Jazz starter CD?

I'm really into Classic Rock, Blues, and Reggae. A lot of people seem to really enjoy Jazz, and I'd like to check it out. Can anyone recommend a CD that will help me figure out if I'm capable of enjoying Jazz?

 

I just bought my first 2 jazz albums ever.... Miles Davis' Kind of Blue and Bitches Brew... and I'm enjoying them both. Other forum members are undoubtedly more knowledgeable on the subject, but from what I've read, those 2 albums are regarded as two of the best jazz records of all time, so that's how I got my start.

 

I'd go with Dave Brubeck's "Time Out".

 

Well, some people find Kind of Blue less than riveting and Bitches Brew is not very jazzlike.

I've started a few people on jazz with Sonny Rollins' Saxophone Colossus, which opens with an irresistible calypso number called "St. Thomas," and can be acquired very cheaply and just about everywhere.

I also recommend the following as a 'starter' option:
* Lester Young - The Kansas City Sessions. A little old-fashioned (from the late 30s and early 40s), but the songs are all brief and sweet, and there's a good variety of instruments - acoustic and electric guitar, tenor sax, clarinet, muted and open trumpet, trombone...to me, it is one of the easiest CDs I own to pop in and groove to, no matter what my mood or the season.

My first jazz album was John Coltrane's Ascension, which was the right place to start for me (I was heavily into avant-garde and noisy music) but not necessarily for everyone.

 

It's hard to find anyone who doesn't like "Kind of Blue." Probably THEE greatest (and most accessible) jazz album of all.

Another good starting point is Charles Mingus' "Mingus Ah Um" and Dave Brubeck's "Time Out."

 

Love Supreme by John Coltrane.

 

Coltrane-Blue Train or Giant Steps

 

Charles Mingus - The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

 

Most of the re-issues getting discussed on this forum are Hard Bop/Cool/Soul-Jazz/Modal from the 50's & early 60's so that may be want you asking....if so don't let one sound represent it all. Try a different instruments and genres. Try the library or other sources so you can sample.


I would also try some of the earlier Swing, Dixieland and Bebop sounds from legends such as Louie Armstrong, Duke Elington, Charlie Parker, etc.
The album "Stachmo Plays King Oliver" and track "St. James Infirmary" is awesome and easy form non-Jazz lovers to enjoy.

If you want to sample a broad range of genres and time frames the Ken Burns Jazz box provides samples and his JAZZ documentary will help you appreciate the history of jazz.

If you really want to test the water with the 50's/60's being re-issued and discussed on this forum I would try some of the titles being re-issued on 45 rpm from blue note, Fantasy, etc. Just try to diferent styles and instrumentation focus.

You can look at top 50 titles of all time as well. Example:

Coltrane - Blue Train (his later classics like Love Supreme are not as accessible to those new to jazz)

Sonny Rollins is a great place to start: Way Out West, Saxaphone Colossus, etc.

Bill Evans - Waltz for Debbie or Night at the Village Vanguard (piano)

Jazz Messengers - the track "Night in Tunisia" is wild...check it out!

Horace Silver - Song for my Father - Steely Dan borrow parts for "ricky don't lose that number'

Miles - Kinda of Blue - the most common jazz album to find in non-jazz collections.

 

Everyone is different but I would highly recommend NOT starting here. I tried this album early in my jazz listening and found the polyrhthmic drums and wild fast sax to me very hard. I found earlier Colrane more accessible with this title more enjoyable later.

 

One of my earliest jazz buys was Art Pepper - Meets the Rhythm Section. I would say that this is a good start - that and Dexter Gordon - Doin' Allright.

Won't frighten anyone off unlike Coltrane of the ALS era or Bitches Brew.

 

Some have said that if you don't like "Kind of Blue" then you don't like jazz. It certainly is the most recommended starting point and if you have one jazz album it's probably the one.
I wouldn't recommend any one album to be a go/nogo decision on jazz. Some first timers find "kind of blue"....KIND OF BORING.

"Time Out" is almost as common and more exciting....certainly one to try.

The track "St. Thomas" is accessible and highly recommended as an entry point. I found Sonny Rollins and early Coltrane as great starts for Hard Bop sax.

"Bitches' Brew" is FUSION...with it you are trying something much different...a great place to start for fusion but not for classic jazz although perhaps fusion is the way some get migrated into jazz.

 

There is no single jazz album that sums up the genre. IMO it's somewhat of an insult to any genre to think or insist that there should be such a thing. Jazz is over 100 years old and has changed immeasurably since it began. Whatever one person recommends is going to be a representation of what they think jazz is, and can't possibly represent the genre in its full diversity.

