Great Jazz?
 

I love Jazz, but I'm not very familiar with the greatest Jazz groups out there. Can anyone help me?

The 'Intro To Jazz' Thread has a lot of solid suggestions... Really depends what you are looking for... classic/traditional jazz, big band, bebop/fast beat, avant garde, fusion...

Duke Ellington, Davis (In a Silent Way/'Round About Midnight), Coltrane (A Love Supreme), Thelonious Monk (Brilliant Corners), Charles Mingus (Ah Um/Black Saint and The Sinner Lady) are solid starting places...

Best Jazz Guitarist - George Benson hands down, he has a great band also.

I really like John Coltrane. He's got some great traditional/ballroom jazz.

Start where I started, Bitch's Brew.

Get your hands on Kind of Blue by Miles Davis ...
Then you've got to get some of the big sax legends - Coltrane and Parker ...

I love jazz music! Some of my all time favorite are Kenny Burrell, Martin Taylor, Howard Alden, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina simone.

If you enjoy jazz fusion i would look up Stanley Clarke or Jaco Pastoria and weather report. Victor Wooten is also good to

it's spelled Pastorius. not being a spelling nazi, just making it easier to find for those reading this thread and trying to download new tunes. love the steel drums in his music.

I love and recommend Carmen Lundy :)

Completely agree, looking to piano i love Herbie, and of course Oscar Peterson.

Herbie Hanc0ck is pretty amazing, he's also been a session player for other jazz/pop/r&B artists as well.

He's an amazing pianist and even helped bring hip-hop around with "Rockit".

Oh my god look up Buddy Rich. He's a fairly well-known name so you might have already, but still.

helllllllllllllll yeah.

Where would you suggest starting with Buddy Rich? I have obviously heard a great deal about the man as I think most people have and know of his rep well but it's such a dauntingly huge back catalogue that I've never known where to begin.

i watched a doco on tom waites the other night, he started out folky sort of early springstien and quickly developed into a blues/jazz fusion. i never really got into him but appreicate his style.. i like the blues and waites i think combines blues into jazz well, maybe a bit confuzzed at times.

So no one has favourite Rich albums then?

What is jazz anymore? I don't know its changed into so many different things that people actually consider Kenny G Jazz. You might find "Ben Monder" under the category of jazz... it's pretty modern sounding and different than anything out there. I highly recommend it, especially the record "Oceana."

Other than the blindingly obvious (Davis, Parker, Coltrane, Mingus, Reinhardt etc.) I'd recommend Eric Dolphy, François Rabbath, Thelonious Monk, Steve Lacy, Sun Ra, Ornette Coleman and Sonny Sharrock for now.
Oh and as for a specific band, Art Ensemble of Chicago are always fun

can anyone recommend or give me like a good jazz album/compliation to start off a fairly newbie at the genre.

The one and only Billie Holiday. And besides of the named before try Sara Vaughan, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Ornette Coleman, Chet Baker, Count Basie, Art Tatum, Ben Webster, and some of the new ones like Jose James or Speranza Spalding.

And for those who like Jazz and haven't seen it yet, you gotta watch Round Midnight; a jazz movie with some of the Blue Note greatest. One of my favourites of all time with an incredible soundtrack.

I dont know about any really good compilation but there is a serie of 12 documentaries tellin' the history of jazz and made by Ken Burns. You get to know the artists, their music, and the context it was made.

Anything with coltrane. If you could find a copy od Dave Brubeck's Jazz Impressions of New York, buy it.

John Coltrane
Larry Coryell
Sun Ra
Miles Davis
Grant Green

Two words - Thad Jones

The man was a genius

Songs in particular: Central Park North, Greetings and Salutations, Back Bone, Us, It Only Happens Every Time