Intro to Jazz
 

Hi everyone, I'm new to the board, and also very new to jazz, although it seems like a genre that's crucial to understanding a lot of 20th century music. My brother lent me the soundtrack from the Ken Burns docu but it's all over the place and hard for a newcomer to follow. What's a good place for a jazz newbie to start? I'm most interested in fusion which I know isn't actual jazz but might be a good place to begin, you think?

Other people have told me to start with Miles Davis, since he basically marked most trends in jazz after the 1940's.

oh I should've made a thread similar to this earlier. I'd love to delve deeper into jazz. I'll take any suggestions/recommendations also.

A good way to get into jazz is to sample fusion, which is Jazz-rock. You can appreciate the rock riffs while listening to some improvisation. Try Lenny White.

Miles Davis' Bitches Brew and Frank Zappa's Hot Rats are my favorite fusion albums.

Bitches and Rats are definitely classics. However, they also do speak to a very narrow, very controversial form of jazz. You could also try albums like "Kind of Blue" -- modal workouts -- or Cannonball Adderly's "Mercy Mercy Mercy" -- sort of soul-jazz -- and a lot of Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea albums from the 70's, they covered a lot of ground (folk, flamenco, rock, free jazz, etc, etc). It's really about testing out what kind of jazz ya might like, it's got a lot to offer

Chick Corea just did some work with Bela Fleck that was amazing.

I like Weather Report too. It's fairly commercial as Jazz goes but Jaco Pastorius can play a mean bass!

desperately trying to learn teen town as we speak.

If you hate fusion & modern elevator jazz (like me)...

I would recommend 'Birth of Cool' from Miles Davis. Actually, I would recommend most jazz albums from the late 1940's & 1950's which was the bop & post-bop era of jazz. Also check out Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker, & Dizzy Gillespie.

My favorite jazz albums:

'Miles Smiles' -Miles davis
'A Love Surpeme' -Coltrane
'Somethin' Else' -Cannonball Aderley
'Straight, No Chaser' -Monk

These are all 'Classic' jazz, and a good place to start.

I'm really not into elevator jazz, well there are some exceptions but really....irritating, listen to some stan getz, dave brubeck, etc. And ofcourse there's nothing wrong with a bit of armstrong, greatest scat singer that ever lived. :D

^ Good call - 'Take Five' by Brubeck is a must have.

definately don't do that.



listen to Jimmy Smith and Wes Anderson's "The Dynamic Duo".

it's nothing too experimental and won't scare you away from good solid jazz.

Thanks dude, was learning the bassline at the time, little less interesting than the melody. :(

I'd try out Sonny Rollins when you are ready for some pure Jazz.

He is very friendly and accessible.

I'd recommend "Saxophone Colossus". It's just about as good a Jazz record as you can ask for. I must have listened to it 500 times and I hear new things every time.

I'm not huge on jazz, but I found this fairly mainstream to listen to myself.

I'd say Miles Davis is a good place to start. And also Duke Ellington.

I used to just put the radio on a jazz station and listen to whatever. Most of the time they'd play something good even though I had no idea what it was.

Some of the bluesier jazz would probably be easiest to get into. Try "Coltrane Plays The Blues", or Mingus' "Blues & Roots". Two of my favourite albums ever.

I recommended it because it was mainstream & simple.



I advocate covering the bases of a genre before exploring the extremes of it.

Pfft screw that.

listen to Weather Report!!!!! their amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! :D haha

You should listen to the live version on Jaco Pastorius - Live in Italy. It makes me cream my pants.

For fusion, I like Mahavishnu (of course), Brand X, Yellowjackets, and Medeski, Martin & Wood. I would recommend Brand X - Unorthodox Behaviour as a good fusion album. It even features Phil Collins who, believe it or not, is an insane drummer.

Hey!, I'm new too. And thet's a good thing to begin :D

"Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis is the most famous jazz album, and is pretty easy to listen to if you're into swingin jazz. Also check out the album "Headhunters" by Herbie Han****, which is a funky/electric/groovy album, and was also the fastest selling jazz album in history, if i'm not mistaken. I WOULD NOT start with John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," because it's pretty 'out there,' and might sound disorganized to the untrained ear.

ambitious, you are- good luck



the best place to start is with John Zorn's Naked City

Pocket ace's advice is pretty good. John Zorn is pretty out there (I love Him) not a good place to start.

hehehe- yeah, that was just a little joke.

Is Jazz Fusion good to start with for experimental/prog/indie fans? I'm looking for a place to start but this is really uncharted territory for me.

Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Jordan are of course not to be forgotten!

I got Hot Rats. Its exactly the kind of thing I wanted =)

my favourite fusion album is Miles Davis' 'On the Corner', and I would recommend Sun Ra to anyone aswell, like Davis he dabbled in a bit of everything but with less commercial success. Plus his aesthetic was alot weirder and more mysterious aswell, he basically thought he was on a cosmic mission from the people of Saturn.

Here are some of the best fusion artists in my opinion:
 

Stanley Clarke
Chick Corea
Miles Davis
Al di Meola
Herbie Han****
Mahavishnu Orchestra
John McLaughlin
Jaco Pastorius
Return to Forever
Weather Report
Tony Williams

On the Corner is an interesting choice. I like that album.

Anyway, Herbie Hancock's Headhunters is THE funk jazz album... probably a good entry into jazz.

John Coltrane - A Love Supreme
Oscar Peterson - Night Train
Archie Shepp - The Cry of my People
Miles Davis - Kind of Blue
Silver Horace - Blowin' the Blues Away
Ornette Coleman - Free Jazz
Sun Ra - Atlantis
Cecil Taylor - Nefertiti, the Beautiful One Has Come
Jimmy Smith - The Sermon!
Charles Mingus - Mingus Ah Um
Charles Mingus - The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady
Thelonious Monk - Monk's Dream
Mahavishnu Orchestra - Birds of Fire
Body & Soul - Coleman Hawkins
Eric Dolphy - Out to Lunch
Oliver Nelson - The Blues and the Abstract Truth
Dizzy Gillespie - Birk's Works
Stan Getz - Getz Gilberto

^My personal fave of Herbie's but not exactly a good starting point imo. You'd need to familiarise yourself with the elements of conventional jazz and electronica respectively in order to fully appreciate Sextant as a progressive work

ah...i was just sort or reeling off stuff i liked. blast and damn

It's great fo sho. It's a pity the public didn't see it that way. What it could have influenced otherwise would have made for vair interesting listening indeed

Totally! Telling a jazz virgin to listen to Free Jazz is like pushing them into the deep end, whereas with Sextant you mightas well take away their oxygen tank, shove them into a tank full of strange fish and bid them good luck

INTRO TO JAZZ - Thelonious Monk - 'Straight, No Chaser'

or similar cool jazz classics. It's ridiculously accessible without being boring. I got into jazz reading the sleevenotes and listening to it on headphones, picking out the different instruments and when they had solos