Rolling 2011 thread where I buy and listen to jazz albums for the first time ever

btw i haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, so i will mention it (because it completely blew my mind in high school):

john coltrane - live at birdland

also, doesn't seem to have been mentioned too much in this thread, but duke ellington duke ellington duke ellington

my favorite Duke is live at newport, but I admit I have only a cursory knowledge of his vast catalog. man, there was this one CD my coffee shop boss had in college that was some Duke Ellington live thing that was really heavily vibes-dominated (from the mid-60s iirc) but I can't recall the title and have never been able to find it... :(

also i still think that mingus mingus mingus mingus mingus is a great intro to mingus and jazz. a bunch of his more famous tunes, really well recorded and performed. radiohead sampled it, if that helps.

wouldn't recommend any of those as THE record to start with for miles, coltrane or herbie hancock, but second meditations, miles smiles and manchild anyway. all great & easily approachable. ascension is classic "difficult music.

I've never been a big Sun Ra fan; the only stuff I like by him is from the early 70s, when he was big into synths. The 2CD set The Solar-Myth Approach is good, and there are some live bootlegs like Outer Space Employment Agency that are good, too.

― that's not funny. (unperson), Friday, January 21, 2011 10:13 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark

ha. feel completely the opposite. i've been curious about the sun ra set ilxor mentions. he's not thought of as a singles artist, his early work having been massively overshadowed by the massive electric arkestra stuff from the late 60s through early 80s, but i honestly prefer mr. ra's (mystery's) early small group recordings, stuff from the 50s and early/mid 60s. during the 50s, he ran a chicago-based record company that mostly issues singles, producing and backing on cuts for local musicians, so he really was a singles artist, at least for a while. want to explore his work as producer and session musician a little more. over the past few years a bunch of this stuff has been gathered up and released, but i'm dragging my heels/wallet.

^ responding there to ilxor's list

would get the carnegie hall monk/coltrane disc rather than Thelonious Monk w/ John Coltrane first

Either, or both -- these are great albums and a good way into both artists' catalogs.

I am on a Sun Ra kick this week. I heard Jazz in Silhouette for the first time and loved it, same for Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy, but in a blindfold test would never have known these were by the same guy. His work varies insanely in style and (unfortunately) recording quality. Lanquidity might be a good one for someone coming in with a funk/krautrock frame of reference.

I am a huge Sun Ra fan but I'm not sure what's on that Singles box. The very concept of a Sun Ra single is kinda hilarious as he's got to be one of the most non-single-oriented artists ever. but that doesn't mean there isn't good stuff on there.

― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, January 21, 2011 12:16 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

he actually released a bunch of 45s iirc. the singles box is a lot of weird doo wop & pop-oriented jazz.

tbh i say wait on sun ra. hes got a massive discography & a lot of it makes more sense in the context of having heard more jazz

Lanquidity might be a good one for someone coming in with a funk/krautrock frame of reference.

― Brad C., Friday, January 21, 2011 10:38 AM (33 seconds ago) Bookmark

OTM. great record, unique in his catalog (though disco 3000 is comparable, i guess). was saying i prefer the early recordings, and i do, but lanquidity is a knockout.

Sun Ra's vocal groups recordings are some of my favourite things he did (including some classic Christmas songs!); the Spaceship Lullaby comp on Atavistic has a great selection.

tbh i love when he covered batman & pink elephants on parade

Yeah the Batman album is fun - though I don't think he's on all the tracks?

he actually released a bunch of 45s iirc. the singles box is a lot of weird doo wop & pop-oriented jazz.

oh right - yeah I've seen the individual LP reissues of this stuff but haven't sprung for any. looks pretty nuts but I wonder about the sound quality

its pretty whatever. i basically never pull that record out

honestly i think the best place to start w/ sun ra for n00bs is the 'greatest hits: easy listening for intergalactic travel'

tbh i say wait on sun ra. hes got a massive discography & a lot of it makes more sense in the context of having heard more jazz

