I am new to jazz music. I have heard a bit of it and know of a few artists. Can you please tell me some artists and what cds I should buy to get into jazz. I'd prefer to start with more well known artists.
Thanks. wow, there are so many to choose from. . .
start with Charlie Parker, Chet Baker, Billie Holiday, Shirley Horn, Dinah Washington, John Coltrane, Dave Brubeck, Art Pepper, Mose Allison, Max Roach, Thelonious MonkStan Getz, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughn Get an album by Miles Davis called Kind of Blue. This album is considered by many jazz enthusiasts to be the greatest of all time. Etta James (my fav - At last)
Ella Fitzgerald (Cheak to cheak)
Louis Armstrong
Eva Cassidy
Diana Krall DAVE BRUBECK........ class..... my first introduction to jazz. hes well known
his best songs are take 5 and clap hands Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Dave Brubeck...Dinah vashington, Sarah Vaughan, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis,..... If like me, you started listening to rock before jazz, I'd recommend John Scofield, Medeski Martin and Wood, Larry Carlton, Wes Montgomery and John McLauglin.
Scofield and McLaughlin both played with Miles Davis. These albums that I am suggesting are easy to like. Yes, Charlie Parker and Dizzy were great, but not for beginners. These albums are perfect for all listeners, and they are all jazz classics.
Miles Davis Kind of Blue album. It's a great album for a beginner, and it's great even if you've heard a whole lot of jazz. Get it.
Thelonious Monk is another great and important master of jazz. I suggest that you start out with the Monk's Dream album.Monk swings the hardest of any jazz musician, in my little opinion.
Roland Kirk's album , The Inflated Tear really turned me onto jazz. I still enjoy it and respect it.
Grant Green's Matador album is a great album, centered around the guitar playing, although McCoy Tyner is at his best (piano player from Coltrane's band). It's another great album that's easy to like.
Wayne Shorter's album Speak No Evil is a great album that you really have to hear. I can't even talk about it. The whole band is amazing.
Herbie Hancock's album, Maiden Voyage is another great and easy to like album. Freddie Hubbard is at his best through the whole album (on trumpet, fluglehorn). It's a concept album, and it really does flow like the sea, as Herbie intended it to.
Horace Silver plays piano with soul. The songs are great and so is the band. Everything works on this album called Song For My father. It's another easy to like album too.
Please trust these suggestions. These are classic albums. They are accessible to any listener. These albums are the best place to start with. I know what I'm talking about.
PS-You can check out accurate reviews of these albums at http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql... This is the exact same answer I just gave a day or so ago, on basically the same question.
'Whenever someone asks me this question, I start them with these 7 albums. IMHO, these 7 albums are at the dead center of the jazz genre. They represent everything that came before, and everything that has come since. They are key albums in the careers of these musicians, and represent the center of everything they do. You can then move forward from here, or backwards from here into the genre, as your tastes gravitate towards one style or another. These albums allow you to explore not only the leaders, but the sidemen on the albums that have also give so much to the genre.
1. Miles Davis - "Kind of Blue"
2. Cannonball Adderley - "Somethin' Else"
3. Dave Brubeck - "Time Out"
4. Horace Silver - "Song for My Father"
5. Herbie Hancock - "Maiden Voyage"
6. John Coltrane - "Blue Train"
7. Weather Report - "Heavy Weather"
I have never met anyone, that hasn't listened to these 7 albums, and not become some type of a fan of some type of sub-category of jazz. Everyone goes in a different direction.. but this list gets them somewhere.. which is a lot better than no-where!!! I love the sounds of Winton Marcellus. He has a very unique and interesting sound; haunting, romantic, smokey, mysterious. Wonderful jazz.
Hope that helps some. In my opinion, you must listen to the Ray Brown Trio with Gene Harris, Ray Brown, and Jeff Hamilton and the Oscar Peterson Trio with Ray Brown and Herb Ellis. They both have a very distinctive sound which, in my opinion, epitomizes the meaning of jazz, and the people in both of these groups are some of the greatest rhythm section players ever. go with big band jazz because it's really really amazing.
also try:
louis prima
dave brubeck
glenn miller
nicola frisardi
george gershwin
listen to songs like:
sing sing sing
harlem nocturne
take five
in the mood
rhapsody in blue
good luck finding more artists! :] I would Strongly suggest Louis Armstrong,Miles Davis Chris Botti and Ella Fitgerald. |
