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Which artist for a jazz beginner?

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Shrdlu View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shrdlu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Topic: Which artist for a jazz beginner?
    Posted: 10 Nov 2018 at 3:46pm
I also recommend the Blue Note label.  You Japanese have the best masterings of those, and, unlike the situation in most other countries, CDs still sell well in Japan.

For the last year or two, nearly all of my CD purchases have been Japanese. This is because the American remasterers made a pig's ear of many of the CD reissues.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Shrdlu Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Aug 2014 at 9:44am
That last suggestion is a good one. Let us also bear in mind that the thread title says "artist" and not "album".

Start out with the top innovators and improvisers, and keep the list reasonably short to begin with.

Some definites are Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and John Coltrane.

If you play any instruments, you will search out the main guys on those. For example, if you play the trombone, you are going to want to hear J.J. Johnson, Jack Teagarden, Curtis Fuller and a few others.

With time, you will get to know which labels and sessions are important.

I think that Charlie Parker was the greatest and most exciting improviser on any instrument, and he created the new style that he played. There are many live recordings of him, taken from radio broadcasts from 1947 through about 1952, and he is really fiery on those. Studio recording back then was limited to the 3 1/2 minutes of a 78, but the broadcasts give Bird time for several choruses, instead of the one or two on a 78. The sound quality is quite reasonable on most of those, and even when it isn't, you can still hear Bird well, because he had such a penetrating sound.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote FromArmstrongtoZappa Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Feb 2014 at 11:24am
One thought for a beginner is to go back to the roots: Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Clarence Williams, Fletcher Henderson, Earl Hines, Bessie Smith, etc.
 
Mark
www.FromArmstrongtoZappa.blogspot.com
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DamoXt7942 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 01 Jul 2013 at 7:11am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote darkshade Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Jun 2013 at 9:10pm
Besides the many great albums already mentioned in this thread, Coltrane's "Giant Steps" is another good "beginner" jazz album.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jun 2013 at 8:27pm
You have your whole life ahead of you. Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DamoXt7942 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jun 2013 at 6:55pm
Thanks all, I'll check as follows;

"Kind of Blue" - Miles Davis
"Time Out" - Dave Brubeck
Albert Ayler, Eric Dorphy, Sun Ra, Herbie, Weather Report, Mingus, Coltrane ...

Oh, a bit busy. ShockedLOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Cannonball With Hat Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jun 2013 at 3:17pm
Coltrane - A Love Supreme

Hancock - EI or MV

Brubeck's Time Out is an excellent suggestion too.
Hit it on Five.

Saxophone Scatterbrain Blitzberg

Stab them in the ears.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Abraxas Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 24 Jun 2013 at 2:42pm
The classics from 1959 I think are all good ways to know if you'd like different types of jazz: Mingus Ah Um by Charlie Mingus, Time Out by Brubeck, Kind of Blue by Davis. 

Some hard bop is also good to know, probably the most instantly grabbing jazz if you're looking for action. Blue Train by Coltrane or Moanin' by Art Blakey.

And some minimalistic groups (trios, duos, solo) are also a good way to listen to jazz from another angle. Ahamad Jamal's trio, Undercurrent with Bill Evans and Jim Hall.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Stooge Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 10:25am
Originally posted by DamoXt7942 DamoXt7942 wrote:

As you all know, I'm familiar with avantgarde jazz genre but not with others.
Miles has been suggested as a jazz beginner, and any other recommendations for me? Embarrassed

I'd usually throw Weather Report out there as a way to get somebody into jazz.  While for the most part considered fusion and rather accessible, their earlier work can be a bit more experimental.

They mainly got me into jazz because I was learning bass, and wanted to broaden my horizons.  I could only ignore Jaco for so long I guess. LOL
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote dreadpirateroberts Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 9:06am
Maybe Herbie Hancock too?

My fav is empyrean isles - but Head Hunters is a great jazz/funk pioneering album

I also came across KOB and Time Out early on.


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 5:07am
If you are interested in the AG jazz, some of my early favorites are:
Sun Ra "Angels and Demons at Play"
"Sun Ra "Atlantis"
Sun Ra "Live at Montreaux"

Each of those albums is entirely different from each other.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 5:04am
Originally posted by DamoXt7942 DamoXt7942 wrote:

Thanks John.
And your suggestion btw? Wink

I think some of the first jazz that really got me was one of those high speed Dizzzy Gillespie-Charlie Parker type jams. Probably any album that features those two together will be good, as long as the recording quality is good.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote snobb Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 5:03am
knowing your taste, I would suggest some early avant-garde jazz :)





Edited by snobb - 23 Jun 2013 at 5:08am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 5:01am
Whoops, I meant "Time Out" by Brubeck, I'll fix my post.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DamoXt7942 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 5:00am
Thanks John.
And your suggestion btw? Wink
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote js Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 4:59am
One album that a lot of people have pointed out as their first jazz album is "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis. Another one I hear a lot is Dave Brubeck's "Time Out".
These albums aren't necessarily my favorites, but I have heard people mention them many times as one of their first jazz albums to really enjoy.


Edited by js - 23 Jun 2013 at 5:02am
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote DamoXt7942 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 23 Jun 2013 at 4:43am
As you all know, I'm familiar with avantgarde jazz genre but not with others.
Miles has been suggested as a jazz beginner, and any other recommendations for me? Embarrassed
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DamoXt7942

Guilt Is A Great Motivator.
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