Will probably wait on the Sun Ra singles set because it's $18.99 and I can buy 4-5 other discs for that price. But good to know as a heads up. To someone who's familiar with the track listing, are those mostly early Sun Ra recordings/singles, then?

it gives a good overview of his career & suggests diff directions for u to follow. hes the rare exception to the albums >>> comps rules in jazz, imo, as an introduction goes

thats an xp to my own post

OTM. great record, unique in his catalog (though disco 3000 is comparable, i guess

oh I dunno I think it's of a piece with several others - On Jupiter, Strange Celestial Road, Sleeping Beauty. Lanquidity is probably the out and out funkiest though.

ilxor that singles set is almost entirely early stuff - I haven't heard it yet as I said but I doubt it's representative. Kinda hard to imagine anything that's really representative of the scope of his ouevre - even moreso than Miles, he really went all over the place

other good intro sun ra, fwiw:

space is the place (album w the blue cover, not the film soundtrack, which is iffy)
sound of joy

both excellent and very accessible, the former more psychedelic and expansive, the latter indicative of his early traditionalism

best song on lanquidity imo is 'thats how i feel'. other songs are good but that song is impeccable & beautiful

Miles Smiles is easy to recommend for "Footprints" alone.

Hours of great recommendations on this thread already, but can I just say --

Sonny Sharrock - Guitar
Duke Ellington - The Blanton-Webster Band
...and dig around a little in Louis Armstrong's early discography, Complete Hot Fives and Hot Sevens or Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

I think it's of a piece with several others... Lanquidity is probably the out and out funkiest though.

yeah, i meant unique in terms of the funk/groove elements. also present to some degree on disco 3000, which isn't half as successful, overall.

sun ra's 'on jupiter' is actually way more danceable & straight-up (drunk) disco-y than disco 3000 ime

Fifteen Sun Ra recommendations to date... all over the place, just like his albums.

Sun Ra Angels and Demons at Play
Sun Ra Cosmic Tones for Mental Therapy
Sun Ra Disco 3000
Sun Ra Greatest Hits: Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel
Sun Ra Jazz in Silhouette
Sun Ra Lanquidity
Sun Ra On Jupiter
Sun Ra Outer Space Employment Agency
Sun Ra The Singles
Sun Ra Sleeping Beauty
Sun Ra The Solar-Myth Approach
Sun Ra Sound of Joy
Sun Ra Space Is the Place
Sun Ra Spaceship Lullaby
Sun Ra Strange Celestial Road

Sun Ra Greatest Hits: Easy Listening for Intergalactic Travel

^^this one itself covers a bunch of his albums. def go for this 1st & figure out which 'era' you like the best

imho

no-ones mentioned heliocentric world of?

imo when someone asks for jazz recommendations & we spend half the thread going on about sun ra we are basically off topic

Nope, because I said in my original thread post:

Stuff I picked up tonight (never heard any of these before, will listen soon):

Miles Davis - Nefertiti
Miles Davis - On the Corner
Sun Ra - The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun Ra, Volume One

― ilxor, Wednesday, January 19, 2011 9:29 PM (2 days ago)

(xp to Algerian Goalkeeper there)

there's volume 2 though

i think they were the 1st sun ra i ever bought (on vinyl too)

sun ra's 'on jupiter' is actually way more danceable & straight-up (drunk) disco-y than disco 3000 ime

guess i oughtta track it down. *sigh* so much ra...

Speaking of Ra, I'm about to listen to "Strange Strings" for the first time...

imo when someone asks for jazz recommendations & we spend half the thread going on about sun ra we are basically off topic

fair enough. he's a cult unto himself, but i do love him. funny that we've had like 50 posts on sun ra and only a small handful on like duke ellington and louis armstrong. this is ILM, though, so no surprise.

I also mentioned upfront that I'm pretty well versed in kraut/space/psych rock and free/psych-folk idioms, so I think (hope!) many of the Sun Ra recommendations are being made with that kept in mind as well.

