Jazz recordings to help a player become "legit"

[Bardolph]

I'm looking for some all around good recordings/CDs to get down the jazz standards and transcribe some solos and walking lines. I already have some stuff by Ray Brown and Charles Mingus. What are the must-haves in terms of building up a gig-worthy repertoire? I do play my fair share of real book gigs, but I'd like to be hip to all the well known intros, endings, changes etc.

[grovest]

If you don't mind something that's more "instruction" than "entertainment", the Aebersold stuff is pretty popular. http://www.aebersold.com/

[Bernie Connors]

Chick Corea - Akoustic Band
Harvey Mason - With All My Heart
Anything from Bob James

Something to get you started.

[bobbykokinos]

If you havent put this in your collection, do so:

Miles Davis - Kind of Blue

Listen to Paul Chambers. On your headphones and listen to it before you go to sleep. If you plan on playing jazz bass, those are all songs (with maybe the exception of Flamenco Sketches) you will play one time or another.

[burk48237]

Miles Davis: Round Midnight, Milestones, Someday My prince will come, Kinda Blue,
John Coltrane: My favorite things, Giant Steps,Blue train
Sonny Rollins: Tenor Madness, Saxophone Collussus
Oscar Petterson: Night Trane
Thelonious Monk:Misterioso,Straight No Chaser, Thelonious Monk with John Coltrane, Brilliant Corners
Art Blakely and the Jazz Messengers: Caravan
Chet Baker: My Funny Valentine
These 16 Cd's are loaded with real book standreds and each one of them has art least 2 in some cases 4 standreds on them, They'll deffinently get you started. PS if you can walk over the changes in Giant Steps (Coltranes version) your Ready! As far as newer Albums with real book tunes two of the best are Chick Corea and Return to Forever "Light as a Feather" and Pat Metheny Group self titled both have got some recognized standreds. Both Keith Jarret and Bill Evans in there trio albums do a lot of other peoples standreds, not to mention Scott Lefaro's bass playing on the Evans albums!

[burk48237]

Originally Posted by Bernie Connors

Chick Corea - Akoustic Band
Harvey Mason - With All My Heart
Anything from Bob James

Something to get you started.

Bernie, I know thats great Music. but is any of that stuff in the real book or what you would call standreds?, Just asking.

[Indi86]

... It's been 4 posts and NOBODY has mentioned Jaco. For shame. Pick up his self titled and never look back at your past, that is... if you don't already have it and my input is completely unneeded.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Indi86

... It's been 4 posts and NOBODY has mentioned Jaco. For shame. Pick up his self titled and never look back at your past, that is... if you don't already have it and my input is completely unneeded.

That's : "Fusion" - not 'legit' Jazz!!

[Bernie Connors]

Originally Posted by burk48237

Bernie, I know thats great Music. but is any of that stuff in the real book or what you would call standreds?, Just asking.

Hey Burk,

Yeah, they all have standards on them. From memory they have:

Chick Corea: Autumn Leaves - Sophisticated Lady - Someday My Prince Will Come

Harvey Mason: Smoke Gets in Your Eyes. Not alot of standards on this one but a virtual clinic on double bass.

Bob James does alot of standards on his solo albums.

[DaveBeny]

If you want to build up your jazz repertoire, you can't really go wrong by investigating many of the classic Blue Note label albums of the '50s and '60s. Go for the remastered 'Rudy Van Gelder' editions - they can usually be had cheap (I have a few dozen bought at £5 a piece).

Artists to look for include:

Horace Silver
Joe Henderson
Art Blakey
Herbie Hancock
Lee Morgan
Wayne Shorter
Andrew Hill
Freddie Hubbard
Larry Young
Jackie Mclean

...and many others.

Also,
Miles Davis's 'Miles Smiles' is packed with tunes that any jazz player is going to need to know

[Indi86]

:rollseyes: I <3 fusion then? haha

[basss]

Get all the Miles Davis recordings on the Prestige record label. He made these with the "First Quintet" featuring John Coltrane, Red Garland, Mr. P.C. and Philly Joe Jones. Just about all of the tunes on these recordings are considered standards and they all get called on gigs. The style is straight ahead bebop and this band did a lot to codify that sound.

[paintandsk8]

Get sirius satellite radio and listen to channels 70, 72, 73, and 75 . (75 is dedicated "standards" channel)

[Stachio]

When I started lessons I listened to a lot of Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, Miles, Sonny Rollins, Wes Montgomery...most of those can be found in the Real Book.
Some Jaco made it in there...I recall Birdland and Teentown
I heard they're making a legit version of it...I may be the last one to know as usual.

[Planet Boulder]

Freddie Hubbard - "The Straight Life". Some sick playing by Ron Carter

[zombywoof5050]

Did somebody mention 'Real Books'?..

http://notes.tarakanov.net/standard.htm

[Ed Fuqua]

Originally Posted by Eskimo

I'm looking for some all around good recordings/CDs to get down the jazz standards and transcribe some solos and walking lines. I already have some stuff by Ray Brown and Charles Mingus. What are the must-haves in terms of building up a gig-worthy repertoire? I do play my fair share of real book gigs, but I'd like to be hip to all the well known intros, endings, changes etc.

In terms of building up a gig worthy repertoire I would work more on learning how to create your own line and less on regurguitating other peoples material. Working on your ears is going to be a much better guide to "well known intros, endings, changes, etc." than trying to memorize a bunch of stuff that may never come up on the stand. It's not going to do you any good to memorize/transcribe Miles' arrangement of BYE BYE BLACKBIRD if the piano player calls it in Ab as a waltz with an extended Afro Cuban vamp on Abminormaj7.

You can work on developing your appraoch AND a repertoire at the same time by using the Aebersold recordings without looking at the book. Start with tunes you have heard enough that you can at least sing the melody to. Find the key center of the Aebersold recording and teach yourself the melody. After you can play the melody through (go ahead and just play it every chorus of the Aebersold recording {AR from now on, OK?}), THEN go to the book and see how close you are to the actual (don't look at the changes yet). Then go through the AR and try to identify root movement, then chord quality. By this point you will have internalised the melody and are working on using your EAR to get you through a chord progression. If you get stuck on chord quality, see if the melody note gives you any clues. Finally, after you can play through the tune with the melody and your closest estimation as to what the harmony is, look at the changes as written. See what the differences are - you may have "heard" a substitution or an inversion of the written harmony.

There are a number of AR's that would be good to grab repertoire from - BLUE NOTE CLASSICS, JAM SESSION STANDARDS, ALL BALLADS etc etc. are going to be a little more useful than the specific composer ones, at least to start. Your typical gig or session might include 1 or 2 Woody Shaw tunes, but not 6.

[Bardolph]

Your reply is well noted, Ed. I know I won't get anywhere in the jazz scene just being an immitator. I am constantly trying to pick up stuff on my own and listen for changes and come up with my own ideas. The area I feel I fall short in is finding out what all the great players did before me. I don't necessarily want to find stuff just to memorize and regurgitate it, but rather to see the approaches other players have taken on it. I can't count the number of times I've listened to a jazz recording and heard some really simple lick or line and say to myself, "well how come I never thought of that?" I'd just like to be the kind of 'hip' player where someone on a gig says "Hey, do you know the Monk intro (or whatever) to this?" and I'll be able to say yes.