[Anavel0]

Thanks to everyone for all the great suggestions! Very appreciated!

 

[jasonb]

This album kicks major ass. My best find so far.

 

[brunk]

Yeah Patricia Barber is really good, and that is one of her exceptional albums. I thought about bolding a few artists in my list i made for you, and she was going to be one of them

 

[warth0g]

Good thread, learned a lot and will check out some of these suggestions. I've been on a bit of a jazz journey myself. It's a big world out there - but in all of the stuff that I've listened to, there are a couple of albums that are critical IMHO:
 
Miles Davis - kind of Blue  it's popular for a reason, and easy to get into 
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um (incredible, and really well recorded)
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme (bit harder, but you've got to give it a go)
 
Slightly more off-beat, give these a go:
 
Herbie Hancock - Head Hunters - jazz / funk I guess.. birth of the synth.. think this counts? definitely great and easy listening
Frank Zappa - Hot Rats - this is not the insane Zappa that you might have heard, it's a masterclass in ensemble musicianship. And brilliantly recorded. I really recommend this even to those that think they don't like Zappa - you'll be amazed...
 
Anyway, there you go.. FWIW, have fun

 

[Oregonian]

Try a smooth jazz station or a number of the following artists -

Jackiem Joyner
Quintin Gerard
Paul Hardcastle (my favorite)
Tom Grant
Dave Koz
David Benoit
Dan Siegel
Kem
KennyG (don't laugh, he has some good upbeat stuff)
Boney James

That should get you started...........

This is not classic jazz as I saw other posters post but it's a very musical, upbeat style that you may like. Either way, lots of great jazz music out there.

 

[JimCo06]

Can't believe that no one has mentioned....

Kenny Burrell - Midnight Blue (Guitar is outstanding - IMO)
Gene Harris - Listen Here (amoung others)

Or the album THE CATS with Tommy Flanagan, Coltrane and Burrell

 

[Brooko]

Thanks for all the links guys - my first foray was with Mingus Ah Um - and has been expanding slowly from there.
 
Jasonb - something I've found on my travels - a Jazz / Electronic fusion group called Portico Quartet.  Hopefully you like them as much as I do.
 

 

 

[warth0g]

Glad to hear you tried Charles Mingus - how did you get on with it? Just curious... In the copy I have, on my HE500s, you can hear an amazing amount of tiny details.. sounds wonderful... Hope you're enjoying it...

 

[Lorspeaker]

http://youtu.be/zEyoYbdHKU4
 
http://youtu.be/0NYxvUq2h8U
 
joyce cooling

 

[Brooko]

Well it became my intro - looking at Jazz in it's purer form - before that I'd mainly dabbled with Norah Jones and Diana Krall.  I loved Mingus Ah Um from first listen - then that led to further threads, and then to "Kind Of Blue" and "Blue Train".
 
The links in this thread are great as they'll give me some more to look into

 

[Oregonian]

http://youtu.be/zEyoYbdHKU4

http://youtu.be/0NYxvUq2h8U

joyce cooling

She is easy on the ears and eyes. Good choice.......

 

[Lorspeaker]

She is easy on the ears and eyes. Good choice.......

 
found this less-rocker-gal pic of hers.... sweet indeed.

 

[TJ Elite]

I'm happy to see so many posts in this thread so far because there simply are no words to describe how much I love jazz. Here are some live performances which might be of help to those of you who are only just getting accustomed to the genre. Jazz is of course many things, but two things that I think are really important to jazz are passion and living in the moment. Live videos will hopefully help emphasize the uniqueness of each and every performance and the interaction between the players. In addition the visuals should help newbies follow what instruments are being played and how, and who's soloing. Believe it or not, when I first started listening to jazz I didn't even know that typically in jazz you first introduce the basic melody at the beginning and proceed to different members taking turns soloing, finally returning back to the main melody from these explorations in the end. Even when listening to the music the fact that different instruments were being given time in the spotlight sailed right past me. I guess I was trying to focus solely on what was going on collectively without paying any mind to individual instruments.

 

When listening to jazz, what I recommend trying to learn to do is pay attention to what every player is doing individually – at the same time – while also following what is going on collectively. If this sounds like an impossible thing to do, just listen to a new song a couple of times just trying to familiarize yourself with it, then listen to it only paying attention to a single instrument through the whole track, the drums for example. Listen to how the drummer adapts his or her playing to support each person who is taking turn playing a solo. Then move on to another instrument and do the same thing. If the person you are listening to is playing a solo, try to listen to what they are "saying" in their solo. Through their playing the players are trying to communicate things that words cannot express. Learning to understand what is being said isn't something that anyone can really teach you; it is simply something that takes time to learn to do on your own.

 

After familiarizing yourself with each individual part, now try listening to the song paying attention to everything at the same time. Feel how the group reacts to what the others are doing and how the song just comes together organically even though none of the members know exactly what everyone else is going to play (Traditionally at least. Some modern-day jazz is very carefully written down and planned in advance.), so everyone has to listen to what the others are doing and respond to that on the fly. With groups where the members have known each other and played together for a really long time, it sometimes seems like some people have almost telepathic abilities with how well they play in sync without any prior discussion about what everyone is precisely going to play.

 

But enough about that. Enjoy the videos.
 

 
 
 
If you find yourself not wanting to finish the first video for some reason, please do give the second one a try; I assure you, it is killer.
 

 
The sound isn't very good in this one, but please look past that and just witness how much he does with so little once he gets to the fully improvised section (you'll know when it starts

). Remember what I said about having passion and living in the moment? 

 

 

[brunk]

Great posts TJ Elite! I agree about the passion and living in the moment. IMO, Jazz is one of the highest forms of music, you not only have to be a master of your instrument, but you also need to spend years with your band members to get the real magic out. You can link so many modern genres to Jazz, but very few have the "in the raw" type sound. Enjoy everyone!

 

[TJ Elite]

  Great posts TJ Elite! I agree about the passion and living in the moment. IMO, Jazz is one of the highest forms of music, you not only have to be a master of your instrument, but you also need to spend years with your band members to get the real magic out. You can link so many modern genres to Jazz, but very few have the "in the raw" type sound. Enjoy everyone!

I agree with jazz being one of the very highest forms of art. The very essence of jazz is right at the root of what art is.