[Pooka]

Hi. I'm looking to discover some new artists and genres of music. I have been quite rigid in what I listen to and want to branch out and rediscover the excitement of music again. My favorite artists are Teddy Thompson, Rufus Wainwright, Leonard Cohen, and Mika. As for genres, I adore new wave. I really like jazz, but I'm not sure exactly who or what I like. What I mean by that is I'll hear a song at a restaurant or store and fall in love with it and have no clue what that song is. I don't have any real life friends who share my taste in music, so I kind of feel isolated and stagnant right now musically. I would appreciate any suggestions, and thank you very much!

 

[jsaliga]

Jazz is a pretty big fishbowl to be swiming in. There's...

Dixieland
Big Band
Swing
Bop
Hard Bop
Post-Bop
Standards
Vocals
Jazz-funk
Fusion
Soul-Jazz
Avant Garde

...just to name a few.

I can recommend a couple of CDs that come from a number of the above genres:

Ben Webster - Soulville

One of the best small group swing albums ever recorded.


Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Some have called it the jazz record for people who don't normally like jazz. I call it the jazz record for everyone. A pillar of modal jazz that never gets old or stale.


Ella Fitzgerald - Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book

Arguably the best of the Song Book albums from the First Lady of Song.


John Coltrane - Blue Train

Most people recommending a Coltrane album will usually suggest My Favorite Things or A Love Supreme. Both are awesome albums, but Blue Train is a bit more accessible to most listeners and I can recommend it, Soultrane, or Lush Life as good starting points.


Bill Evans - Waltz for Debby

One of the greatest jazz trio albums ever recorded.


Oscar Peterson - The Sound of the Trio

Both Oscar Peterson and Art Tatum could really swing and let the notes fly. A lot of folks prefer the album Night Train, but I like The Sound of the Trio better for it's toe tapping selection of songs and Oscar's jaw dropping virtuosity at the piano.


Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers - Moanin'

One of the gold standards of hard bop with an all-star lineup of musical talent on tap for the sessions.


Dizzie Gillespie and Charlie Parker - Bird & Diz

Hard to find a better Bop album.


Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto - Getz/Gilberto

Arguably Bossa Nova's finest moment, with Stan Getz at his most lyrical on tenor saxaphone.


Lionel Hampton - The Lionel Hampton Quintet

King of the jazz vibraphone.

And there's way, way more worthwhile jazz albums out there than I have time to document here.

Hope this helps.

--Jerome

 

[Tridacnid]

^ Oh my goodness. Get everything up there. SOOOOOOO good!

 

[jsaliga]

Thanks, and I even omitted a few I wanted to list so I'll add them here....

Anita O'Day - Pick Yourself Up with Anita O'Day

Her version of Sweet Georgia Brown was the talk of the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival. Forget about Count Basie and Duke Ellington. They were talking about Anita.

+ YouTube Video​

ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

Duke Ellington - Blues in Orbit

While Ellington certainly did a number of more artistically important albums, featured alto sax soloist Johnny Hodges just blows the roof off the joint during these two sessions of swing and blues numbers.


Mel Tormé - Mel Tormé Swings Shubert Alley

Mel is often forgotten or thought of merely as a jazz oriented pop singer. But there aren't too many great male jazz vocalists, and Tormé certainly qualifies.


Count Basie with Joe Williams - Count Basie Swings, Joe Williams Sings

Singer Joe Williams stepped in to replace Jimmy Rushing when he left the Basie band to pursue a solo career. While Williams wasn't the big blues shouter that Rushing was, he had an alluring voice with a lot of range. Alright, Okay, You Win is the signature song on this record, but Williams brings down the house with Please Send Me Someone to Love.


Billie Holiday - All or Nothing At All

This two CD set is a compilation of two albums that Holiday did for Verve in the mid to late 1950s, a few years before she died. A lot of people tend to prefer her work for Columbia in the 1940s, but I think her Verve output is a little darker, a little more mature, and we hear her as the veteran performer that she is.

Here is a clip of her singing Fine and Mellow, with Lester Young,
Gerry Mulligan, Coleman Hawkins, and Roy Eldridge.

+ YouTube Video​

ERROR: If you can see this, then YouTube is down or you don't have Flash installed.

--Jerome

 

[mcmurray]

Buckethead - Colma.

 

[radlux]

madelyne peyroux

 

[Pooka]

Thanks for all the suggestions, especially to jsaliga. I listened to excerpts of the albums you listed and really liked them all. The youtube video of Billie Holiday was just fantastic. That album will be the first on my list to buy for sure. I am looking forward to listening to them all and I'm sure I'll have a smile on my face.

 

[MrSlim]

If you want to try something quite different from the jazz vein already suggested check out Danny Michel, a good Canadian boy with an excellent way with words. He's been described as a cross between Tom Waits and Cheap Trick. Ive seen him live a couple of times and can't wait to see him again..
welcome
Check out his CBC concert on demand here:
Danny Michel · CBC Radio 2 - Concerts On Demand
"If God's on your side" is my current fave..
(playing it on the above right now...)

 

[emurray]

Based on your preference for Rufus Wainwright, I'd suggest picking up the second album by Antony and the Johnsons, "I am a bird now." It's very haunting, and great through headphones. Antony Hegarty has a really unique singing voice, which you'll either love or hate, but I still think you should give it a shot. Rufus even shows up to guest sing on track.

Antony and the Johnsons - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Based your liking for "New Wave" have you checked out any of the "Neo" New Wave out there? "Saturdays=Youth" by M83 came out this year and is absolutely amazing. You should also check out the newest offering by Cut Copy if you are into dancier, poppier, new wave.

Enjoy.