kuisis Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Does anyone remember the list of top 100 jazz albums that was posted here a while back? I tried the search function but struck out. Thanks Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
garymd Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 Tom, Lots of reading but here's the famous jazz thread from 2003. I think Boomac has an excel file with all the recommendations. http://forums.klipsch.com/forums/p/26437/220849.aspx#220849 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdcarroll Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I know all lists are somewhat limited in their compass and application, so my complaint is somewhat tempered: however, a list that includes 12 Chet Baker recordings, only one Cannonball recording, and NO PHIL WOODS?? I teach Jazz History, and my favorite approach is to introduce musicians to a single historical figure, then branch out to all related supporting musicians ("sidemen"). After that relationship, the "fun" part of discovering the musicians that influenced the historical figure; i.e. who did Bird listen to? Who did "they" listen to? It really can be like "six degrees", only involving musicians. Take a pivotal figure like Miles Davis, and with work, you can get to a bulk of recorded jazz. Buy "Kind 'a Blue", then purchase one recording of all the musicians on that recording under their name. After reading the liner notes of the individual albums, buy one album of each of the musicians mentioned as "important" to that artist; buy "Blue Trane", and find out who John Coltrane listens to. Buy ANY Gil Evans album ("Africa Brass"), and look at the list of musicians. Pick an instrument a month, and purchase the best recordings of the most influential artist (just imagine how many saxophone albums I must own...........) Just another way to look at it. The journey is more fun than the destination. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fenderbender Posted February 25, 2009 Share Posted February 25, 2009 I know all lists are somewhat limited in their compass and application, so my complaint is somewhat tempered: however, a list that includes 12 Chet Baker recordings, only one Cannonball recording, and NO PHIL WOODS?? I teach Jazz History, and my favorite approach is to introduce musicians to a single historical figure, then branch out to all related supporting musicians ("sidemen"). After that relationship, the "fun" part of discovering the musicians that influenced the historical figure; i.e. who did Bird listen to? Who did "they" listen to? It really can be like "six degrees", only involving musicians. Take a pivotal figure like Miles Davis, and with work, you can get to a bulk of recorded jazz. Buy "Kind 'a Blue", then purchase one recording of all the musicians on that recording under their name. After reading the liner notes of the individual albums, buy one album of each of the musicians mentioned as "important" to that artist; buy "Blue Trane", and find out who John Coltrane listens to. Buy ANY Gil Evans album ("Africa Brass"), and look at the list of musicians. Pick an instrument a month, and purchase the best recordings of the most influential artist (just imagine how many saxophone albums I must own...........) Just another way to look at it. The journey is more fun than the destination. Ken [Y][Y][Y] Great advice Ken!!!! That's exactly the advice that was given to me years ago buy a collector in Toronto when I first started seriously listening to Jazz..... He started me out with all of Miles Davis' Prestige recordings and that got me into all of his sidemen....and there subsequent releases, and their sidemen so on and on.......many years later, many dollars poorer, but hundreds and hundreds of lps richer [][][]....... sometimes on a day off I'll for kicks Eg. pull most of my lp's of drummers who were band leaders like Roach and Blakey just to compare styles and nuances....it's really great when you can pick up on a signature style when listening to somebody new or unfamiliar and say "hey he plays in the style of Art Blakey, or lee morgan or Blue mitchell, etc" Puts a real big smile on my face every time!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdcarroll Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 a resounding "yep"! And a bigger smile yet is when a twenty-something with IPOD permantly attached comes in with a "new" Monk tune he discovered on ITUNES and really digs it; not just for the "hip" of listening to jazz, but really hears the communication. My dad (and my grandfather) are/were both saxophonists, and genetically altered me to be drawn to "communication" arts: i.e. "is the artist communicating someting" or is it ars pro artis. From my earliest memories, I was a GIANT fan because there were so many storys, and so many ways to tell it. Desmond "talks" differently than Bird, who has a different story than Sonny Rollins, and on and on and on. I know some "collect" jazz. I am moved by it. Like the preacher said, "whatever gets them in the pew". My only wish is that jazz (America's only indiginous musical genre, protected by the Joint Act of Congress 1984) would garner a portion of the financial success that some other more transitory music has. That's a big can of worms for another time. Glad I could help at all. One last thought, "Phil Woods: Live at the Showboat" is probably one of the best jazz albums (playing, recording, tunes, etc.) of our time. Man, what a player. (Listening to Bob Parlocha's syndicated show on Heresies.....swinging baby, swingin!) Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
boomac Posted February 26, 2009 Share Posted February 26, 2009 That’s good advice about checking out the sidemen on an album you like. That’s how I got to appreciating greats like Curtis Fuller, Freddie Hubbard, Lee Morgan and Sonny Clark to name a few. While participating in the jazz thread that garyMD linked, (I was fairly new to the genre then) I found Allan Songer’s recommendations to be spot on. I’ve mentioned this before but of 82 CD/LPs that I bought per his recommendation; there were only two that I didn’t care for. Of course, my favorites have changed over the past few years but I still spin most of them with some degree of regularity. My Top 25 as of today (not in any order) A Song For My Father - Horace Silver The Blues And The Abstract Truth – Oliver Nelson April In Paris – Count Basie Minor Move – Tina Brooks Blue Train – John Coltrane The Opener – Curtis Fuller Groovin’ With Golson – Benny Golson Soul Strirrin” – Bennie Green For Real – Hampton Hawes Dippin – Hank Mobley Tender Feelins’ – Duke Pearson It Might As Well Be Spring – Ike Quebec Smithville – Louis Smith Winchester Special – Lem Winchester Art Pepper + Eleven – Art Pepper After Hours – Thad Jones Stolen Moments – Kenny Burrell Empyrean Isles - Herbie Hancock Open Sesame - Freddie Hubbard It’s About Time – Teddy Edwards Time Out – Dave Brubeck Moanin’ – Art Blakey Davis Cup – Walter Davis Jr. The Sidewinder – Lee Morgan Solid State – Thad Jones and Mel Lewis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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