This might not be in technique but Im too lazy to go to bassists or whatever this should be in, BUT... What are some good jazz bands cus Im gonna get some off Napster and put 'em on a CD, and I wanted to hear what you guys listen too (and play, I would like it if its original also.

What kind of Jazz? Bebop? Straight Ahead? Latin? Smooth? Help us out here.

Yeah, you'd get more replies in the "recordings" category...

Will C. http://www.talkbass.com/ubb/cool.gif

------------------
You can't hold no groove if you ain't got no pocket!

Acoustic "straightahead"-ish(including some bop, hard bop, post-bop, avant garde,...) Jazz...
1)Either of Miles Davis' "classic" quintets.
2)Charles Mingus' bands(late '50s thru mid '70-s).
3)John Coltrane "classic" quartet.
4)Ornette Coleman's bands
...something a little more "contemporary"(& they're all bass-led sessions)-
Dave Holland-PRIME DIRECTIVE
Ben Allison-SEVEN ARROWS
Avaishai Cohen-ADAMA

Latin Jazz-
1)Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band...awesome in my book!
2)Danilo Perez...look for PANAMONK or CENTRAL AVE.

Stuff a little more on the "electric" side-
1)Tribal Tech-also, Gary Willis' solo cds(like NO SWEAT & BENT).
2)Chick Corea's stuff from any era(will include some of his acoustic, Latin, & Free material).
3)Weather Report
4)Steve Khan's Eyewitness band&also, later "solo" cds by Khan).
5)Brecker Brothers
6)Mahavishnu Orchestra(incuding Billy Cobham's solo cds...of which CROSSWINDS & TOTAL ECLIPSE has FINALLY been issued on cd!).

...I'm outta breath; Next!

A few "must have" cd's (Buy 'em, don't Napster them, these are worth owning legitimately...)

Miles Davis "Kind of Blue" & "Birth of the Cool"
John Coltrane "Blue Trane" & "Giant Steps"
Charles Mingus "Ah-Um"
Duke Ellington "Live At Newport"
Pat Metheney "Bright Size Life"
Herbie Hancock "Headhunters"
Thelonius Monk "Straight, No Chaser"
Sonny Rollins "Saxophone Colossus"
Ornette Coleman "Free Jazz"


Everyone will have lots of other favorites, but that would be a good start.

See if you can pick up a copy of The Real Book somewhere, the regular Treble clef version.

-GM

i have two words of adivice in my humble opinion.
1. John Coltrane-giant steps(there are fast pos-bop tunes,ballads,mediums,and everything in between on this disc, dig the second take of "giant steps")
2. Pat Metheny-bright size life(this is a landmark album with jaco pastorius on bass, to me this is the best "new jazz" or "fusion" album i have ever heard)

if you find those icelandic bands you´re lucky: Jagúar and Mezzoforte

great bands

Here's a few more "must" own jazz discs:

Cannonball Adderly Quintet - Mercy, Mercy, Mercy
Dave Brubeck - Time Out
Benny Goodman - Live at Carnegie Hall
Horace Silver - Songs for My Father

------------------
Ciao
Mike

...what are the odds that Steely Dan(Becker/Fagan)had heard Silver's "Song For My Father"?

Yes but is it true that "Rikki Don't lose that Number" is a plea to guitarist Rick Derringer? One of the few "Gay" love songs to get in the charts?

download:

Victor Wooten; Me and My Bass Guitar

Hate to be the wet blanket here, but please don't download songs such as "Me & My Bass Guitar" (Victor Wooten, "Show of Hands" disc)


BUY them. Support the artist. Support your fellow musicians and bassists. Don't take money out of their pockets by using Napster, etc.

-GM

[This message has been edited by gmstudio99 (edited May 28, 2000).]

mine is weather report, they had great songwriting,they had one of the best sax players in jazz,they were one of the first jazz bands to cop miles davis use of the studio as another musician, and they always evolved! and oh yeah.......they always had
very choice bass players!

------------------
aloha, jerry

Steps(or Steps Ahead)-
SMOKIN' IN THE PIT was recently released domestically(2 cds + bonus cuts)-it burns!
...also, 2 other albums by Steps have been packaged together domestically-STEP BY STEP & PARADOX.
One caveat for you "electric-philes"...at this point, Eddie Gomez was playing acoustic bass in the band(he & Steve Gadd...+ Brecker + Maineri + Grolnick do get it on!).

