Jazz
 

Alright......had to happen sooner or later, I have found myself recently getting into jazz. Funny thing is my dad tried for years to explain why he liked jazz and I just thought it sucked.

So....given that I know very little about it, but am kind of interested in hearing more, are there any jazz fans in here? If so any advice on stuff to listen to? So far I've mainly been listening to a little old school pre-50s stuff and some of the 'cool jazz' artists. I just went on ebay and ordered a Thelonius Monk cd. Hoping that lives up to expectations:)

My ex, a wonderful piano player, turned me on to Jazz, especially Jazz Fusion. I don't know tons, but some artists I really like are Tom Scott and Najee, both sax players. I've heard some say that Najee is a Kenny G imitator, but that is FAR from the truth. All Kenny ever did was play the scales. A good Najee album is Tokyo Blue, particularly the songs "Talkin'" and "Cruise Control."

I was lucky enough to see both artists live. Tom Scott had the band out there for warmup and my ex and I about fell off our seats. We're like "Warmup? Hell, that could be all there was and I'd be thrilled to pieces."

God I wish I had time for a more thorough answer right now, but I will say this: start with something safe like Coltrane or Miles Davis, then read the liner notes to see what other musicians play on that CD, then when you see those guy's names on the liner notes of another CD, you use that as a reference. In this way, you can diversify your collection by branching out from the players who did sessions together.

Excellent advice, thanks guys:) I have heard a little of Miles Davis and really liked it. I might order a couple of cds

I thought of a couple more, mild type contemporary jazz:

Brenda Russell (she wrote "Get Here" which was covered by Oleta Adams but imo Brenda blows Oleta out of the water. She also wrote "Piano in the Dark"...again blows any covers out of the water.)

Fourplay (their debut album)

Coltrane, Bill Evans, Medeski Martin & Wood. Dave Brubeck is always a safe choice in my opinion. The thing with jazz is that it is very broad. You can find many different styles.

It will.

I also love Dave Brubeck ... his Time Out album is probably one of his best. Blue Rondo ala Turk and Take Five are my favorites. They are also the most played. It's good thinking music, is jazz.

You won't be disappointed. You can't go wrong with Thelonious Monk or any of his contemporaries--Sonny Rollins, Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, John Coltrane, etc.

Latin Jazz is great, too. Tito Puente and Bossa Nova artists like João and Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz are some of my favorites.

Dave Brubeck...yep.

How about some Brasil 66..song Mas Que Nada. Wow!

Latin Jazz!

I have John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

I like jazz but I l tend isten to more jazz-influenced bands. Those go from underground rap to progressive death/mathcore bands.

Miles Davis - Kinda Blue is a staple.
Shameless plug - tune into my radio stream, I play mostly jazz and blues. :D

Swing jazz = love

free jazz = chill

acid jazzappa = whoaaa mannnn

Maynard Ferguson
Nina Simone
The Manhattan Transfer
Eldar Djangirov (amazing piano player, and he's only 19ish.)
Jammie Cullum (he's more pop-jazz)
The Bad Plus (experimental jazz-very cool)
Count Basie
Dexter Gordon
Luiz Bonfa
(if you want some Latin jazz, let me know. that's a different section of my library)

If you want to re-discover soem other gems, check out the 24 bit remaster series from Enja Records - www.enjarecords.com