Jazz Genre

Q: HOW DO I GET INTO JAZZ?

A: Jazz being jazz and 100 years old there's as much recorded jazz music as any other genre and as many "intro to jazz" lists as there are "essential" artists which is to say there are a shitton. This is just a list of lists - the reddit one and the jazz.org are shorter and easier to stomach but you should really listen to as much as you can. A great way to find new stuff is to listen to albums by sidemen on records you like. Exploring is important. And talk about jazz (preferably here) and get recs.

New Yorker: 100 Essential Jazz Albums

/r/jazz: Essential Jazz Albums

Jazz.org: 10 Essential Jazz Albums

/mu/core jazz

/mu/: Essential Jazz

Q: Looking for music to help to understand jazz theory, or just a big ol' list of albums from bop and other modern jazz genres?

A: I recommend this massive spotify playlist of recommendations from The Jazz Theory Book by Mark Lavine who also wrote The Jazz Piano Book which is really good. Especially recommended if you're a musician but all these albums are worthy. Also Penguin's Guide is dope


Q: This just sounds like noise/I don't know what's going on/this is boring/how do I listen to jazz?

A: Turns out "How To Listen To Jazz" by Jerry Coker is a really good resource to learn how to listen to jazz. Read it here: http://www.mthsbands.org/JazzListeningProject/JerryCokerBook/How to Listen to Jazz_Jerry Coker.pdf

Other than that I'd stress that jazz requires active listening more than most if not any other genres. You get a lot less out of listening to jazz while doing other things.

Q: What are some good contemporary Jazz Artists?
A:
The Bad Plus
Joshua Redman
Chris Potter
Tigran Hamasyan
Christian Scott
Vijay Iyer
Kurt Rosenwinkel
Ambrose Akinmusire
Pat Metheny
John Scofield
Brian Blade
Robert Glasper
Esbjörn Svensson Trio
Avishai Cohen (& Avishai Cohen)
Brad Mehldau
Christian McBride
Stockton Helbing
And then there are older artists who are still making hip music:
Branford Marsalis
Dave Holland
Keith Jarret
Kenny Garret

I mean it's infinite but that's a small sampling. Gotta explore of course.

Intro to jazz piano:
Q: "i really like jazz pianists, in particular bill evans and chick corea. any recommendations for some other good piano based jazz?"

A: This is a GREAT post on jazz piano that I highly recommend. In fact I'm going to put it in the OP. Obviously the "see also" guys for Evans and Corea are particularly of note to you. Out of them I'd recommend Brubeck especially. As for the other greats mentioned, Herbie, McCoy, and Jarret are all probably up your alley, but Tatum and Powell are more acrobatic and dense and fast and theoretical and less emotional and concerned with "feeling", not much like Evans and Corea. To cover my bases and offer a contemporary spin, a couple of my favorites are Brad Mehldau and Tigran Hamasyan, though both of them certainly go beyond jazz at times. Here's the post:

An Introduction to Jazz Piano • /r/Jazz

For specific recommendations:

Brubeck's Time Out
Herbie's Empyrean Isles
Keith Jarrett's Facing You would be my pick but it's not on youtube, The Koln Concert is great and on there though.
McCoy Tyner's best work is with Trane, Love Supreme, My Favorite Things, most of it. As a leader my favorite of his is The Real McCoy
For Mehldau, Places and Elegiac Cycle are my favorites, he has a lot of great work as a sideman as well.
My favorite Hamasyan that is relatively accessible is A Fable, but virtually all of his stuff is incredible. One of my absolute favs.

 

SUB!

 

Here for it

 

I agree. But here's my counter:

 

Have not heard that, but the cover makes me want to.

Is it bad that that's a huge draw for what jazz albums I go to? Wave. Speak Like a Child. Thembi.

 

Definitely not, especially if it works. There's so much out there, any way to find it is awesome.
I like this lesser known Miles one as well:

 

Oh man. Love those 50s technicolor vibes. How's the album?

 

It's part of that post-bop tradition that I really love, but I think it's pretty inaccessible. This little article is a good explanation.