Steps Ahead is a great band. One of my favs. I hav'nt gotten anything recently by them. There was a three peice band outta Montreal, Canada in the early to mid 80's. These guys were great, but I can't remember thier name. Anyone know? Also, a local band from here in Buffalo called Gamalon. They have been around for awhile since the mid 80's. Their new line up is great. If you can ahold of anything by these guys, get it.
Here's a quick link to some of their stuff: http://nmpnet.com/gamalon/

The Montreal band? ...was it UZEB? At times, they were a trio(Caron-bass; Cusson-guitar; Brochu-drums).
Another couple Canadian bands that rocked out in a Fusion sorta way...
I think one was called Five After Four(?)& the other one had bassist Patrick Kilbride...I'm drawing a blank...uh, they may have been called The Code.

That's it! I couldn't remember the name. A former coworker turned me on to them about 10 years ago. I'm gonna have to get some of their stuff. Thanx Jim.

Maynard Ferguson is pretty good. He has really good arrangements. All those guys mentioned before, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters album is awesome. Let's see, Groove Collective has some good funky jazz licks, but there is also some scratching and a little rap over the grooves, you may not care for that. That's all I got that hasn't been mentioned.

I'll chalk up The Rippingtons on the list.
Kim Stone's is a great player.

Im canadianbassman

If you like serious funky jazz, you can't go wrong with Eddie Harris. The classic 70's album 'Excursions' features the great Rufus Reid on both upright and electric, and has some of the strangest pictures and the most ridiculous liner notes that I have ever seen on a jazz record. If you get Rufus Reid's excellent "The Evolving Bassist" instruction book you will find some of the bass solos transcribed within. Eddie Harris' 'Eddie Who?' album spotlights some stupendous fretless playing by Ralphe Armstrong. Also, for some loopy modern jazz check out BassDrumBone, with bassist Mark Helias. Be sure to investigate Bill Evans Trio recordings with Scott LaFaro-truly one of the first melodic bass masters. I'm also fond of just about anything by Miles Davis: 'Nefertiti,' 'Bitches Brew,' Jack Johnson' 'In a Silent Way'--it's all great music.

Lot's of good stuff mentioned here...

Haven't seen any "Third Stream" music listed, so I thought I'd add a few albums from that sub-genre:

1) Jimmy Giuffre 3 - "1961":
Giuffre, Paul Bley, and Steve Swallow playing double bass. If you dig the Bill Evans/LaFaro/Motian trio... this builds upon some of the harmonic aspects of that music, and takes it quite forward.

2) Dave Holland - "Conference of the Birds":
One of my favorite jazz albums. Braxton, Sam Rivers, Holland, and Barry Altschul (what ever happened to him?).

3) Any of Ran Blake's recordings with Jeannie Lee.

4) Paul Motian Trio - "Trioism":
Motian, Bill Frisell, and Joe Lovano. No bass player, but I couldn't really see a bassist fitting in.

5) Henry Threadgill Sextet - "Rag, Bush, and All": Double drummer ragtime-inspired AACM music. Can't really describe it...then again, if I could, why would it be music?

Admittedly, this isn't a good sampling for someone just getting into jazz...just a personal addendum to the great musicians who have already been mentioned in this thread.

Prasphant-
I totally dig Holland's COTB; have you checked out Altshul's playing with Circle or on Corea's ARC or THE SONG OF SINGING(w/ Holland)? Not sure what's happened to him...I also have one of his solo discs stashed somewhere.

...I'm not sure of the "Third Stream" genre; I thought it was some kinda Jazz/Classical mish-mash that "swung"(like the Modern Jazz Quartet); the stuff you mentioned(Holland, Threadgill,...)is Avant Garde/Free???

JimK-

The Circle stuff is baaaaaaaaaad! A friend of mine layed that on me last year, and it was burnin'!

As far as the avant-garde/free thing...I see third-stream as a term that deals more with structured composition of some sort, whereas "free" refers more to an abstractionist tonal and/or rhythmic style of playing. Both are facets of "Avant-garde", just not necessarily an "either/or" choice...

Sorry to step into a semantic discussion, but it's my life's (subconscious) goal to make everything more needlessly complicated than is necessary. :-)

Prashant

Pras-
It's cool...
Third Stream had moments were the stuff would "swing"; Free stuff rarely "swings" in the traditional sense.
...agreed, just semantics, man.