My dsiscovery of Jazz

[mikeg]

I've always been a classical music listner, with little or no familiarity with Jazz. My "discovery" of Jazz began about two weeks ago when, at our library, I found a 10 disc set of DVDs produced by PBS. Each of these discs is about two hours long, and they cover the history of Jazz. Some of the greatest Jazz players, and the sounds that they produced are presented. IMO this is a wonderful overview and introduction to Jazz, and I enjoyed all these DVDs thoroughly. At this point I'm listening mostly to Jazz.

 

[wesbed]

'Jazz' is the music of our lives, for sure. I listen to jazz 99.9% of the time. It keeps me on a constant musical high. I regularly post to this board (where you can get all kinds of jazz information).

 

[tyrion]

I didn't start listening to jazz until about a year ago. I am a fan of what is referred to as jam bands. Bands like the Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident. It is basically music where improvisation is a big part. Part of that scene are musicians, and bands that are more jazz than rock such as Charlie Hunter, John Scofield. It was from this that lead me to buy my first Miles Davis cd Kind of Blue. I now have have as much jazz in my collection as anything else and spend most of my time listening to jazz.

 

[wesbed]

To my ears, Medeski Martin & Wood offer an excellent example of jazz mixed with funk mixed with jam.

I got away from jazz a few years ago. Then rediscovered my favorite music via Phish, then String Cheese Incident, then Medeski Martin & Wood, and finally the jazz, man.

 

[tyrion]

MM&W were playing in Steamboat Springs last year while I was out there. I tried to get tickets but the show was sold out. I have a couple of their cd's and some live stuff. Right now my rotation is between Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Thelonious Monk. I can't believe it took me this long to discover this stuff.

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion I can't believe it took me this long to discover this stuff.

Hi tyrion,

And wait until you realize how much reading you have to do if you want to update your knowledge with the past issues of Down Beat....

For me it was a «natural» evolution from prog rock --» jazz rock --» modern jazz --» classical jazz...

Finally, welcome to jazz Mikeg and sorry for your wallet.... Actually not realy. I'm a reader of the French magazine Diapason for many years and the real money pit is in the classical stuff. The number of classical CDs that are issued every months is simply scary. But jazz as a distant second is trying his best to ruined all of us who are still standing...

Amicalement

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wesbed 'Jazz' is the music of our lives, for sure. I listen to jazz 99.9% of the time. It keeps me on a constant musical high. I regularly post to this board (where you can get all kinds of jazz information).

Thanks. Looks like a great site.

 

[mikeg]

I never heard jam bands, and know nothing about this kind of music. Would you please recommend a few CDs that I should sample. Thanks.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion I didn't start listening to jazz until about a year ago. I am a fan of what is referred to as jam bands. Bands like the Grateful Dead, Phish, String Cheese Incident. It is basically music where improvisation is a big part. Part of that scene are musicians, and bands that are more jazz than rock such as Charlie Hunter, John Scofield. It was from this that lead me to buy my first Miles Davis cd Kind of Blue. I now have have as much jazz in my collection as anything else and spend most of my time listening to jazz.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg I never heard jam bands, and know nothing about this kind of music. Would you please recommend a few CDs that I should sample. Thanks.

Too funny! Mike turning into a Dead head in his retirement years.

I suspect that going from classical to jazz to jam bands would be a much harder transition than moving in the opposite direction, and I'm not sure where to begin in terms of recommendations. Maybe you would like the Allman Brothers "Live at Fillmore East" (the sound quality of the Deluxe Editon is pretty good).

 

[mikeg]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus Too funny! Mike turning into a Dead head in his retirement years. I suspect that going from classical to jazz to jam bands would be a much harder transition than moving in the opposite direction, and I'm not sure where to begin in terms of recommendations. Maybe you would like the Allman Brothers "Live at Fillmore East" (the sound quality of the Deluxe Editon is pretty good).

Real bad taste to use the words "dead" and "retirement" in the same sentence. I'm actually listening right now to a Jazz CD called "85 and still Swinging," and I'm really enjoying it. Seems that the violinist is 85 year old Stephane Grappelli, Guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli, and Jon Burr on the bass. It's really enjoyable.

 

[Wmcmanus]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeg Real bad taste to use the words "dead" and "retirement" in the same sentence.

You got me there... but the true Dead Heads don't have to worry about retirement because they never bothered to work!

 

[tyrion]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wmcmanus You got me there... but the true Dead Heads don't have to worry about retirement because they never bothered to work!

I was a dead head and I worked and sometimes went to school. Only in between shows, of course.

 

[tyrion]

mikeg, my recommendation is to go pick up either some Charlie Hunter. He plays an 8 string guitar which allows him to play bass and guitar. You can find his stuff a Barnes and Noble. We will have to easy you into the Dead and Phish.

 

[Ferbose]

Although classical music is my main listening interest, jazz has become an important part of myu music collection as well. Classical music made very few breakthroughs in the 20 th century, while jazz made many. To me, John Coltrane is the most amazing of all jazz musicians. His explosive creativity is truly boundless.

 

[mojoman]

Mikeg, if you want to explore Phish, go buy A Picture of Nectar. This cd encompasses a lot of different styles of music and showcases some excellent musicianship. If you get into their studio stuff then you have to try some of their many live recordings.

You might also pick up any of the Dick's Picks Grateful Dead concert cds. There are a bunch of them.

When you find yourself downloading boots of live concerts off the web then you know you're dyed in the wool jam band fan. I have a friend who has hundreds of hours of live Dead show but not a one of their studio releases.