My interest in jazz goes back to the late 60's and continues to this day. The first jazz artist I heard about was John Coltrane, so I took his album 'Live at the Village Vanguard Again' out of my public library. I didn't listen to another Coltrane album for several years, but I did get into In A Silent Way and Bitches Brew by Miles Davis through my interest in amplified Rock and Blues with extended improvisation. Specifically bands like Cream, Grateful Dead, Santana, and Mothers of Invention in their late 60's heyday.

If you're looking for an overall view of jazz there are http://www.amazon.com/Best-Ken-Burn...=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1254669175&sr=1-3 and http://www.amazon.com/Ken-Burnss-Ja...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1254669252&sr=1-1 from the Ken Burns series.

In my generation, http://www.amazon.com/Smithsonian-C...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1254669346&sr=1-2 was the collection from which we learned the history of the art form.

For specific artists, chronologically I would suggest Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald,Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughn, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cecil Taylor, and Ornette Coleman. That gives you an idea of where to start.

 

I agree with this, not LOVE SUPREME, not to start with.

 

This might seem odd, but I like Sonny Rollins WAY OUT WEST.

 

This question seems to come up so often,it deserves a FAQ. You're favorite jazz album probably won't work here. Mingus' "Black Saint"? "A Love Supreme"? Maybe it worked for the posters,but I would highly doubt that many would use these as starting points.I have tons of compilations in my collection-many are promos,or budget-priced to entice a bigger investment but I would recommend few of them. The PBS documentary,"Ken Burns' Jazz" has such a bias that you pretty much have to be a fan already to separate the problems from the real story.And it breaks down from about 1959. However,the single disc "Best of Ken Burns' Jazz" CD is a great comp at a great price. 20 tracks,also only up to 1959,under 10 bucks. It includes a track from KOB,"Time Out",accessible Coltrane,as well as Louis,Duke,Bird,Dizzy,Monk and Benny. It may be obvious,but it is effective.

 

Hello:

I love Jazz, I love Miles music and I love Kind of Blue.

I have many albums of Miles and I love Kind of Blue, so I have more that forty editions in cd of his album.

Some friends here have talk to you about many great albums of Coltrane, Mingus, etc, but I think you must listen Kind of Blue, it is wonderful, it is easy and simple, and it maybe it is great because it.

If you listen Kind of Blue and you like it, yo must return here and tell it to us, and listen: Love Supreme (If you like Santana and you have Love, Devotion and Surrender read the credits), Giant Steps, and Dave Brucbek Take Five.

When you will listen A love Supreme, you will have 2 options: If you like it, you are ok, if you dont like it, listen again.

Listen more Miles album: Sketches of Spain, 'Round Midnight, Walkin', and all the works with Coltrane.

The next step listen Bitches Brew, In a Silent Way, and then you will be walking in another way.

Next time you must listen Bill Evans, on Riverside, on Fantasy on Verve.

You will understand than Miles changed the Jazz music each ten years, and many of the great musicians had play with him.

If you like it you will never forget the day you wrote this post.

 

+1.

Also, Soul Station - Hank Mobley
Go! - Dexter Gordon
The Sidewinder - Lee Morgan
Out to Lunch - Eric Dolphy
Songs for My Father - Horace Silver
Moanin' - Art Blakey

Blue Note did some LP reissues of these in the '90s that were nice. Those are OOP today, but maybe not that hard to find.

I did not like the RVG (Rudy Van Gelder) CD remasters.

I'm not a big jazz fan, btw.

 

There's a third option, in which this music fails to reach you no matter how many times you listen to it. The love for A Love Supreme is far more supreme, IMO, than A Love Supreme. If it had been the first jazz record I ever listened to, there would not have been a second.

 

I would start with Jazz light "A Night Out With Verve"

For $13.95 used you can get a huge starter collection.

A highly reccomended set for anyone. And the mastering is 1st rate.

http://www.amazon.com/Night-Out-Ver...=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1254670139&sr=8-2

There are four CDs in this boxset. For me it is the best starter Jazz collection you can possibly buy.


