Let's talk about jazz.

[twinjet]

Surprisingly, I haven't seen a thread where we can just talk about this expansive genre. Let's do that here. Let's talk about your favorite albums, players, songs, gigs and influences.

I've been listening to must-hear albums from this list of 30. So far, I'm down four and working on my fifth, Dave Brubeck's Time Out. I've heard Blue Rondo a la Turk in passing a few times but never with intent. Truly a brilliant tune.

Happily seeking contributions from electric and double bass players.

 

[Ed Fuqua]

Check the DB side, we talk about it a lot over there.

 

[Spidey2112]

I believe Dave is another Ohio product... when he passed, I picked up a 3 CD set... I think one of the CDs actually has classic Disney tunes interpreted by Dave and Co...

... love listening to him, Coltrane, and others, usually on my way home from work...

 

[twinjet]

I believe Dave is another Ohio product... when he passed, I picked up a 3 CD set... I think one of the CDs actually has classic Disney tunes interpreted by Dave and Co...

... love listening to him, Coltrane, and others, usually on my way home from work...

I just gave A Love Supreme a listen. Elvin Jones... What a drummer. Giant Steps is also on my phone. Countdown is superb.

 

[ptg]

I love jazz and have so many recordings I wouldn't know where to start! Enjoy the journey!

 

[JRA]

I love jazz and have so many recordings I wouldn't know where to start! Enjoy the journey!

same here!

i started with bebop, but i really like most music (usually instrumental) which lends itself to 'interpretation' and soloing. when i tell young folks that i play jazz = i'm consistently being 'schooled' on the more contemporary stuff out there...so maybe jazz is more popular these days... or enjoying a renaissance of some kind. nice!

bill evans

 

[MattZilla]

The Bad Plus! Srsly, try not to move while listening to And Here We Test Our Powers of Observation. I dare you.

Just started listening to Benny Goodman after hearing an interview regarding how he and his group blew the lid off of the scene at Carnegie Hall. Dam.

Lots of heavy music hiding in that old soundscape.

 

[Jborg]

Jazz is my favorite style to play, but I rarely get the call to do it.. unfortunately.
I grew up listening to Oscar Peterson (+NHOP) and grew to love Miles, Coltrane and much of the stuff from the 60’s. Then came Jaco! Now I’m getting into the 30’s & 40’s.
Ken Burns did a great PBS series on jazz history. Definitely worth checking out.

 

[ZenG]

I am influenced by jazz and jazz-based work. I'm not so much influenced by the good old list of jazz standards that are trotted out when people talk about jazz.

I like to poke around other jazz songs by other artists and lesser known works looking for gems.

But this is a good thread. Good to discuss music that isn't always centered around shop-worn rock.

 

[twinjet]

Check the DB side, we talk about it a lot over there.

I wanted to start one over here as I knew talk would not necessarily be centered on double bass.

I love jazz and have so many recordings I wouldn't know where to start! Enjoy the journey!

I'm working on my CD collection now. What do you recommend?

same here!

i started with bebop, but i really like most music (usually instrumental) which lends itself to 'interpretation' and soloing. when i tell young folks that i play jazz = i'm consistently being 'schooled' on the more contemporary stuff out there...so maybe jazz is more popular these days... or enjoying a renaissance of some kind. nice!

bill evans

Explorations was a nice album. Not sure if jazz is making a comeback, but I know there are small sects of musicians like Snarky Puppy who like to compose in the contemporary jazz genre.

The Bad Plus! Srsly, try not to move while listening to And Here We Test Our Powers of Observation. I dare you.

Just started listening to Benny Goodman after hearing an interview regarding how he and his group blew the lid off of the scene at Carnegie Hall. Dam.

Lots of heavy music hiding in that old soundscape.

The Bad Plus... That was intense. Nice call.

Jazz is my favorite style to play, but I rarely get the call to do it.. unfortunately.
I grew up listening to Oscar Peterson (+NHOP) and grew to love Miles, Coltrane and much of the stuff from the 60’s. Then came Jaco! Now I’m getting into the 30’s & 40’s.
Ken Burns did a great PBS series on jazz history. Definitely worth checking out.

I'm right there with you. I'll gig almost anything, but jazz... I don't get called for nearly as often. Average 2x a year.

I haven't listened to Benny Goodman. I ought to, never did focus much on jazz before the 50s. Just listened to Ellington at Newport from '58 yesterday and that was an electric experience.

I am influenced by jazz and jazz-based work. I'm not so much influenced by the good old list of jazz standards that are trotted out when people talk about jazz.

