Good laid-back jazz - Suggestions Please

AsSiMiLaTeD
AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
edited August 2005 in Music & Movies
For all the jazz albums I own, I've realized recently that I don't own much stuff that is laid back, I'm looking for suggestions. It's a bit difficult to describe what I'm looking for, almost lounge music I guess - just stuff that's a bit laid back and relaxing, something I can listen to in the background while I'm doing something else, or something I can almost fall asleep to.

Anything a bit bass-heavy would also be nice. Vocals aren't a problem, but would prefer more instrumental stuff...

And I won't limit myself to just jazz either, so any suggestions that meet the basic relaxing music criteria will work.

I've realized that a large portion of my music collection is really upbeat, eclectic, and tenses me up a bit at time. While I like that, and that's primarily what I look for in music, I'd like some relaxing stuff to balance this out
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  • jdhdiggs
    jdhdiggs Posts: 4,305
    edited August 2005
    Renee Olstead: Renee Olstead: Well recorded classics, female vocals. I find this album quite relaxing.

    Holly Cole: Dark Dear Heart is pretty solid as well.

    I don't know many without lyrics though.
    There is no genuine justice in any scheme of feeding and coddling the loafer whose only ponderable energies are devoted wholly to reproduction. Nine-tenths of the rights he bellows for are really privileges and he does nothing to deserve them. We not only acquired a vast population of morons, we have inculcated all morons, old or young, with the doctrine that the decent and industrious people of the country are bound to support them for all time.-Menkin
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  • reeltrouble1
    reeltrouble1 Posts: 9,312
    edited August 2005
    PM,

    Have you considered the Polk xm tuner? They have all types of jazz music and artists you will not hear on commericial radio, find someone that really does it for you and then you can buy the CD, just a thought. Me well, I have been doing the blues lately with the tuner, nothing like the blues to cheer you up strange phenom their.

    RT1

    Their is an artist/composer/arranger named Andre Previn who you might like.
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  • polkatese
    polkatese Posts: 6,767
    edited August 2005
    by laid-back, do you mean: smooth jazz, be-bop, big-band, or fusion?

    Here are a couple:

    Jeff Lorber - Flipside
    Sara Gazarek - Yours (vocal)
    Joe Sample - The Best of
    I am sorry, I have no opinion on the matter. I am sure you do. So, don't mind me, I just want to talk audio and pie.
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  • Spawndn72
    Spawndn72 Posts: 453
    edited August 2005
    Anything by Tom Scott. Nice laid back Jazz Sax.
    Setup:
    Adcom GFA-545 amp
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    Pioneer 707 R2R
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    Polk SDA-2 Mains
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  • Emlyn
    Emlyn Posts: 4,535
    edited August 2005
    Miles Davis (early), Stan Getz, Paul Desmond. Cool stuff.
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited August 2005
    David Benoit
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited August 2005
    Thanks for the responses guys, I'll be checking all these out (at least those that I don't already have)

    Keep the suggestions coming
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  • sda2mike
    sda2mike Posts: 3,131
    edited August 2005
    miles davis---some kind of blue....the epitome of classic ;)
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited August 2005
    yeah, the early Miles Davis is a good example of some of the stuff I'm looking for. 'Kind of Blue' is one of my favorite albums...ever

    I'm also looking for stuff that is a little more modern and has a better bass track to it.
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  • dragon1952
    dragon1952 Posts: 4,907
    edited August 2005
    Larry Carlton and Peter White might work. Also Paul Hardcastle maybe.
    2 channel - Willsenton R8 tube integrated, Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE DAC, audio optimized NUC7i5, Windows 10 Pro/JRiver MC29/Fidelizer Plus 8.7 w/LPS and external SSD drive, PS Audio PerfectWave P3 regenerator, KEF R3 speakers, Rythmik F12SE subwoofer, Audioquest Diamond USB cable, Gabriel Gold IC's, Morrow Audio SP5 speaker cables. Computer - Windows 10/JRiver, Schiit Magni 3+/Modi 3+, Fostex PMO.4n monitors, Sennheiser HD600 headphones
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  • sda2mike
    sda2mike Posts: 3,131
    edited August 2005
    pat metheny, lee ritenour, george benson to name a few
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  • thehaens@cox.net
    thehaens@cox.net Posts: 1,012
    edited August 2005
    reeltrouble1 wrote:
    PM,

    Have you considered the Polk xm tuner? They have all types of jazz music and artists you will not hear on commericial radio, find someone that really does it for you and then you can buy the CD, just a thought..

