To be honest, I have only listened to a small portion of Jazz, that being Miles Davis. I enjoy it however and would like to expand my tastes but can people please give me some recommendations? I really like the old school Jazz bars style Jazz if that makes sense.

This thread might help you: http://www.musicbanter.com/jazz-blue...enre-jazz.html. I guess you could also try the Jazz Recommendations thread - http://www.musicbanter.com/jazz-blue...on-thread.html

NB: Free jazz is probably only for the more seasoned listener of jazz music, if you know what I mean. But if you're into the whole Avant-Garde/Experimental thing, then listening to some of these might not be so bad.

I'm not a big fan of free jazz. Of course, some great artists have done amazing things with the genre, but as a whole I don't think free jazz makes for an enjoyable listening experience. Maybe my mind is in the wrong place or I just haven't been exposed to enough of it, but that's my personal opinion. However, on a different note, free jazz has helped to create some incredible music that doesn't necessarily fit under the free jazz umbrella. For instance, it would be impossible to deny the influence free jazz had on musicians like Charles Mingus and Thelonious monk, to name just a couple. Of course, musicians like Mingus and Monk not only were influenced by free jazz, but influenced the genre itself.

I see Ornette Coleman and free jazz in the 1950s and early 60s as a genre that pushed jazz too far, so far that there had to be some sort of counter reaction by other musicians. This reaction, in my opinion, is what helped to create some of Mingus's best work in the 60s, as well as a slew of other artists' albums from that decade.

I have honestly been dreading this week. I knew jazz week would come sooner or later.

While I wouldn't really say it's free jazz music by any means, it's very adventurous. Adventurousness is part of free jazz, but the music here is still very structured and any improv likely follows a strict rule-set (ie. use this scale, abide by the rhythms in back of you, etc.), even though that solo a bit over halfway through the song was pretty atonal. Doesn't stop it from being really cool, though. I only had the chance to hear the second link, but it was good stuff. I really liked how the piece evolved over the 6 minutes; the pianist in particular was really good at keeping you intrigued and interested over the whole thing.

May sound kind of nerdy or obsessive, but I don't consider Free Jazz musicians to desire 'enjoyability' as a facet of their craft. It's very raw, passionate and visceral on a base level, and it's something I listen to when I need to feel shocked, to be jolted, to have my personal opinions on what constitutes as musical expression turned upside down. Listening to an album like Spiritual Unity helps me attain a special and previously unattainable level of self-understanding. I don't really 'enjoy' Free Jazz, I absorb it, live it and breathe it. Its adventurousness and its slippery qualities venture through the most under-enlightened parts of my mind and create a new person.

So yeah, kinda like the stuff. Might not aim for 'enjoyability', but I'd give my left arm to Ayler, Coltrane, or any of the other greats for the compositions they've given me.

All right, I'm following your logic, learning some things, etc. Glad you had a chance to check them out and set me straight. I've been, probably, calling lots of things free jazz that aren't. That are just wild and sporadic.

Here's another attempt, with Skerik's Syncopated Taint Septet.

Skerik is a friend of Les Claypool, playing in Les' Fancy Band and Frog Brigade, as well as playing in Garage a Trois, Sadhappy, Dead Kenny G's, Critters Buggin, and more.