Disc: 1
1. Come Dance With Me - Oscar Peterson
2. There Is No Greater Love - Dizzy Gillespie
3. As Long as I Live - Kenny Burrell
4. I Wished on the Moon - Coleman Hawkins
5. Smooth One - Junior Mance
6. On the Sunny Side of the Street - Jimmy And His Orchestra Hodges
7. Whisper Not - Anita O'Day
8. Lil' Darlin' - Joe Pass
9. Love You Madly - Monty Alexander
10. What's New? - George Benson
11. Broadway - Tal Farlow
12. You Are Too Beautiful - Sonny Rollins
13. Portrait of Jennie - Wynton Kelly
14. Fall Out - Paul Desmond, Gerry Mulligan
15. Vie en Rose - Michel Legrand
16. I Still Love Him So - Roy Eldridge
Disc: 2
1. If I Had You - Kenny Burrell
2. Once I Loved (Amor Em Paz)
3. Isn't It a Pity? - Sarah Vaughan
4. My Foolish Heart - Bill Evans
5. I Remember Clifford - Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
6. It's Nice to Be With You - Jim Hall
7. It Might as Well Be Spring - Astrud Gilberto
8. Isn't It Romantic? - Benny Carter, Benny Carter
9. When a Woman Loves a Man - Ella Fitzgerald
10. This Can't Be Love - George Shearing
11. You Go to My Head - Chet Baker
12. Autumn in New York - Tal Farlow
13. But Beautiful - Bill Evans, Bill Evans, Stan Getz
14. Agua de Beber - Antonio Carlos Jobim
15. Manhattan - Sonny Rollins
Disc: 3
1. (Ad Lib) Fast Dances - Fred Astaire
2. Party Blues - Ella Fitzgerald, Joe Williams
3. Sister Sadie - James Clay
4. Organ Grinder's Swing - Jimmy Smith
5. Perdido - Duke Ellington & His Orchestra
6. Back Beat Boogie - Harry James & His Orchestra
7. At Last - Marlena Shaw
8. Little Girl Blue - Louis Armstrong
9. So Danço Samba (I Only Dance Samba) - Luiz Bonfá, Stan Getz
10. Shall We Dance? - Cassandra Wilson
11. Rose Room - Buddy DeFranco
12. King Porter Stomp - Benny Goodman & His Orchestra
13. Taking a Chance on Love - Nicholas Payton
14. Corner Pocket - Count Basie Orchestra
15. (Ad Lib) Medium Dance - Fred Astaire
Disc: 4
1. I've Got a Crush on You - Sarah Vaughan
2. It Had to Be You - Billie Holiday
3. You're a Weaver of Dreams - John Coltrane
4. This Love of Mine - Al Hibbler
5. Misty - Don Byas
6. Invitation - Dinah Washington
7. Nearness of You - Hank Jones, Abbey Lincoln
8. Time After Time - Stéphane Grappelli
9. Imagination - Billy Eckstine L
10. That's All - Harry "Sweets" Edison, Lester Young
11. I Should Care - Mel Tormé
12. 'Round Midnight - Miles Davis
13. Someone to Watch over Me - Rahsaan Roland Kirk
14. It's Easy to Remember - Johnny Hartman
15. Reaching for the Moon - Ella Fitzgerald
16. You Don't Know Me - Shirley Horn
17. Where Are You? - Ben Webster
18. There's No You - Louis Armstrong
19. Memories of You - Clifford Brown

 

For a single Disc I would agree with Getz Gilberto as well.

 

Since I consider big band the epitome of jazz, a cd by Duke Ellington or Count Basie would be a good choice. check out the profiles on allmusic. Atomic Count Basie or "and his mother called him Bill" for the Duke are two goodies.

 

I'd start with these albums which are all very different and all easy to get into if you're new to jazz:

Miles Davis - Kind Of Blue
Chet Baker - In Tokyo
Weather Report - Heavy Weather

 

Taking your interest in classic rock and blues into account , I think you might enjoy the music of James Blood Ulmer. I'm listening to Blues Preacher at the moment, which I see that you can get used from amazon for $1.96.

Sure, he's a 'crossover' artist who blends and bends boundaries so it's not like getting into some classic bebop or hardbop sides. But it may be more familiar to you, and you'll see where Hendrix, Wes Montgomery, and all the rest coincide in a music that's perfectly contemporary and timeless at the same time.

Ulmer hails from the midwest, Cleveland IIRC. He arrived in NYC sometime in the late 60's or early 70's and played with drummer Rashied Ali who was in the John Coltrane band. He recorded with Ali on and off for years.

Ulmer was in the early incarnations of Ornette Coleman's electric band Prime Time until he moved out on his own in the late 70's and made three albums for Columbia that established him as a solo artist of many colors. Those albums were Free Lancing, Black Rock, and Odyssey.

Following those he maintained the band called Music Revelation Ensemble for years, recording primarily with the Japanese based DIW label. MRE played its own version of what could be called jazz/blues fusion.

More recently Blood has concentrated on playing his own brand of the Blues with help from producer/guitarist Vernon Reid of the Living Colour band. I was mildly surprised to see him performing with Alison Krauss in a concert recorded at Carnegie Hall on TV recently.

Truly a unique and eclectic artist.