The Jazz & Blues Recommendation Thread

[Blarobbarg]

Originally Posted by Gucci Little Piggy

Um, I have listened to some pretty sweet jazz but I don't know where to go now. I'd like to get into some cool, film noir-like jazz, the kind of classy stuff ya know. Any recommendations on some of that stuff?

E: Some of the jazz I really like is stuff like from the Cowboy Bebop OST:



This song. So much of this song.

You need to listen to the album Sunset Mission, by Bohren & der Club of Gore. Noir jazz at its finest.

[Gucci Little Piggy]

Aaah that's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for! Thank you! =3

[Blarobbarg]

Originally Posted by Gucci Little Piggy

Aaah that's exactly the kind of stuff I'm looking for! Thank you! =3

No problem. Their other stuff is amazing too, I highly recommend their albums Black Earth, Gore Motel, and Dolores. In that order.

[gmoney10101]

I've never been much of a jazz guy, I normally just stick to what's on the top twenty charts. But I've come across a couple songs I like and want to explore it more. Problem is jazz seems to be such a wide-ranging genre of music I can't find the sub-genre or type that sparked my interest.

Two songs I really like are Billy Holiday's Turned the Tables on Me and also La Vie en Rose. I categorize them as classic lounge room music. You know, the kind of stuff you would listen to in a 1930's club from a women in a red dress with a dark, throaty voice as you drank your scotch on the rocks. It's very calm, and soothing, and slow.

What do you call that kinda of jazz music? or does it even qualify as a subset?

[Blarobbarg]

That's just classic vocal jazz, though many swing bands also utilized similar singers. I recommend checking out Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald.

[gmoney10101]

wow, both songs are awesome. you hit the nail on the head. I'll be checking out more of them both asap.

[Blarobbarg]

Originally Posted by gmoney10101

wow, both songs are awesome. you hit the nail on the head. I'll be checking out more of them both asap.

Glad to be of assistance.

Although it's not exactly the same as them, I also suggest taking a look at Louis Armstrong and Oscar Peterson, they were two jazz artists from the same period as the women above, and frequently collaborated with them. If you're gonna get into jazz, you may as well start with the greats!

[Lisnaholic]

One characteristic of jazz and blues fans that I find particularly attractive is their interest and respect for the pioneers of both genres. I suspect that only classical music beats blues and jazz in its attention to dead composers; for instance, here on MB, members not only mention, but enthuse about Robert Johnson, Scott Joplin and Son House, etc. Blarrobarg`s reference to Oscar Peterson, above, is another example.

I thought I might apply that same spirit of curiosity about the past to MB itself, and recently trawled through the earliest pages of this forum. Some of the recommendations I found were for artists that aren`t much mentioned today; neither pioneers nor hitting today`s headlines, they seem to have fallen somewhere in between. Here are two worthy but apparently forgotten acts who,to my knowledge, have not yet been honoured with having a video clip posted on their behalf. So I thought I might do that here, and invite anyone to comment on these performers, who are completely new names to me.

Back in 2006, Sneer opened a thread that was mainly about Phillious Williams :-
http://www.musicbanter.com/jazz-blue...dark-folk.html
Although most of his Youtube clips have pretty bad sound quality, this one definitely caught my attention:-




Next up is a band that 333 was enjoying in 2009:-

Originally Posted by 333

I've been listening to a couple newer jazz bands including performers Skerik, Charlie Hunter and Stanton Moore. They were originally in Garage a Trois, I think and dispersed to do their own thing. Though I'm unsure of the whereabouts of Skerik, Charlie Hunter and Stanton Moore both have their own trios. I am uneducated on the differences between acid jazz and jazz fusion, so I'm not quite sure what to label them, but Outre Mer by Garage a Trio is a great album to start off with just to get a sample of the three. Skerik is an amazing saxophonist. The guy does wonders with air. Charlie is on the guitar and Stanton is usually on the drums.

So what do you think - are these people still active, or best forgotten ?

[Rjinn]

Anyone have good recs for funk-influenced jazz? I'm really looking for that kinda touch at the moment.

[Lisnaholic]

^ Well, Maceo Parker`s live album, Life On Planet Groove starts out with the declaration, "We like to do about 2% jazz and 98% funky stuff!", so that`s something you might enjoy.

That was where I first heard Candy Dulfer playing :-