small]5. Charlie Christian[/size] [size=xx-small]  6. John McLaughlin   7. Allan Holdsworth   8. Grant Green   9. John Scofield 10. Jim Hall 11. Larry Coryell[/size] [size=xx-small]12. Kenny Burrell[/size] [size=xx-small]13. Bill Frisell 14. Larry Carlton 15. Pat Martino 16. Mike Stern 17. Al Di Meola 18. Lenny Breau[/size] [size=xx-small]19. Herb Ellis[/size] [size=xx-small]20. John Abercrombie[/size] [size=xx-small]21. George Benson(His Early STUFF)[/size] [size=xx-small]22. Lee Ritenour[/size] [size=xx-small]23. Tal Farlow[/size] [size=xx-small]24. Lonnie Johnson 25. Eddie Lang 26. Robert Conti 27. Johnny Smith 28. Bill Connors 29. George Van Eps 30. Jimmy Bruno 31. Jimmy Raney 32. Hank Garland 33. Joe Diorio[/size] [size=xx-small]34. Barney Kessel[/size] [size=xx-small]35. Sonny Sharrock 36. Oscar Moore[/size] [size=xx-small]37. Les Paul[/size] [size=xx-small]38. Jeff Golub 39. Ralph Towner 40. Russ Freeman 41. Derek Bailey 42. Ted Greene 43. Martin Taylor[/size] [size=xx-small]44. Howard Roberts[/size] [size=xx-small]45. Charley Byrd 46. Ed Bickert 47. Chet Atkins 48. Scott Henderson 49. George Barnes 50. Gabor Szabo[/size]

[size=xx-small]51. Robben Ford 52. Charlie Hunter 53. John Pizzarelli 54. Kurt Rosenwinkel 55. Thom Rotella 56. Billy Bauer 57. Henry Johnson 58. Billy Bean 59. Sonny Greenwich 60. Dean Parks 61. Steve Khan 62. Frank Gambale 63. Mark Stefani[/size] [size=xx-small]64. Stanley Jordan[/size] [size=xx-small]65. Ronny Jordan 66. Bireli Lagrene[/size] [size=xx-small]67. Earl Klugh[/size] [size=xx-small]68. Grant Geissman 69. Ken Navarro 70. Harry Volpe 71. Paul Bollenback 72. Lorne Lofsky 73. Nguyen Le 74. Russell Malone 75. Daryl Stuermer 76. Phil Upchurch 77. Ulf Wakenius 78. Hiram Bullock 79. Andy Summers 80. Nick Webb[/size] [size=xx-small]81. Tony Mottola[/size] [size=xx-small]82. Bucky Pizzarelli 83. Norman Brown 84. Tiny Grimes 85. Tommy Tedesco 86. Mark Whitfield 87. Julio Fernandez 88. Marc Ribot 89. Greg Carmichael 90. John Pisano 91. Emily Remler 92. Brian Hughes 93. Fitzroy Coleman 94. Mick Goodrick[/size] [size=xx-small]95. Kevin Eubanks[/size] [size=xx-small]96. Carl Kress 97. Wolfgang Muthspiel 98. Tuck Andress 99. Robert Normann[/size]

 

[AudioDwebe]

My suggestion:  Go to Amazon.  Go to Music.  Type in blue note jazz.  Listen away.

 

[salannelson]

John Coltrane
-Crescent (Absolutely stunning)
-A Love Supreme
 
Dave Brubeck
-Time Out
-Live at Carnegie Hall
 
Miles Davis
If you want to get into fusion
-A Tribute to Jack Johnson
-In A Silent Way
-Bithces Brew
 
for new stuff check out "The Bad Plus". Really weird/interesting. They like to do covers of popular songs. They do a mean Tom Sawyer cover. i hjave...
-These Are the Vistas
-Prog
 
Hebrie Hancock
-Head Hunters (can't go wrong with this. really funky)
 
Weather Report. Really funky as well
-Heavy Weather
-Black Market
 
enjoy

 

[Horio]

I agree with most of the suggestions above.  Since not many jazz singers were mentioned, here's a little starter list:
 
Kurt Elling - Nightmoves, The Messenger, Dedicated to You
Patricia Barber - Modern Cool, A Fortnight in France, Nightclub
Tierny Sutton - On the Other Side
Karin Allyson - Remember John Coltrane, In Blue
Sophie Milman - Take Love Easy
Sarah Vaughan - Sarah Vaughan with Clifford Brown
Dianne Reeves - The Calling, Goodnight and Goodluck
Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love
 
That's all that's coming to me right now.  I tried to make a list of good sounding albums, and outside of the Sarah Vaughan disc most of them are fairly recent.  Of course you can't go too wrong with many of the classic singers too.

 

[bigshot]

You forgot the two best jazz singers, Ella Fitzgerald and Dinah Washington.

 

[Landis]

Jazz and I have a love hate relationship. Most of the time I like laid back melodic jazz, soundtracks tend to be great for this stuff, and funnily enough, one of my favorite jazz artists is Roswell Rudd, a trombonist known for his avant garde snappy jazz-- But if you find some recording of his newer quartet (The Roswell Rudd Quartet) there's some great music in there with a lovely crew he put together and a talented vocalist.
 
Yoko Kanno composed a lot of good bebop and jazz for the Cowboy Bebop soundtrack-- one hell of a talented lady!
 
Other than those particular artists, I have a large jazz collection for parties with only a few slower tracks that I listen to on my own. One of my favorites being John Coltrane's "Say it (Over and over again)" and Sinatra is always great for some big band jazz.
 
But hey, while we're at the recommendation point, I wouldn't object if someone noted some good bands / musicians for some slower melodic jazz (vocal or no).