I'd figure one could draw lines between Sun Ra --> Parliament/Funkadelic --> Sonic Youth --> OutKast (or something similar) as well, which would be in line with my (and other ILX folks') listening habits and tastes.

Sun Ra --> Parliament/Funkadelic --> Sonic Youth --> OutKast (or something similar)

deej gave me shit for doing this on some other thread fwiw

but yeah would be happy if people went off about various Duke albums

been meaning to get Black and Tan Fantasy for awhile

Are those two different albums -- Black; Tan Fantasy -- or one album called Black and Tan Fantasy?

(Yes I realize I could've just Googled that but I'd obviously rather flaunt my ignorance.)

Keep in mind I'm approaching jazz from the standpoint of loving stuff like krautrock, psych rock, "weird" folky stuff that gets a bit drone-y at times.
enthusiastically second In A Silent Way! (also Filles de Kilimanjaro)
although Herbie Hancock's Sextant is a great and logical recommendation, the Headhunters record might be a better place to start (SO many people love this record upon first listen)
Weather Report's Mysterious Traveller (if only for "Cucumber Slumber")
Sun Ra's Languitity (mentioned already?)
Dave Douglas (interesting mix of tradition and experimental electronics on "Freak In"...)
Ornette's "Dancing in Your Head", "Of Human Feelings", and "Body Meta" (those last two will be tough to find, but worth the search)

Black & Tan Fantasy is one record.

If you're trying to invent a line from Sun Ra to Sonic Youth and non-jazz improvised music (beyond philosophical inspiration), Strange Strings might make sense as a waypoint:

After finishing a series of concerts of New York State colleges sponsored by ESP, Sun Ra decided to assemble a number of stringed instruments bought from curio shops and music stores. Ukuleles, Mandolins, Kotos, Koras, Chinese Lutes and 'Moon Guitars' were handed out to his reed and horn players in the belief that 'strings could touch people in a special way, different from other instruments [3].' The point was that the Arkestra didn't know how to play them - Sun Ra called it 'a study in ignorance.' [3]

'Next they prepared a number of homemade instruments, including a large piece of tempered sheet metal with an "X" chiseled on it. Then they miked the Sun Columns.

'Marshall Allen said that when they began to record the musicians asked Sun Ra what they should play, and he answered only that he would point to them when he wanted them to start. The result is an astonishing achievement, a musical event which seems independent of all other musical traditions and histories.... The piece is all texture, with no sense of tonality except where Art Jenkins sings through a metal megaphone with a tunnel voice. But to say that the instruments seem out of tune misses the point, since there is no "tune", and in any case the Arkestra did not know how to tune most of the instruments...'

It's surprisingly listenable.

Sun Ra --> Parliament/Funkadelic --> Sonic Youth --> OutKast (or something similar)

deej gave me shit for doing this on some other thread fwiw

― ex-heroin addict tricycle (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, January 21, 2011 1:28 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i know there's a strain of listener who likes all of these things but Shakey Mo's Black People Should Get Off This Planet mix doesnt per se outline influence or significance to anyone but shakey mo & the niche of similar listeners

... aaaaaand let's cut the Sun Ra influences discussion there, before we derail this thread completely. :)

btw i haven't seen it mentioned in this thread, so i will mention it (because it completely blew my mind in high school):

john coltrane - live at birdland

― bows don't kill people, arrows do (Jordan), Friday, 21 January 2011 18:25 (1 hour ago)

Yeah same. This was another one of those less "essential" records I heard first and loved. Oh, btw, MY FAVORITE THINGS -- great, great jazz record for a jazz noob.

Similarly, I heard Milestones way before Kind of Blue and I still think I may like it better.

Birdland has that awesome sounding slightly out of tune piano.

yeah my favorite things (the track, then the whole album) was probably the jazz gateway drug for me. never ever gets old.