The Jazz Appreciation Thread

[simplysuperhero]

I went through all the threads in Books and Music and did not find anything on Jazz, I'm getting it started.

Who's your favorite jazz musician or group?

What kind of jazz do you like?
Who's your favorite jazz musician?

Mine is John Coltrane, hands down.

 

[luke1234]

i dont have a favorite group per say, but i have always appreciated the drumming style of Jazz music. You have to have mad skill to be a drummer for jazz and jazz drummers are usually unique and talented individuals.

 

[simplysuperhero]

i dont have a favorite group per say, but i have always appreciated the drumming style of Jazz music. You have to have mad skill to be a drummer for jazz and jazz drummers are usually unique and talented individuals.

I agree. They can't get away with that much and have to keep a good beat. A great drummer that comes to mind is Steve Smith who went from Journey to Vital Information in the late 80s. I got to meet him at Penn State after he performed there with his band.

 

[simplysuperhero]

In college, I was lucky enough to be part of my school's jazz [appreciation] club. What was cool about it was their library. They had a file cabinet full of records you could borrow like it was a library. I signed up for office hours at the club in the student union building and took back to my dorm record after record.

In my sophomore year I decided to become a dj on the college radio station in jazz because some of the guys in the club were doing this and they helped me get my feet wet. I went from one filing cabinet or records to a room full of records to get to know.

If you're not familiar with jazz, you just need to start with one album. What Dark Side of the Moon is to getting into rock music, Miles Davis' Kind of Blue is for jazz.

 

[luke1234]

I agree. They can't get away with that much and have to keep a good beat. A great drummer that comes to mind is Steve Smith who went from Journey to Vital Information in the late 80s. I got to meet him at Penn State after he performed there with his band.

thats really cool man. yeah i need to get more into it. Ive always been a folk/blues man but lately ive been listening to some more of it.

 

[ChickenScratch]

I'm a huge jazz fan and playing jazz improved my guitar playing vastly. I used to take lessons with Mike Stern but those were expensive, now I usually go out and see him perform once or twice a week. I'm also a huge Frank Gambale, Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth fan. Basically, I come at jazz from the standpoint of a guitar player.

 

[simplysuperhero]

I'm a huge jazz fan and playing jazz improved my guitar playing vastly. I used to take lessons with Mike Stern but those were expensive, now I usually go out and see him perform once or twice a week. I'm also a huge Frank Gambale, Shawn Lane and Allan Holdsworth fan. Basically, I come at jazz from the standpoint of a guitar player.

I think I met Frank Gambale while he was with Steve Smith and Vital Information. Also a great guy to hang with.

Mike Stern is quite amazing. Kudos for being able to get lessons from him.

I've been blown away by Al DiMeola, Tom Scofield, Larry Carlton and (I'm stretching a bit) Steve Morse.

 

[ChickenScratch]

Frank's great, got a chance to hang out with him and his band went hey were out touring with OHM (also a great band with the mighty Chris Poland).

Steve Morse is awesome too man, I get a lot of my alternate picking from him. He's one of the most versatile players there is out there.

 

[E-Man]

Great thread!

Starting off by mentioning Coltrane is a great thing. That man was magic. I've probably only heard a few songs from him that I didn't like. I could listen to him all day long. He slightly edges out my next favorite.

Louis Louis Louis! I absolutely love Louis Armstrong. I'm not a musician, but IMO he is hands down the best instrument player ever! The first time I heard him play I literally thought God was trying to tell me something. I'm really convinced that he was God trying to entertain us. His album with Duke Ellington is a classic. I even figured that if I had a daughter I might name her Azalea after one of those songs. Either that or Naima. Whether he's singing or playing, I'm listening with awe.

Art Tatum is regarded by many as the best piano player ever. You've got to check him out if you haven't heard of him. I'll post a vid to give you an idea.

Charlie Parker is another favorite of mine. When I listen to "Star Eyes" I'm always focused on doing big things. His classic combo with Dizzy was stuff made of legend. You put two great icons like that together, and you're bound to make the heavens pay attention to you.

Thelonius Monk......good God almighty. He's another one that always has my imagination going places. His music seems intelligent ya know. It's like a great philosopher or scholar breaking down the keys of life, but instead of through words it's through music.

