Start with Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" - if you don't "dig" that you're doomed.

can't go wrong with miles davis and john coltrane. both safe bets for starting out. there is a lot of good, no great, stuff linked in the groovin at the i-spot thread worth taking a peek at.

more than that and i'll leave it to those with more experience/ knowledge. i also look forward to some suggestions from those more wordly than i.....though kc historically does have an excellent jazz culture (and blues, and bbq...)

Ella is lovely.

And I would add, don't get caught up pretending to like a genre of music that often is pretty self indulgent and boring, just because its hep! Take from it what you want and like and disregard the rest.

Ella is certainly jazz.  If you haven't purchased them already, her "Songbook" recordings are stupendous, and a great basis for building an Ella collection.  Sarah Vaughn, however, remains the preeminent jazz vocalist, male or female, at least in my relatively humble opinion.   Virtually everything she recorded is worth obtaining; however, "Sarah Vaughn With Clifford Brown" and "16 Most Requested Songs" are simply essential. 

Approaching jazz chronologically is not a productive way into the music, again IMRHO.  These days it takes a bit of prior knowledge to truly appreciate seminal artists such as Louis Armstrong of the Hot Fives and Sevens era, King Oliver, Sidney Brecht, Jelly, and others.  And with all due respect, I also don't think that starting off with "Kind Of Blue" is necessarily a wise approach:  modal improvisation is often an acquired taste, although "Kind Of Blue" is a landmark of 20th Century art.  Most people now approach jazz from a rock background, so I think exposure to jazz that swings and features killer melodic solos is often the best introduction to the music.  Thus, I often urge newbies to first listen to "Free For All" by Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, "Love Remains" by Bobby Watson, and "Blame It On My Youth" by the Art Farmer Quintet.  These are three absolutely staggering recordings by stone virtuosos that are also extremely accessible.  Ace's recommendations are, of course, excellent, and I would add the following for someone wishing to build a library:

Woody Shaw "Little Red's Fantasy"

Joe Lovano  "'From The Soul"

Freddie Hubbard  "Hub-Tones" and "Open Sesame"

Herbie Hancock  "Maiden Voyage" and "Empryean Isles"

McCoy Tyner  "The Real McCoy

Sonny Criss   "This Is Criss"  "Portrait Of Sonny Criss"

Oliver Nelson  "Blues And The Abstract Truth"

John Coltrane  "Giant Steps"

Duke Ellington  "The Complete RCA And Columbia Sessions"

Stan Getz  "Nobody Else But Me"

Bill Evans and Jim Hall   "Interplay"  "Undercurrent" and "Intermodulation"

Hank Mobley  "Soul Station"

Ben Webster  "Ben Webster Meets Oscar Peterson"

Art Tatum   Any and all of the solo discs, numbers 1 -7, on Pablo Records

Miles Davis Quintet  "Nefertiti"

Sonny Rollins   "Newk's Time" and "A Night At The Village Vanguard"

Art Pepper  "Art Pepper Meets The Rhythm Section"

Charlie Parker  "The Legendary Dial Masters

Charles Mingus  "Mingus Ah Um"

Dexter Gordon "Our Man In Paris"

Wayne Shorter  "Speak No Evil"  "Juju"

Shelly Manne and His Men "Live At the Blackhawk"  numbers 1 - 5

And if you want to get really gone:

Albert Ayler  "Spiritual Unity"

Peter Brotzmann "Machine Gun"

Cecil Taylor "Jazz Advance"

David Murray  "Like A Kiss That Never Ends" and "Ming"

Charles Gayle  "Touching On 'Trane"

John Coltrane  "Ascension"

And so on.  Caution: if you get on this bus you may find that it's impossible to get off.

Last edited by Voltaire's Bastard (2009-12-03 12:47:01)

man - so much good info here, im going to be busy for some time i see, a big thank you to everyone whose contributed so far

Sorry for resurrecting this thread, but I wanted to post at the time.

I love all the recommendations on this thread, but I notice no Paul Desmond-subtle in the same school as Chet Baker (great CD with them in session together), as well as Bill Evans. Does he not appeal to the Ivy mind, or is it just a personal thing/

Mark

(PS-I'm not obsessed by Paul Desmond, by the way, despite the signature-great alto player, though.)

I think I've mentioned Paul Desmond a few times on various threads. Amazing alto player and the reason why people care so much about Dave Brubeck. To me his best stuff was on the joint leader album with Mulligan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlZakBsMqKU

Last edited by ScarletStreet (2010-02-16 13:14:30)

Thank you. I only really care about Jazz. Schmutter is fun, but...

Chet was always playing junkie tempos.

vince guaraldi!