I like to poke around other jazz songs by other artists and lesser known works looking for gems.

But this is a good thread. Good to discuss music that isn't centered around shop-worn rock.

I enjoy exploring jazz. I figured this would be a great way to do it better. Whom do you take influence from?

 

[Nashrakh]

I'll just leave three of my favorites here:

Wayne Shorter - Speak no Evil
Dexter Gordon - Ballads (this version of "I'm a fool to want you" must be the most beautiful thing he ever recorded)
Stan Getz - Sweet Rain

Out of the three, the last two you'll find to be very easy to listen to - Shorter maybe not so much. But the line-up speaks for itself: Hancock, Ron Carter, Freddie Hubbard (which I like the most on this album). Some really hip sounds on this one.

 

[Chicory Blue]

Sacred music. Wish I could be part of it someday.

--^@

 

[twinjet]

Sacred music. Wish I could be part of it someday.

--^@

How about today? Check out Stan Getz, as mentioned earlier. That's some lovely sax playing. Or if you dig piano, Bill Evans.

 

[GwenOnBass]

Sonny Rollins is the first musical hero in my life. Blessed to see him freshly back from his second sabbatical. The way I reckon it, there's a master's degree in music in every track he cut.

The building he lived in when he went on his first sabbatical is now named The Rollins. Heard talk of re-naming the bridge for him. He IS the Saxophone Colossus.

Edit: spent a lot of time as a kid listening to Ornette Coleman too. Some big band stuff too, Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, that sort of ne of thing. Jazz is "growing up" music to me: my sister (eleven years older) hosted a jazz jam session every weekend in our living room. The best thing, ever. Pretty sure everyone in that room went pro at some point.

 

[JSchroder]

Ellington's "...and his mother called him Bill" has always been one of my favorites. Blood Count stills knocks me out. Whole album swings like a mother.

 

[morgansterne]

I think Time Out was the first jazz album I listened to seriously. I painstakingly figured out the melody when I was in my early teens, but at the speed my record player went, it was in F#. Only decades later did I see a video and realized he played it in F, and I'd learned it in the wrong key .

My dad is the bigger jazz fan and always tried (trying) to get me to play it more. All my jazz recordings are gifts from him.

 

[portpc]

I think Time Out was the first jazz album I listened to seriously. I painstakingly figured out the melody when I was in my early teens, but at the speed my record player went, it was in F#. Only decades later did I see a video and realized he played it in F, and I'd learned it in the wrong key .

My dad is the bigger jazz fan and always tried (trying) to get me to play it more. All my jazz recordings are gifts from him.

Blue Rondo a la Turk is my ringtone, I'm a lifelong DB Quartet fan, that led me to Paul Desmond, one of the most lyrical players ever & he led me to the tremendous Jazz guitarist Ed Bickert..

 

[Maxfenderbass]

The old stuff is great.
For some killer playing, anything from Bill Evans is good, especially in the Scott Lafaro era.
The Real McCoy is a killer album, and anything from Coltrane.
I am a big fan of the current Jazz Scene. Avishai Cohen's album "Gently Disturbed" completely changed my outlook on Jazz as well as anything from Brad Meldau

 

[Londo Molari]

I like some jazz. Probably the first jazz LP I ever bought was Time Out. Bought it back in the late '60's or early '70's. One of the first tunes I ever learned to play on bass was Right Off from the Miles Jack Johnson LP. Never got into Bitches Brew though. Most of the stuff I listen to these days that might be jazz is from the '20's and '30's. I've been digging into this time period a lot in the last few years. The Beau Hunks have done a wonderful job of re-creating the music of LeRoy Shields. Have always been really fond of the ECM stuff from the '70's, Eberhard Weber, Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal & Ralph Towner.

 

[J_Bass]

Great thread, I live Jazz, I hear it almost exclusively nowadays!

Ok, start with the 4 1959 albums:

Miles Davis: Kind of Blue.
Charles Mingus: Ah Hum!.
Dave Brubeck: Time Out.
Ornette Coleman: The Shape of Jazz to Come.

I also highly recommend any work from John Coltrane, which is my favorite author.

Thelonius Monk also, any album.

One of my top favorites is Michel Petrucciani, check out the album Both Worlds, with Anthony Jackson and Steve Gadd.

Herbie Hancock, any period, Chic Corea, also.

Frontpage, Weather Report, Jaco, Bela Fleck.

Sonny Rollins, Count Basie, there are so many.

What type of Jazz do you prefer?