Jazz
From Wiki Gonzalez
Jazz rules. And not the Utah Jazz either, or the lady wrestler from the WWE called Jazz. Though she rules a little bit.
"All jazz music sounds alike to the uninitiated, that 99.97% of us who haven't acquired the taste; it's repetitious, depressing, ugly and inclined to bestow a headache upon the recipient." -- Bill James, 1986 Baseball Abstract, p.229
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[edit] I'm new to jazz -- what should I listen to?
There are as many styles and varieties of jazz as there are styles and varieties of rock or popular music. Jazz can be ragtime, swing, vocal, bee-bop / hard bop, samba, Latin, Cuban son, acid, fusion, classical-influenced, or close to soul or blues. Jazz records have been influenced by rock (the fusion of Miles Davis's Bitches Brew), Latin and Brazilian styles (the classic Getz and Gilberto collaborations of the 1960s), and even rap (Miles Davis's Doo-Wop). Thus, the question "I'm new to jazz -- what should I listen to?" is a difficult one to answer. If you're interested in getting into jazz, here are some recommendations. Alternately, trying a couple compilations first--to identify the styles of jazz that appeal to you most--is a good first step as well.
[edit] Good basic intro stuff
Miles Davis -- Birth of the Cool , Kind of Blue, Relaxin' with Miles, In a Silent Way, Bitch's Brew
Dave Brubeck -- Time Out, Jazz Goes to College
Bill Evans -- Sunday at the Village Vanguard, Waltz for Debby, Everybody Digs Bill Evans
John Coltrane -- My Favorite Things, Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, "Ascension", "The Olatunji Concert"
Duke Ellington -- Ellington at Newport 1956 (the 1999 reissue)
McCoy Tyner -- Prelude and Sonata (an album very much influenced by classical music)
Kruder & Dorfmeister -- G-Stoned EP (acid jazz of very high quality)
Getz and Gilberto (a high point of the 60s blending of jazz with Brazilian and Latin sounds)
Louis Armstrong -- the Hot Fives and Hot Sixes sessions (the building blocks of jazz)
Charles Mingus -- Mingus Ah Um Changes One Changes Two Blues & Roots
Wes Montgomery -- The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery (jazz guitar at its finest)
Thelonious Monk --With John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall (A recent discovery released in 2005)
Charlie Parker--everything he ever recorded, especially with Dizzy Gillespie. The creators of bebop. Their collaborative efforts are the pinnacle of bebop. "Yardbird Suite: The Ultimate Charlie Parker," and "Town Hall, New York City, June 22, 1945" (a 2005 release of a recent discovery.) You can't get enough Bird.
[edit] Let's not forget Swing was Jazz too
Benny Goodman -- At Carnegie Hall, 1938
Charlie Christian -- The Guitar Genius of Charlie Christian (notable both for being one of the first black musicians to play in a white big band, as well as the first to introduce the electric guitar to jazz)
[edit] Other BTF favorites
Grant Green -- Idle Moments
Herbie Hancock -- Maiden Voyage
Betty Carter -- Inside Betty Carter, The Audience with Betty Carter
Sonny Rollins -- Saxophone Colossus, Salt and Pepper (with Paul Gonsalves), "Way Out West", "The Bridge", "Without A Song - The 9-11 Concert"
Charles Mingus -- Mingus Ah Um, Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus, Tijuana Moods, "Pithecanthropus Erectus", "Oh Yeah", "The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady"
Thelonious Monk -- Genius of Modern Music, Vol. 2
Ornette Coleman -- "The Shape of Jazz to Come", "Free Jazz"
Eric Dolphy -- "Out to Lunch"
Sun Ra -- "The Magic City"
Latin on Impulse (compilation)
Hampton Hawes -- Hampton Hawes Trio, Vol. 1
Art Blakey -- Ugetsu and "Moanin'"
Roy "Little Jazz" Eldridge
Bud Powell -- "The Amazing Bud Powell"
Max Roach and Clifford Brown -- "At Basin Street"
Max Roach -- "We Insist"
Albert Ayler -- "Spiritual Unity"
Cecil Taylor -- "Unit Structures"
[edit] Jazz on the radio
If you don't want to go out and spend money on albums that you might hate, then try jazz radio. There are several good jazz radio stations that broadcast on the internet, and they tend to play a wide variety of jazz that would serve as a good survey of the genre. Recommended stations:
- WBGO 88.3 (New Jersey)
- KCCK 88.3 (Cedar Rapids, IA)
- KSDS 88.3 (San Diego)
- WWUH 91.3 (Hartford, CT) (from 9-12 AM and PM on weekdays. Actually, Monday night is blues.)
- WFCR 88.5 (Amherst MA) (M-Th 8-12 PM, Fri 8-11 PM)
- KJAZZ 88.1 (Long Beach/Los Angeles area, CA) (Blues on the weekends, swing on weekend mornings.)
- WDCB 90.9 (SW Chicago Suburbs, Glen Ellyn, IL) (M-F 6 a.m.-6 p.m.)
- WBEZ 91.5 Chicago (M-Th 8PM-4AM CT Saturday 1 am to 5 am CT Friday 12:30 am to 4 am CT)
- KPLU 88.5 Tacoma/Seattle (blues on Saturday and Sunday nights. Home base for Jim Wilke's Jazz After Hours)