    Agree with RT1, Watercolors on XM 71 has a really good rotation of laid back jazz compilations....definitely recommend. It is in pre-set 1 on my set up..

    sdh
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  • amulford
    amulford Posts: 5,020
    edited August 2005
    I have to agree with the sattelite route. I have Sirius, it has at least 3 decent jazz stations. Mellow, clear. Not quite reference CD quality, but a good way to chill. I do all the time, both at the house and in the truck.

    Check that out and you'll get a better idea for who you'll like...
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited August 2005
    XM 71 is one of my favorites.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • AsSiMiLaTeD
    AsSiMiLaTeD Posts: 11,728
    edited August 2005
    I'll probably check out satellite eventually, but it's not worth my investment right now just to get an idea of what I'm looking for, especially when I'm trying to concentrate on the 2 channel system...:)
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  • beardog03
    beardog03 Posts: 5,550
    edited August 2005
    Bob Baldwin----Standing Tall
    Steve Cole---Between us
    Cary SLP-98L F1 DC Pre Amp (Jag Blue)
    Parasound HCA-3500
    Cary Audio V12 amp (Jag Red)
    Polk Audio Xm Reciever (Autographed by THE MAN Himself) :cool:
    Magnum Dynalab MD-102 Analog Tuna
    Jolida JD-100 CDP
    Polk Audio LSi9 Speaks (ebony)
    SVS PC-Ultra Sub
    AQ Bedrock Speaker Cables (Bi-Wired)
    MIT Shotgun S1 I/C`s
    AQ Black Thunder Sub Cables
    PS Audio Plus Power Cords
    Magnum Dynalab ST-2 FM Antenna
    Sanus Cherry wood Speak Stands
    Adona AV45CS3 / 3 Tier Rack (Black /Gold)

    :cool:
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  • keith allen
    keith allen Posts: 734
    edited August 2005
    Bernie Williams...The journey within
    buy_cd_ad.gif
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  • Frank Z
    Frank Z Posts: 5,860
    edited August 2005
    Pick up a copy of the Concord Jazz SACD Sampler. It has some great tracks by Art Blakey, Charlie Byrd,Stan Getz, etc.

    A few others that you might enjoy...
    Just about anything by John Coltrane....Blue Train is a good start.
    The CannonBall Adderley Quintet in San Francisco (SACD)***
    The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Concord on a Summer Night (SACD)
    The Dave Brubeck Quartet - Time Out (SACD)
    Sonny Rollins Quartet - Tenor Madness (SACD)

    ***This one gets a lot of time in the CDP!!
    9/11 - WE WILL NEVER FORGET!! (<---<<click)
    2005-06 Club Polk Football Pool Champion!! :D
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  • wodom1
    wodom1 Posts: 1,054
    edited August 2005
    Miles Davis -- Porgy and Bess (one of my top Davis albums)
    Miles Davis -- Filles De Kilimanjaro
    Miles Davis -- Blue Miles
    Stan Getz -- Reflections
    John Coltrane -- Coltrane Plays the Blues
    Bill Evans -- Ultimate Bill Evans
    Anything by Thelonius Monk
    "I got into the music business thinking it was really radical, that it wasn't really a business at all, that it was a lot of people being artistic and creative. Not true, and it made me very depressed."

    Thom Yorke of Radiohead

    SOPA. Bow down before me, ****. Want a cookie?


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  • Shizelbs
    Shizelbs Posts: 7,433
    edited August 2005
    Vince Gualardi. A piano, a bass, and a set of drums. The sound of the bass should satisfy you. I can listen to the Charlie Brown Xmas album year 'round no problem.
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  • sda2mike
    sda2mike Posts: 3,131
    edited August 2005
    mingus! mingus! mingus!
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  • hljones821
    hljones821 Posts: 35
    edited August 2005
    Foe something more modern, Saxophonic by Dave Koz
    2 Channel: Adcom GTP-450,Adcom GFA-555II,Denon DVD-1920,Denon DCD-610,Pro-ject Phono Box E, Music Hall MMF-2.3 SE with Music Hall Spirit, Klipsch RP-250f, Velodyne F-1200 sub

    HT Rig: Mitsubishi WD-73642,HK AVR-2600, Sony BDP-S580, Polk RTi100, Polk R50s,CSi25 Center,SVS 25-31 PCi Sub NSD Upgrade
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  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited August 2005
    So many of the usual suggestions.

    Try just about anything by Gerry Mulligan. Baritone saxophone. The BIG saxophone. Removes womens clothes from 50-60 feet. He started in the 40's, and recent reports have him still dead.