Basically, the chords are chosen for their sound on their own, or in context, but without consideration of harmony, and the solos are the same way. I find it fascinating, but I think a lot of people (understandably) may just hear it as playing random shit.

But, ESP is imo the best studio album in that style, but all of the Miles ones mentioned on there are great, and there's a big live box set called Live At The Plugged Nickel that is a straight up masterpiece imo.

 

I've actually heard good things about Nefertiti and Sorcerer, but never heard of that one.

 

@cshadows2887 Speak No Evil is great. Also check out JuJu. "Yes Or No" is one of my favorite jazz tunes. Played it for all my college auditions.

 

@iplaydrums Where did you go to music school? I know a lot of kids who went from high school, I have so much admiration for anyone who can make it through that gauntlet.

 

I mean...I technically didn't haha. I can tell you the school in private, because what I'm about to say might make it look like I'm bad mouthing them and that's not what I set out to do. But collegiate jazz programs just weren't for me. It's much more about the schools maintaining a reputation and less about teaching. It's really weird. They want you to come in playing at a pro-level. And the way I see it, you don't show up on your first day of med school knowing how to do open heart surgery. You're there to learn. There was also a lot of sexism going around that really messed me up.

 

Well that's a heck of a one-two punch of co-signs

 

That...sounds about right. I went to a performing arts high school for a couple years, so most of the people I know who go to collegiate jazz programs were basically at pro level when they auditioned, so that kind of explains that difference in opinion. One of my teachers would tell people when they were auditioning that certain programs are probably not for most people, because basically they spend all there resources on top 5-10% of students and anyone below that is not getting close to the same level of education - which is a waste of the $200,000 you're spending. Other schools are different in that sense, but the point about pro-level expectations definitely ring true to what I've heard. They're looking for prodigies.

 

Haha that's pretty much exactly what I expected you to say. I'm also going to take this time to mention my favorite jazz record of all time again, Overseas by Tommy Flanagan Trio. Elvin Jones on drums, Tommy Flanagan on piano, and Wilbur Little on bass. Elvin plays mostly with brushes and just gives a really incredible performance.

Yeah I got the short end of the stick for many, many reasons. It really upsets me how in a lot of music education settings, passion isn't always rewarded. I feel very strongly that if someone is passionate but shows a great deal of potential, they should have the same resources and effort given to them as someone who's already at a pro-level. It's really frustrating to me how it all works out, but this is probably a conversation for somewhere else haha

 

I just put it on my 2016 catch-up list. It has been unprecedentedly prioritized.

 

Dang I might have to add a fusion section to the OP. How good is Weather Report? dang

 

nice thread youve got here, wanna bring it to the white house?

 

didnt you make this joke in the AP thread too lol

 

its very likely i did yes

 

I've played "Birdland" more times than I have bones in my body. Same goes for "Chameleon". I was in a jazz/rock fusion in high school and we'd end up doing 17 minute long performances of "Chameleon" because the director would keep letting soloists go on forever

 

Ah that's sick! I never played any fusion. All those cuts from the guys like Corea, Shorter, Herbie (and Miles but that's a pretty different kind of fusion) who had full, extremely accomplished careers in straight(er) jazz before getting into fusion are incredible. I haven't gotten into much by pure fusion guys, admittedly.

 

We did a lot of stuff Maynard Ferguson had arranged as well. We did his version of the Sesame Street theme that starts with the flute solo. That was probably my favorite. We also did "Gonna Fly Now" (Rocky theme song). That was a huge band as well. 2 flutes, 2 alto sax, 1 tenor sax, 2-4 trumpets, 1 trombone, 1 bass trombone, 1-2 guitars, bass, 1-2 keyboards, and 2-3 drummers/percussionists. It's pretty much where I learned everything I know about being a foundation, supporting soloists, etc.

 

I love Maynard! "MacArthur Park" was one of my favorite songs as a kid. I did a big band in high school as well and I agree, extremely educational and helpful experience. Super fun too