I love jazz, but I'm far from being knowledgeable on the genre. I don't like abstract or avant-garde jazz much as it's a jumbled mess for my ears, so please provide some recommendations that are a little more mainstream.
It would be great if your suggestions were available on audiophile LP labels, so I could actually purchase them without searching for a used copy.
My two favourite Jazz LPs that I play all the time:
Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges: Back to Back
Curtis Counce: You get more Bounce with Curtis Counce
Are you looking for everybody's favorite 10 jazz albums, or the 10 jazz albums that would be the best start to a collection? There is a difference.
If it's 10 starters to seed a collection, what a great question! I won't help you a bit with what is available on audiophile vinyl because a) I don't care and b) it's not the point - the right album on whatever medium, is much more important than whatever your perceptions of audiophile quality are. Take Kind of Blue on cassette if that's all you can get. Skip Kenny G if he offers to come play in your living room.
Not necessarily in order:
Kind of Blue - Miles
Mingus Ah Um - Charles Mingus
Time Out - Dave Brubeck
Round About Midnight - Miles Davis
Saxaphone Collosus - Sonny Rollins
Cannonball Adderly - Know What I Mean?
Bill Evans - Waltz With Debby
Monk's Dream - Thelonious Monk
Brilliant Corners - Thelonious Monk
Gershwin's World - Herbie Hancock (had to get something in there made in the last 20 years!)
That's far from definitive. Heck, it barely scratches the surface. You'll get lots of other suggestions. But I think if you started out with those, read the liner notes and struck out from there by following these artists and the sidemen on these albums, you'd end up with a lot of great music.
I agree with the last post. Don't worry about audiophile when you are starting to explore. You can cover 4x as much ground. Here is a pretty good list to work your way through:
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Dexter Gordon - Go!
Chick Corea - Return to Forever
Frank Sinatra - Sinatra At the Sands
Dexton Gordon - One Flight Up
Various - Jazz At The Santa Monica Civic '72
This will give you an idea of what I like. Thanks for the lists, links and suggestions so far.
John
EDIT: Dexter Gordon - One Flight Up is my favourite, but that could be because it's relatively new for me.... and I'm enjoying the new sounds.
The next thing I'd buy is "Kind of Blue." Then I'd look for some piano - Bill Evans' "Waltz With Debby" is pretty hard to beat, but so is Herbie Hancock. Perhaps some female vocal? "Ella and Louis" is seminal, but for more contemporary, Dianna Krall "Live in Paris" is wonderful. You've got a fine start there.
let's try some female vocalists
Liz Wright-Salt
Shirley Horn- You Won't Forget Me
Tuck and Patti-Colors
Dee Dee Bridgewater-Keeping Tradition
Billie Holiday-Live at Monterey and the Philharmoinc Contains God Bless the Child and Good Morning Heartache Verve(She really deserves her own thread)
Nancy Wilson
Dinah Washington
Cassaundra Wilson-Moon Daughter
Dakota Staton- the late,late show
Carmen McRae
Sarah Vaughn-Sarah Vaughn wirh Clifford Brown
Nina Simone
Carol Kidd- A Place In My Heart
Flora Purim-Butterfly Dreams
just to name a few
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Cannonball Adderley - Somethin' Else
Wayne Shorter - Speak No Evil
Dexter Gordon - Go!
Chick Corea - Return to Forever
Frank Sinatra - Sinatra At the Sands
Dexton Gordon - One Flight Up
Various - Jazz At The Santa Monica Civic '72
This will give you an idea of what I like. Thanks for the lists, links and suggestions so far.
John
EDIT: Dexter Gordon - One Flight Up is my favourite, but that could be because it's relatively new for me.... and I'm enjoying the new sounds.
Hey, thanks for the list. Here are a few suggestions; not meant to be definitive, rather a starting place for further exploration:
Art Blakey - "Moanin'"
Barney Kessel, Ray Brown & Shelly Manne - "The Poll Winners"
The Great Jazz Trio - "Direct From LA"
Charles Mingus - "Mingus Ah Um"
Duke Ellington - "Blues In Orbit"
New York Trio w/ Ken Peplowski - "Stardust"
Thelonious Monk - "Live At the It Club"
Miles Davis - "Round About Midnight"
Lee Morgan - "The Sidewinder"
Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington - "For The First Time"
Count Basie - "Chairman of The Board"
Sonny Clark - "Cool Struttin'"
Good luck! Let us know what suggestions you enjoy.
Yes I certainly agree with those artists and titles that have been posted. Those are and remain some of the holy grails of recorded jazz of the past century. But I believe we would be somewhat remiss not to add some of the current crop such as Bill Charlap Trio and Brian Lynch. Also to add is:
Johnny Griffin
Eddie Lockjaw Davis
Stanley Turrentine
Modern Jazz Quartet
Great Jazz Trio
Frank Morgan
Ahmad Jamal
Jimmy Smith
Richard Groove Holmes
Tommy Flanagan
let's try some female vocalists
Liz Wright-Salt
Shirley Horn- You Won't Forget Me
Tuck and Patti-Colors
Dee Dee Bridgewater-Keeping Tradition
Billie Holiday-Live at Monterey and the Philharmoinc Contains God Bless the Child and Good Morning Heartache Verve(She really deserves her own thread)
Nancy Wilson
Dinah Washington
Cassaundra Wilson-Moon Daughter
Dakota Staton- the late,late show
Carmen McRae
Sarah Vaughn-Sarah Vaughn wirh Clifford Brown
Nina Simone
Carol Kidd- A Place In My Heart
Flora Purim-Butterfly Dreams
just to name a few
I'm late to the party, but here goes...Take Five[Dave Brubeck]- Winelight[Grover Washington Jr.]- Birth Of The Cool[Miles Davis]- Newk's Time[Sonny Rollins]- Blue Benson[George Benson]- In Person[Bobby Timmons Trio]- Bumpin[Wes Montgomery]- Something Else[Cannonball Adderley]- Jazz Immortal[Clifford Brown]-What Is There To Say[Gerry Mulligan].
My two favourite Jazz LPs that I play all the time:
Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges: Back to Back
Curtis Counce: You get more Bounce with Curtis Counce
