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There isn't much recognition for jazz these days on VC or even in popular culture for that matter. Probably because jazz saw a creative and popularity shift downward in the 1980's. But some of the best music that ever existed was played in the genre of jazz. Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington made jazz acceptable for the masses, while the likes of Miles Davis and John Coltrane took it to unforeseen heights. Jazz has as many sub-genres as rock and roll, and without jazz, well, we wouldn't get to enjoy a lot of the music we love today if those blue notes had not been played.

 

Post your recent finds, discoveries, dislikes, and interests, etc.

 

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Anyone wanting to check out some of the great jazz albums, many of the classics have been reissued recently. They're relatively cheap. Sound Stage Direct seems to have a significant number of both the popular and
obscure titles: http://www.soundstagedirect.com/jazz-vinyl-records.shtml

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I went from funky soul, to soul jazz to bop to finally appreciate jazz. There is nothing like putting on an old deep groove Blue Note record on your turntable. Throughout the last 20 years I have gone through two big collection purges, but I still have a pretty nice collection of jazz. I think it was finding a copy of Jimmy Smith's "Root Down" that got me into funky jazz.

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I wanna get into faster jazz, bebop, jazz fusion.  Any recomendations?

 

Love Bebop, not so big on fusion.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebop

 

I can't say when it began or ended, but I guess from late 40's into the 60's was the best of bebop. Parker, Coltrane, Monk, Davis, Chambers, Evans all made bop records. Sonny Clark, though, I think made the bebop and hard bop pinnacle records with "Sonny's Crib" and "Cool Struttin,." Check those out. Also, Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_No_Evil) is a freaking great record. Hope to find an original mono Blue Note of that some day. All of those have been repressed.

 

Fusion would have picked up when Davis made Miles In the Sky, In A Silent Way, and Bitches Brew. Of course there were others.

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I went from funky soul, to soul jazz to bop to finally appreciate jazz. There is nothing like putting on an old deep groove Blue Note record on your turntable. Throughout the last 20 years I have gone through two big collection purges, but I still have a pretty nice collection of jazz. I think it was finding a copy of Jimmy Smith's "Root Down" that got me into funky jazz.

 

I sort of started the other way. I appreciate Louis Armstrong and then went to big band (Glenn Miller, Dorsey brothers bullshit) then on the verge of hating jazz discovering Davis and Coltrane and it saved my jazz-loving life.

 

You don't have any of your jazz listed. I'd like to see what you got. I have Jimmy Smith record but name escapes me. I want The Sermon and Jimmy Smith on The Organ.

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Love Bebop, not so big on fusion.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bebop

 

I can't say when it began or ended, but I guess from late 40's into the 60's was the best of bebop. Parker, Coltrane, Monk, Davis, Chambers, Evans all made bop records. Sonny Clark, though, I think made the bebop and hard bop pinnacle records with "Sonny's Crib" and "Cool Struttin,." Check those out. Also, Wayne Shorter's "Speak No Evil" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speak_No_Evil) is a freaking great record. Hope to find an original mono Blue Note of that some day. All of those have been repressed.

 

Fusion would have picked up when Davis made Miles In the Sky, In A Silent Way, and Bitches Brew. Of course there were others.

 

Great, thanks!  I have a Miles David / Monk live record that I really like, so I'll look for more of them and also the other things you said.

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Brubeck - "Time Out" and Miles Davis - "Kind Of Blue" are my go-to's for a jazz fix. Any suggestions based off these are warmly welcome. I love bebop too!

The Dave Brubeck Trio is one of my favorites, anything from him really, Octet/Quartet/etc. And I like Stan Getz, probably most famous for bringing samba to the masses with help from Brazilian singer João Gilberto and guitarist Charlie Byrd.

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I was born & raised in New Orleans so i have a deep appreciation for Dixieland Jazz...

That said, I've been buying up any Pete Fountain record i can come across. I also get Al Hirt, Dukes of Dixieland, of course Louis Armstrong, Preservation Jazz Hall, etc. Then, most recently, some Galactic albums are available on vinyl as well as Trombone Shorty.

 

Jazz sounds so good on a clean vinyl. I can actually hear why the purists and audiophiles argue for vinyl.  Maybe it was the way it was recorded that makes it sound so good.

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I wanna get into faster jazz, bebop, jazz fusion.  Any recomendations?

 

I don't know much about fusion besides some of the more obvious musicians: RTF, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Al Di Meola, Weather Report, etc... Out of those I seriously recommend Return to Forever. A few years ago I got to see Chick, Stanley Clarke, and Lenny White play when I was going to school up in Buffalo, and I doubt I'll ever see a better group of musicians play together in my life. My favorite album of theirs is 'Light as a feather' however I believe a good majority see 'Romantic Warrior' as being their best.

 

Adding to the general discussion, my favorites are the second Miles quintet, Dave Brubeck Quartet, and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers.

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I sort of started the other way. I appreciate Louis Armstrong and then went to big band (Glenn Miller, Dorsey brothers bullshit) then on the verge of hating jazz discovering Davis and Coltrane and it saved my jazz-loving life.

 

You don't have any of your jazz listed. I'd like to see what you got. I have Jimmy Smith record but name escapes me. I want The Sermon and Jimmy Smith on The Organ.

 

If you're talking about my DF list that is only my trade stuff, not my collection. Since I have weeded it out a few times, I am pretty much keeping all my jazz. For crazy blazing bop, Charlie Parker is always tops. My fav bop musicians are Coltrane, Monk, Jackie Mclean, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, and Donald Byrd. I also have almost every release on the Black Jazz label which focused on spiritual and soul jazz, very solid label. I've been lucky enough to see performances by, Sonny Rollins, Pharoah Sanders, Big John Patton, Doug Carn, Calvin Keys, and Lonnie Smith.

 

I love the complexity of jazz and listening for nuances. I can't speak intelligently from a musician's standpoint, only about what I like in listener's terms. What is also cool about jazz is that the musicians always played with different people throughout their careers and to hear what different musicians brought out of them is exciting. As a record buyer it is fun too look for your favorite players on different records.

For instance, when I was buying a lot of soul jazz I would always look for sessions where Bernard Purdie was playing drums. If he was on a side you knew it was most likely going to be funky as hell.

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