Help with jazz recommendations?

[nec13]

This album is pure torture for some, but I would put in my top 25 of all time, any genre:

Tremendous, but grating album.



This is another album that's "out there," but definitely worth listening to (especially if you're into Miles' fusion-oriented material). Supposedly Nick Cave listened to this one a lot while he was making the first Grinderman album, FWIW.

And if you're into electronic music, check out those early 70's Herbie Hancock albums (Crossings, Mwandishi, Sextant, etc.) Some really great, innovative stuff on those LP's.

[fonpr]

And if you're into electronic music, check out those early 70's Herbie Hancock albums (Crossings, Mwandishi, Sextant, etc.) Some really great, innovative stuff on those LP's.

Who's the trumpet-player on those records?

[hardweek]

Here here on the Monk/Coltrane Riverside recommend, Fredricks.

And nec13, thanks for the Larry Young recommend, will definitely check it out!

[Gilly]

I forgot one and I consider this to be my favorite "Coltrane" album- Alice Coltrane- Ptah, the El Daoud

[cutout]

That's so funny. I know next to nothing about jazz, but whenever I ask for recommendations I say the same thing: "What do you have that's kind of like the Taxi Driver soundtrack?"

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

Most of my list is here already, but I'd add Quincy Jones and some Tropicalia and Boss Nova to the list: Herbie Mann & Joao Gilberto with Antonio Carlos Jobim are favorites.

[ChipSuey]

I forgot one and I consider this to be my favorite "Coltrane" album- Alice Coltrane- Ptah, the El Daoud

I'll second that!

[JonFromMaplewood]

I started listening to jazz not long ago and it happened like people on this thread suggested: Kind of Blue heard as incidental music.

But I think the incidental music must also occur in the right environment.  I was taking a disco nap on a friend's couch, looking out of a window at the NYC night while Miles was playing.  The lights of the city and the music...it just worked.  I suddenly "got it." 

Had I been doing taxes in my room, I am not sure the same thing would have happened.

What also helped me work my way into jazz was Duke Ellington's Far East Suite and At Newport. 

[ChipSuey]

Once you get your feet wet a bit, check out "Money Jungle" by Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Max Roach.

It gets just a little out there, without being too...skronk?


Ellington does a really good job of letting things get loose and just a little weird, without allowing the other two guys (who were definitely getting plenty weird by that point) get too crazy. 
And it's a nice small group, brass free album, which people afraid of horns could possibly enjoy.

[KickTheBobo]

I started listening to jazz not long ago and it happened like people on this thread suggested: Kind of Blue heard as incidental music.

But I think the incidental music must also occur in the right environment.  I was taking a disco nap on a friend's couch, looking out of a window at the NYC night while Miles was playing.  The lights of the city and the music...it just worked.  I suddenly "got it." 

Had I been doing taxes in my room, I am not sure the same thing would have happened.

What also helped me work my way into jazz was Duke Ellington's Far East Suite and At Newport.

I had the same experience once when riding a NYC subway and listening to Coltrane: Live at Birdland. It was like the speed of the subbway car fit the tempo exactly and at the screeches were mimiced in the melodies.

It's crazy how an environment can influence how music is made. To me, the sound of hard bop will always be a NYC street.

[cas-vik]

Coltrane: Live at Birdland is fantastic!  In fact,  Paul, I recall seeing a couple nice looking copies of that on vinyl not that long ago at Beautiful World Syndicate on Passyunk.  Beautiful World has always got some great jazz stuff popping up in their new arrival bins!

[Steve of Bloomington]

This album is pure torture for some, but I would put in my top 25 of all time, any genre:

Tremendous, but grating album.



This is another album that's "out there," but definitely worth listening to (especially if you're into Miles' fusion-oriented material). Supposedly Nick Cave listened to this one a lot while he was making the first Grinderman album, FWIW.

And if you're into electronic music, check out those early 70's Herbie Hancock albums (Crossings, Mwandishi, Sextant, etc.) Some really great, innovative stuff on those LP's.

I'm a fan of Mwandishi and the 'Headhunters' album, too. 'Chameleon' is a classic.

[dudep]

Yep.  Headhunters holds up extremely well, and it is easy to get into whether or not you have a jazz background.  Not really in Taxi Driver territory, however (for that I would second the Miles Davis soundtrack to Ascenseur pour l'échafaud).

You might throw Julius Hemphill and Jackie McLean in the mix, too.  Maybe not the first jazz records to get into, but definitely a good entry point into some killer, but "difficult," post-Coltrane weirdness.

As someone who's primarily a rock fan, Art Blakey also pushes a lot of the right buttons.

[dave from knoxville]

For my money, Thelonius Monk absolutely is the guy. And actually, the soundtrack to Clint Eastwood's Straight No Chaser is a really nice intro, it's got short solo pieces and pieces with larger bands as well. Then Solo Monk is good, I like Mysterioso, and there's a whole well's worth to dig into from there.

Thelonious Monk - Jazz 625 - part 1/4 - Straight, No Chaser

[Lewkatz]

Just thought I'd add a couple of my personal favorites that are on the safe side in terms of beginning a foray into Jazz:

-Any Wes Montgomery from his Riverside Recording days (there's actually a box set of this that is FANTASTIC)
-Charlie Christian
-Ahmad Jamal
-Lionel Hampton
-And I can't believe it hasn't been mentioned yet, but Miles Davis "Birth of Cool" to this day remains one of my favorite albums (minus "Darn That Dream"...)