THE BEST ALBUMS TO GET YOU INTO JAZZ

Where do I start? You say the word jazz and you get so many different reactions. Those reactions are based on whatever contact people have had with jazz or what they think is jazz. Common reactions are “oh I don’t like elevator music”, “that stuff is too damn complicating”, ” I don’t get it”, “I can’t follow that”, “it’s boring” OR “there’s too many notes”.

No matter what your musical taste, there is a jazz for you. I’m sure you have listened and liked some type of jazz in your life but didn’t know it was jazz. Or have stumbled on a music festival and found yourself bopping and grooving to the wonderful sounds not knowing you were totally immersed in a jazz journey.

Those who know me will tell you that I’m a jazz guy. Yes I listen to rock, blues, hip hop, metal, classical and all their sub genres but I’m a jazz dude through and through. There is no denying that. It’s my first love.

I thought at one point I would try to define jazz but that is just a futile task. So I will give you one little quote I found recently –
“Nothing about jazz comes easy. Whether its tracing its origins, writing about it, creating it, or improvising upon the classics, again and again and again. But it is probably this exact, surreal quality that allows it an unusual position in the world of music. A throne of sorts that can never be fought over or sat on by any other genre. It’s the perfectly un-hostile king that rules in peace and can never be overthrown. All this thanks to the sheer inability of anyone who doesn’t truly love it, to mimic it in any form. A rarity in any creative field. – MensXP”

I first started listing to jazz at age 12 when I found my father’s copy of Miles Davis’s Kind of Blue in our family home’s crawl space. Bam. Hooked. And what a love affair it’s been.
Finding jazz by discovering a masterpiece or prominent artist is a rarity and a somewhat exhilarating experience. But most people need help. They need to know where to start. The genre is vast, encompassing textures from not only genres we are accustomed to (blues, rock, classical and R&B) but also ethnic flavors from all over the world.

Here I offer you a first step, a birth into the amazing world of jazz. Because everyone’s musical tates are so different and there are so many sub-genre of jazz I offer the lists in groups. This is not a best of jazz list. It’s a list of albums that give you the essense of jazz and it’s sub-genre. They are fully accessable to the non jazz mind. There is no doubt that you will find something that tickles your fancy. Once that happens watch out. You’ll fine it hard to stop the need and obsession for more (not that you would want to stop). I’ve also given you a few videos to get a sense of some of the artists listed.

Open your mind to the possibilities that is Jazz.

CLASSIC JAZZ
Louis Armstrong — The Complete Hot Five & Hot Seven Recordings, Vol. 1
Wes Montgomery — The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery

BIG BAND
Duke Ellington – Ellington At Newport
Count Basie – The Complete Atomic Basie
Benny Goodman- At Carnegie Hall Complete 1938

BEBOP
Dizzy Gillespie — Groovin’ High
Thelonious Monk — Brilliant Corners
Charlie Parker: Bird: The Savoy Recordings: Master Takes (Compilation, 1944 -’48)
Bud Powell: The Amazing Bud Powell (Compilation, 1949-’51)
Art Blakey Quintet: A Night at Birdland Vol. 1 (1954)

MAINSTREAM
Miles Davis — Kind of Blue
Bill Evans — The Complete Live at the Village Vanguard 1961
The Dave Brubeck Quartet — Time Out
John Coltrane – Blue Train (1958)
Cannonball Adderley – Somethin’ Else (1958)
Oscar Peterson – Night train

SINGERS
Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong Ella and Louis Imagine
Billie Holiday – The Masters and Singles
Nina Simone – Sugar In The Bowl (the very best of Nina Simone)
The Nat King Cole Trio – The Best of the Nat King Cole Trio – The Vocal Classics

FUSION
The Mahavishnu Orchestra — The Inner Mounting Flame
Herbie Hancock – Maiden Voyage (1965)
Return To Forever – Romantic Warrior
Weather Report – Heavy Weather
Chick Corea Elektric Band – Beneath The Mask

WORLD
Richard Bona – Ten Shades of Blue

TODAY
Robert Glasper — Double Booked
Eperanza Spalding – Esperanza (2008)
Michael Brecker – Two blocks from the edge
Winton Marsalis – Standard Time
Pat Metheny – The Way Up
Joshua Redmond – Spirit of the Moment 9Live at the Village Vanguard)
Don Grolnick – The complete Blue note Recordings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmwsQ_dHrFM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDhyJvKe88o


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubBgr8eUlZQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHs-pNjC4eo