Then you've got some of my older favorites like Nat King Cole and Billie Holiday. Or lesser known, but immensely great talents like Etta Jones. Nat King Cole is one of my favorite artists of all time, and his jazz career with the Trio is overlooked sometimes. I think he took way too much heat from people when he was alive. He was too versatile to hate if you ask me. Billie on the other hand was just gifted. Her voice is so pleasurable to hear.

I'm not up on modern jazz artists like I want to be, but I have love for Terence Blanchard, Branford Marsalis, and Wynton as well. Getting up to date with new artists is still a work in progress for me, but Sirius and Imeem are helping me out with that. Anyways, here are some great jazz selections I particularly like.

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I have some more I'll post in the future.

 

[simplysuperhero]

Glad to read someone else is on the same page as me, E-Man.

Coltrane is my favorite jazz musician by far but agree with you on the other gifted musicians who came before Trane and influenced him.

The only stuff of Trane I can't get into is his "sheets of sound" which can sound pretty whacked out.

I too have Louis and Duke together. I also have Louis and Ella together who have wonderful duets.

Thanks for inserting the videos, they're awesome.

Back to Coltrane: I've been to his grave in Long Island and recently discovered he lived in my hometown of Dix Hills, not too far from where I went to junior high(!)

You can do a search on him and his home. Possibly keyword Huntington rather than Dix Hills and you'll see his home, his basement recording studio.

There was a lot of press attention to preserve his home and I think this has been accomplished.

In the early 90s I listed to Columbia University's college radio station which is probably the best jazz radio station in NYC area. The star of that station is Phil Schapp who has an encyclopedic knowledge of jazz and could paint quite a picture about each artist he introduced.

The station was so cool w/ jazz they had birthday broadcasts. For Coltrane they would play nothing but his music for 24 hours (which I taped almost entirely one year) and for Louis Armstrong they play his music for 3 full days around his b-day (July 4th).

I met Phil Schapp in the early 90s at the radio station when I was a grad student there. He's won grammy awards for the write-ups he's done for boxed CD sets liner notes. Nice, introverted guy. Too bad he had the handshake of a fish.

To me, jazz musicians rank the following in terms of their greatness, legacy, impact on other jazz musicians:

Satchmo
Duke
Charlie Parker
Miles
Trane

What's your list?

 

[E-Man]

In terms of influence on the genre, your list is as good as you can get. The only people I would add would be Art Tatum, Dizzy Gillespie, and Wes Montgomery for his guitar legacy on many.

As for my personal favorites:

1a. Coltrane
1b. Louis Armstrong
3. Charlie Parker
4. Thelonius Monk
5. Art Tatum
6. Miles Davis
7. Bill Evans
8. Dexter Gordon
9. Terence Blanchard
10. Lester Young

I have to separate the vocalist from the instrumentalists
1. Nat King Cole
2. Billie Holiday
3. Louis Armstrong(he makes two lists!)
4. Johnny Hartman
5. Etta Jones

I'm really tempted to add in the vocalists of old standards like Sinatra and Dino, but I really tend to separate that style from jazz as one of it's own.

The story about Coltrane's home. I'm going to Google that in a few. I wish I had a jazz station around my area like the one you had in school. We had one for years, but it was a "smooth" jazz station. It had me thinking that all jazz was guys who played like Kenny G. until about a year after high school. What's funny is that when I heard Louis Armstrong actually play, I thought before hand that he played the same style as Kenny G. Needless to say my jaw was dropped, and I was hooked. I was like, "God are you trying to tell me something through that trumpet man? I'll pay attention from now on." Thank God for satellite radio though. My musical taste has vastly expanded since I've got it, and the jazz channels are always on with me.

 

[simplysuperhero]

Good lists, E-Man.

Love Hartman w/ Coltrane. Amazing album.

Speaking of albums, who's in your top ten?

Mine (in no particular order)
Coltrane - My Favorite Things
Coltrane - Love Supreme
Coltrane - Coltrane's Sound
Miles - Kind of Blue
Duke - Piano Reflections (best to play at dinner with friends)
Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd - Jazz Samba
Dizzy, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Max Roach, Charles Mingus - Live At Massey Hall
Dave Brubeck - Take Five
Pat Metheny - Off Ramp
Duke & Satchmo - Complete Sessions

To your vocalist list I would add Ella Fitzgerald.