    Tom Scott might as well BE dead, cause he hasn't done anything like his first two albums from the early 70's with his band "The L.A. Express". Those two were "Express", and "Tom Cat". Monster albums, Kenny G. probably spanked himself to those two when Scott played the soprano sax on them. Couple laid back songs, but for the most part just great, wild stuff. The L.A. Express backed Joni Mitchell for awhile too.

    If it's SMOOOOOOOOOOOTH jazz you really mean, you need to mean something else. That stuff is terrible.

    Try Grant Green instead of George Benson for guitar, or at least the early Benson stuff on CTI, before he got famous. Green is dead. Benson since 1975, has just been faking death.

    Joe Farrell on CTI. Dead as a doornail. "Moongerms" is a standout.

    The Modern Jazz Quartet? ANYTHING! Truly anything by that band! An offshoot would be any Milt Jackson albums, particularly "Sunflower". All dead.

    Stanley Turrentine - "Cherry" or "Sugar" on CTI records, or "Pieces of Dreams" on Fantasy records. I think "Mr. T" just may still be alive.

    Start with those and I'll give you a hundred more. Real jazz is dead.

    Just thought of two more......

    Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" from about 1963. Ron Carter is aboard along with Tony Williams on drums. He played in the second good Miles rhythm section (along with Herbie and Ron) AT THE AGE OF 16!!! A true jazz classic if there ever was one. He does the ocean on the drums. At 16.

    "In a Silent Way" by Josef Zawinul. He was both Cannonball and Miles pianist for awhile, then started Weather Report with Wayne Shorter. He wrote "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" while with Cannonball, and "In a Silent Way" with Miles. Miles made the money off it, but Zawinul released his own album after he left, and it's a nicer recording. The album also contains a cut called Dr. Honoris Causa ( dedicated to and written about Herbie Hancock). Monster stuff. I may have already told you too much.

    Jazz? Today? DEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    George Grand (of the Jersey Grands)
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  • sda2mike
    sda2mike Posts: 3,131
    edited August 2005
    i just picked up pat metheny's : selected recordings..on ecm records...this is a best of from 75 to 84..all selected by pm and remastered...great for background listens or smoking jacket sessions
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,080
    edited August 2005
    A couple that I'll throw out...

    Gene Ammons - Boss Tenor
    Sonny Rollins - The Bridge

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited August 2005
    Gene Ammons and Sonny Rollins are pretty deep for a guy who leans towards Mantovani.

    Try Arnett Cobb, Lionel Hampton's saxman. Well dead.
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  • TroyD
    TroyD Posts: 13,080
    edited August 2005
    UNOPENED Montovani.....I sent all my opened Montovani to Russ.

    Arnett Cobb...on the list.

    BDT
    I plan for the future. - F1Nut
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  • beardog03
    beardog03 Posts: 5,550
    edited August 2005
    [Q] If it's SMOOOOOOOOOOOTH jazz you really mean, you need to mean something else. That stuff is terrible.[Q]


    Not all smooth Jazz blows...


    [Q]
    The Modern Jazz Quartet? ANYTHING! Truly anything by that band! An offshoot would be any Milt Jackson albums, particularly "Sunflower". All dead.[Q]

    Outstanding choice..!!
    Milt Jackson was one of my first albums...
    My dad played the Vibes, so Milt and Cal Tjader were what I grew up on.
    Pancho Sanchez is a good choice also...

    [Q] Start with those and I'll give you a hundred more. Real jazz is dead.[Q]

    I also would like to hear what ya got..!!


    [Q] Just thought of two more......

    Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" from about 1963. Ron Carter is aboard along with Tony Williams on drums. He played in the second good Miles rhythm section (along with Herbie and Ron) AT THE AGE OF 16!!! A true jazz classic if there ever was one. He does the ocean on the drums. At 16.[Q]

    Herbie Rocks..!!
    Cary SLP-98L F1 DC Pre Amp (Jag Blue)
    Parasound HCA-3500
    Cary Audio V12 amp (Jag Red)
    Polk Audio Xm Reciever (Autographed by THE MAN Himself) :cool:
    Magnum Dynalab MD-102 Analog Tuna
    Jolida JD-100 CDP
    Polk Audio LSi9 Speaks (ebony)
    SVS PC-Ultra Sub
    AQ Bedrock Speaker Cables (Bi-Wired)
    MIT Shotgun S1 I/C`s
    AQ Black Thunder Sub Cables
    PS Audio Plus Power Cords
    Magnum Dynalab ST-2 FM Antenna
    Sanus Cherry wood Speak Stands
    Adona AV45CS3 / 3 Tier Rack (Black /Gold)

    :cool:
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  • George Grand
    George Grand Posts: 12,258
    edited August 2005
    I saw Milt Jackson with his own band at Carnegie Hall (before they re-modeled it and dicked up the acoustics) around 1975. Stanley Turrentine and Bobbi Humphrey (babe flutist) were the warm-up bands. This was after MJQ broke up, and before they got back together again.

