The Old Jazz Thread

Norm Apter

I began to get into jazz from the 1950s and 1960s a decade ago. But my initial interest remained sporadic, as I tended to move back into classic and progressive (college) rock in subsequent years. However, about six months ago, I started getting hooked once again to classic jazz and I would say that for the past 4 months or so, 85% of what I put in my CD player is jazz. In fact, it is precisely this interest in jazz that propelled me to upgrade my system, which began with a purchase of Lsi9s in February.

The following constitute some of the first round of recordings I picked up in the late 1990s:
Miles Davis -- Kind of Blue, Round About Midnight, Milestones, Someday My Prince Will Come, Miles Smiles, **** Brew
John Coltrane -- Giant Steps, A Love Supreme, Live at the Village Vanguard (the Master takes), Blue Trane
Dave Brubeck -- Time Out

Over the past six months, I have been exploring albums by Hank Mobley, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Grant Green, Kenny Burrell, Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Horace Silver, Lee Morgan, Cannonball Adderly, as well as a bunch of live Miles albums.

If you like 1950s and 1960s jazz, I'd like to hear from you. What do you consider to be your essential jazz albums? What are your hidden gems?

For me, Cannonball Adderly's Something Else might top the list at present. But there are several other strong competitors.

candyliquor35m

I'm more into modern jazz like Dave Koz, Kirk Whalum, Pat Metheny, etc but I picked up a couple of Scott Joplin albums this week at the thrift store. Piano Rags and Piano Rags Vol II (joshua rifkin on piano) from 1970 and 1972.

I haven't listened to them yet but it should be very interesting since Scott Joplin lived from 1868-1917.

avelanchefan

I don't have a favorite jazz artist, but I still find Chuck Mangione's Children of Sanchez to be excellent work, and a defining jazz moment for me when I first heard it.

George Grand

I was walking through Greenwich Village in the late 60's. There was a tune playing on one of the rigs in a record store. I knew I had heard it before and it was haunting. I asked the proprietor what it was. "Maiden Voyage" by Herbie Hancock. That was it for me, right then and there. I had always been a big Buddy Rich man, but this guy could make the sounds of the ocean on the drums. Time to stop listening to rock hackers pounding away and start listening to "technicians" that really knew WTF they were doing.

TroyD

A couple more to check out: Bill Evans, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins and the Incredible Jimmy Smith.

BDT

strider

You've already got my favorite jazz album, A Love Supreme by Coltrane. To me, it's one of those albums that you have to listen to from start to finish without exception. It's just 2 sides of continuous, fluid, evolving music.

Another Coltrane must have is Duke Ellington and John Coltrane.

Other then that, I'm a big Charles Mingus fan. "Ah Um" is my favorite of his, but I haven't found one yet I can't get something out of.

If you're looking for a good intro to jazz and it's history, Ken Burns did a mini-series on it that's phenomenal. The box set associated with it is good, too.

bikezappa

I got into listening to jazz by finding two good FM stations in the Boston area about 10 years ago. WGBH and WICN. There are so may good jazz recordings out there. Some of the programs only play LPs. WoW. I have purchased many jazz CDs while listening to these FM stations. If you can find a good FM station DJ that has wide experience you will have a blast. This FM stuff can be very addicting, finding a great tuner and installing bigger and higher antenna.

After that it's all free listening except to support the FM stations which are all but gone now. That's the sad part.

skipf

Don't forget George Benson and Chick Corea (sp). There is a lot of good old New Orleans jazz, Pete Fountain and Al Hurt for example. I also really like the Crusaders.

Norm Apter

TroyD wrote: »

A couple more to check out: Bill Evans, Art Pepper, Sonny Rollins and the Incredible Jimmy Smith.

BDT

Troy, do you have one in particular by Bill Evans that you would recommend? I've read good things about a recently digitally remastered version of his 1961concert, The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961, but I'm not sure if I should take the plunge.

Norm Apter

bikezappa wrote: »

I got into listening to jazz by finding two good FM stations in the Boston area about 10 years ago. WGBH and WICN. There are so may good jazz recordings out there. Some of the programs only play LPs. WoW. I have purchased many jazz CDs while listening to these FM stations. If you can find a good FM station DJ that has wide experience you will have a blast. This FM stuff can be very addicting, finding a great tuner and installing bigger and higher antenna.

After that it's all free listening except to support the FM stations which are all but gone now. That's the sad part.

Thanks for the tip. Thats a great idea. I'm now living in Los Angeles, so I bet there's got to still be a good jazz station or two around here.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for a good tuner. I'm probably going to invest in a dedicated pre-amp within the next six months or so and chances are it won't have an integrated tuner.

TroyD

Norm Apter wrote: »

Troy, do you have one in particular by Bill Evans that you would recommend? I've read good things about a recently digitally remastered version of his 1961concert, The Complete Village Vanguard Recordings, 1961, but I'm not sure if I should take the plunge.

I've not heard anything by Bill Evans that's NOT worth owning.

I'm currently spinning The Incredible Jimmy Smith's Organ Grinder Swing....well worth owning. When it comes to jazz, my two mentors are George Grand and Dave (DAGLJAM6)...they both know thier chit.

Agreed with Chick Corea, but he said 50's and 60's jazz.

BDT

bikezappa

Norm Apter wrote: »

Thanks for the tip. Thats a great idea. I'm now living in Los Angeles, so I bet there's got to still be a good jazz station or two around here.

Let me know if you have any recommendations for a good tuner. I'm probably going to invest in a dedicated pre-amp within the next six months or so and chances are it won't have an integrated tuner.

Norm

You live in a great area to get many good Jazz stations. You very lucky like me in Boston.

Go to http://www.fmtunerinfo.com/

For tuner information and recommendations. You should join the FM group.

They have much tuner and FM station information. The golden tuner time was in the 70s and 80s. Think about getting either used tubes or SS and if you want a remote.

Also go to http://www.radio-locator.com/

Put in your zip code and they will list all the FM stations close to you and tell you what they play.

Most of the good jazz station are on NPR but there are exceptions, like Boston's WHRB from Harvard. There isn't much good quality above 96 on the FM dial in my experience.

Also depending on how far you live from the broadcasting towers you may consider and outside antenna with rotor. A good antenna will make most any ordinary tuner, $200 sound better than any $2000 tuner. However, I would start with a set of Rabbit Ears from RS for $10.

There is so much good jazz out there and listening to a good FM station will allow you to find out what you like and don't like for free.

Have a blast

DAGLJAM6

I'll throw a few in:
"Old school"-
Bill Evans- Portrait in Jazz excellent early album of BE
Chet Baker- Chet smooth ballad style trumpet
Gene Ammons- Boss Tenoranother smooth sax and one of GA's best IMO
New "Old school"-
Larry Coryell- Spaces Revisited A reread of an older LC album ,read the liner info if you grab this and gain an appreciation of how spontaneous this production was.
Hank Crawford- Indigo Blue If you can find it an excellent album a bit under the radar.
Hank Jones- West of 5th A well recorded SACD version by Chesky, Great piano work.
Joe Sample-Carmel ex Crusader Keyboard man.