Any time you're ever in the NYC area, WKCR is 89.9 FM and WBGO [great jazz station out of Newark, NJ] is 88.3 FM

You may also want to try an internet radio website: radioio.com They have occasional commercials but well worth it for their jazz channel.

One last thing: Do you have Coltrane's Giant Steps? I have it on CD. There's a song or two on that CD in which you can hear the sound of the valves on Coltrane's sax opening and closing as he plays. It's haunting.

 

[bored]

No love here for Ornette Coleman? "The Shape of Jazz to Come" is one of my favorite albums.

 

[simplysuperhero]

Never really got into him. I'll have to check him out.

 

[E-Man]

Duke Ellington's Piano Reflections is a damn good album. An album that's very similar is Nat King Cole's "The Piano Style of Nat King Cole." If you like Duke's album, you'll feel the same about Nat's album.

As for my personal favorite albums:

Coltrane's Giant Steps, My Favorite Things, A Love Supreme, Impressions, Crescent, and pretty much everything else from him.

I love Armstrong and Duke Ellington's collaboration album, and pretty much most of his stuff. They didn't really release albums back then, so I'd just be naming a ton of songs.

Charlie Parker's Groovin' High
Thelonius Monk's Blue Note sessions and work with Coltrane
Same thing with Armstrong applies to Art Tatum as well.
Bill Evan's Green Dolphin Street
and a bunch of others I'll be posting videos to.

I must say that I haven't heard as much of Ornette Coleman as I have other trumpet greats like Miles and Wynton Marsalis, but I've always liked what I've heard. Check this song out. It's kind of weird and funky, but it's got a vibe that makes you pay attention.
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Gotta show some love for a guy that was born not too far from me. Here's some David "Fathead" Newman
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Are y'all into Sun Ra?
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Donald Byrd!
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The great Bill Evans!
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Here's a nice tune that was on the Mo' Better Blues movie.
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Ha!t:
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[Bnightwing]

I don't have time to type all artist I like but one of my favorite jazz groups is Big Bad Voo Doo Daddy

 

[simplysuperhero]

Great videos, E-Man. Like the last one the most (as you can guess).

 

[bored]

Never really got into him. I'll have to check him out.

You should. He's an absolutely brilliant sax-player. Mostly alto, but has at least one album playing in tenor that is still decent. Plus, "Skies of America" is the best case you could make for how easily jazz and classical can mix.

 

[simplysuperhero]

Another great jazz artist is Dave Brubeck. He's known for an album that was at the top of the pop, jazz and classical music charts at the height of his popularity for 'Take Five.'

It definitely stands the test of time. At Penn State, there were old photos of him and his band when they performed at the school while touring for the album back in the Fifties.

In the late 80s he had multiple by-pass surgery that helped him get the feelings back into his fingers, enough to get him back on tour. I saw him in 1990 when he was 70 and the solos he played were incredible.

 

[E-Man]

I like "Take Five." I was introduced to it while I was training a receptionist at my job two years ago. We were talking music, and I asked her what her favorite song was. She said "Take Five," and I listened to it and enjoyed it. It's really great tune that keeps your foot tapping.

 

[E-Man]

I'm feeling Sun Ra and Satchmo today.

 

[E-Man]

I'm bumpin' this thread with the goodness.

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This is so good that it might make you cry.
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[E-Man]

Resurrection time for this thread! I've been getting into some modern jazz people in the past few weeks, and I'd like to share them with y'all if ya don't mind.

Roy Hargrove and the RH Factor! He's a fellow Texan, so I gotta show some love.
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Jason Moran is also another Texan, so I gotta show love again.
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I :heart: Esperanza Spalding! Sweet voice? Check. Great bass play? Check. Cutie pie? Check. Big ass afro? Hell yeah!
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Just found out about these guys earlier. I'm digging them so far.
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[Kargo Warrior]

I absolutely love Jazz...beyond the standards of Coltrane and Davis,i've been listening a lot to Wynton Marsalis lately,definitely a great musician,Jerry Roll Morton,an early Jazz pioneer; John Scofield a jazz with a touch of blues guitar player and Jaco Pastorius,whose bass is a whole band by itself.

 

[E-Man]

John Coltrane-"Venus"
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Wayne Shorter-"Footprints"
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Erykah Badu featuring Terence Blanchard-"A Child of the Blues"
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