    Jackson dropped one of his mallets during a solo. It didn't matter. The rest of the band didn't even look up, cause there was no break in the solo. Fantastic.

    What the man said. Buy Cal Tjader too.

    Name me one smooth jazz thing that does not come under the heading 'Music to Fall Asleep To" and please don't say Bob James or Fourplay cause I'll laugh myself into an early grave.

    Get Lee Ritenour's first two albums from the 70's, "First Choice" and "Captain Fingers" if you want to hear what he was like before he drecked out.

    On the first Tom Scott & The L.A. Express album, Larry Carlton was the axe-man. He never did anything as good as that again. On the second album "Tom Cat" the axe was Robben Ford.

    Try Ron Carter's solo albums "All Blues" and "Pastels".

    Wes Montgomery's "A Day in the Life".

    Freddie Hubbard's "Red Clay" Now THIS guy was good. His only obstruction to getting REALLY big was that everybody who THOUGHT they'd be really cool if they owned a couple Miles Davis albums, never bought anything else by a different trumpeter. Am I the only person that doesn't like the way Miles played? I like John Faddis better than I like Miles. I like Hubbard better too.

    Hubert Laws on CTI records.

    The George Duke Trio featuring Jean Luc-Ponty. There are two or three of these recorded in the late 60's live in North Beach. Don't expect the George Duke OR J-LP of the 70's and 80's. This is when they were hungry and good. BOTH would do a lot of time with Zappa and The Mother's. Near death, Zappa admitted that Ponty was one of the very few people that he actually hated.

    Honorable mention to:

    Ronnie Laws for "Pressure Sensitive"
    John Handy for "Hard Work"
    Hank Crawford
    David "Fathead" Newman
    Chet Baker when he was playing with Gerry Mulligan
    Patrick Williams for "Threshold" and the cut "Mr. Smoke" from it.
    The Freddie Hubbard/Stanley Turrentine joint ventures recorded live.
    Illinois Jacquet
    Zoot Sims
    Kenny Burrell
    Benny Carter
    Coleman Hawkins
    Dexter Gordon
    The Brecker Bros. first album titled, The Brecker Brothers

    And I just remembered something really classy about Coltrane. Miles finally cut him loose because he was so drugged up onstage, he would pick his nose and eat his own mookies IN FRONT OF THE AUDIENCE. Nice touch. "A Loogie Supreme" indeed. I think another one was called "Giant Snots", and yet another "My Favorite Strings".

    (Does anybody know if I spelled mookies correctly? is it mookies or mukies?)
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  • beardog03
    beardog03 Posts: 5,550
    edited August 2005
    George...

    I like you more and more , bro...

    you definatly have the goods on some great music...Imo

    Smooth Jazz..

    Bob James..Fourplay..(had ta go there ya know)..!!
    crusaders...(which is kinda bob j. and fourplay)!!
    Boney James
    Jeff Golub
    Jeff Lorber
    Rick Braun
    Rodger Smith
    Dave Koz
    Bob Baldwin
    Steve Cole...
    Richard Elliot
    Euge Groove
    The Rippingtons
    Paul Taylor
    Pat Metheny

    okay ...some of it is a little snoozy, but most of it is good stuff..!!

    I`m definatly looking into your play list..!!
    Thanks for the info...


    gettin schooled is only a bad thing if ya don`t learn somethin...!!

    oh!...and BoB James..!!
    who`s the piano player that sounds like James ?...

    him too..!!! :D
    Cary SLP-98L F1 DC Pre Amp (Jag Blue)
    Parasound HCA-3500
    Cary Audio V12 amp (Jag Red)
    Polk Audio Xm Reciever (Autographed by THE MAN Himself) :cool:
    Magnum Dynalab MD-102 Analog Tuna
    Jolida JD-100 CDP
    Polk Audio LSi9 Speaks (ebony)
    SVS PC-Ultra Sub
    AQ Bedrock Speaker Cables (Bi-Wired)
    MIT Shotgun S1 I/C`s
    AQ Black Thunder Sub Cables
    PS Audio Plus Power Cords
    Magnum Dynalab ST-2 FM Antenna
    Sanus Cherry wood Speak Stands
    Adona AV45CS3 / 3 Tier Rack (Black /Gold)

    :cool:
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