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

ill cosign 'live at birdland,' anythin w/ afro blue x alabama is gonna be unstoppable

I also like Coltrane's Sound better than Giant Steps

Shakey Mo's Black People Should Get Off This Planet mix ...

― *gets the power* (deej), Friday, January 21, 2011 11:50 AM (11 minutes ago) Bookmark

ffs, dude

ha thats a play on an old shakey mo post

duh, okay. scanned more aggro than necessary.

(seriously I would totally flip my shit right now if there were some rap act saying "black people got to get off this fuckin planet and into space - and here's the music to go along with it")

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, April 12, 2006 5:58 PM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i think significance (or maybe i should say relevance) changes depending on context and audience. like it's reasonable here to tailor recommendations and discussion to the musical world of the admittedly krautrockin ilxor. like more sun ra & coltrane, less art tatum.

I would totally flip my shit right now if there were some rap act saying "black people got to get off this fuckin planet and into space - and here's the music to go along with it"

plus shut the fuck up, me, cuz that's obviously what sun ra was saying, and just as obviously what you were referring to. i can't think sometimes...

Skimming through here: just chip in that giving Ascension a go as a first record by Coltrane is completely fine as you pretty much know he did lots of different things. Just as Ra making singles isn't at all strange.

Good stuff. I've noted that it's probably not the best entry point to Coltrane, but may give it a whirl anyway if it's the first record of his I happen to stumble onto for a fair price. And anyway, I don't plan to hear any one record, say Ascenion by Coltrane, and flip the "off" switch on exploring his other stuff if I don't enjoy it. I'm in this for the long haul, and it goes without saying that most of the musicians mentioned here did lots of different albums that may sound vastly different from one another.

I agree Duke Ellington has been under-represented on the thread so far. Armstrong too, but that's a pretty big leap back in the time machine for somebody starting from krautrock and psych.

I was trying to remember how I got from Bitches Brew (the first jazz album I bought) to '30s, '40s, and '50s jazz. I think maybe Miles' records with Gil Evans, Sketches of Spain in particular, made it easier for me to appreciate Ellington's big band sound. I got the Ken Burns Ellington compilation, wore that out for while, then started getting more Ellington. After that I was able to get more out of Armstrong, Parker, Monk, Coltrane, etc. than I had before.

Did you like Bitches Brew at first? I remember coming at it from jazz, I found it hard to listen to. There may also have been something flat about the remaster I had. Then one night I was driving around with a friend and he put on one of those Complete Bitches Brew Sessions discs, and the whole thing totally opened up for me. The non-BB material kind of helped me enjoy the BB stuff more. But the whole thing also sounded more open and had more sonic depth than I remembered.

Duke Ellington and Johnny Hodges - side by side
get this for the sweets edison solo on 'stompy jones'

Re Miles, I'd suggest In a Silent Way (xpost -- more ambient) and Jack Johnson (more rocking) as really accessible points of entry.

100% cosign.

Did you like Bitches Brew at first?

I didn't. I bought it and Kind of Blue on cassette, in close proximity, when I was about 14-15, and hated BB. Didn't "get it" until years later.

i finally found 'tribute to jack johnson' on vinyl and omg mclaughlin's dirty dirty guitar!!!!

also davis was late to the recording and mclaughlin and the bassist were just jamming and about two minutes in, he shows up and just throws down an amazing solo. the best part is that you can totally 'hear' davis entering the studio by what the musicians are playing. a++++ would recommend

Did you like Bitches Brew at first?

I liked it okay but not as much as I'd hoped. It wasn't quite what I expected -- I was probably looking for something more like Jack Johnson or Agharta.

the ellington/mingus/roach trio record might be a good entryway to duke if yr not ready for big band stuff.

big band like 30's big band or big band like Jazz Composer's Orchestra, Globe Unity, etc.?

sorry - missed the word "duke" in your post, Tyler

but the thing is, the phrase "if yr not ready for big band stuff" just strikes me as weird, because that stuff is what pop music used to be, what dance music used to be, and now we have software and samples to replace all those instruments, but i have trouble understanding how ellington's big band music would be something that's hard to get into, that you have to get ready in some way to appreciate.

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.

this makes it really easy to understand how big band wouldnt be immediate...

yeah, but presumably ilxor has heard pop music and seen old movies?

man i just spotted this thread

hey dude

this thread shall be rad

i know you've already got a list of recs a mile long but if i can just toss some pennies in the hat

-Giant Steps: this is the first jazz record that really got me by the throat, and in retrospect I think it's because the music was so fast & complex that it kind of melted all the harmonic information into gibberish and I just heard these bright luminous noises like dude was blowing sparks out of his horn

-Meditations: Easily my favorite jazz record. iirc I'm in the minority for even noticing it, but McCoy Tyner's piano playing on this record totally opened up piano jazz for me.

-Complete Art Tatum: See Giant Steps

I see Mats & The Thing have already been mentioned, I just wanted to shout out "Fire!," a collabo Mats was involved with that is suuuuuuuuper krautrocky at points. One of my fave records of the last few years, have a feeling it's right up yr alley.

so this is sorta a ridiculous deal if you don't have this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FBHCQO/ref=s9_simh_gw_p15_d1_i4?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-5&pf_rd_r=116E9TAM4WERR3FHKPMN&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470939291&pf_rd_i=507846
$3.99 for two CDs of monk/coltrane

man i just spotted this thread

hey dude

this thread shall be rad

― HOOS the master?? STEEN NUFF (BIG HOOS aka the steendriver), Saturday, January 22, 2011 2:16 AM (20 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah, man, i second that emotion.

Cheers everyone, I took a breather from this thread but I've been listening to lots of jazz, including several recommendations in this thread that I picked up yesterday (in exchange for, oh, $50 less in my wallet...).

HOOS, I picked up Giant Steps used for $4 -- definitely will play soon. I saw Meditations, I think the CD issue on Impulse but in a jewel case. Is there a new, remastered version I should watch for instead? I've seen a lot of Impulse stuff in digipaks...

Seriously thinking about picking up that $3.99 Amazon recommendation, I have an order to place there today regardless. Anyone else heard it?

Btw, the description of Coltrane blowing sparks out of his horn is the BEST possible recommendation ever. Sounds incredible!

the monk/coltrane 2 cd is a great deal - only real issue is that it's one of those things where multiple takes are sequenced together, which always kinda bugs me. but you could get it and sequence a playlist yourself so that it followed this album: http://www.amazon.com/Monks-Music-Thelonious-Monk/dp/B000000Y52/ref=pd_sim_m_35, which is great.

Well thanks for telling me after I placed the order. ;)

j/k

what tylerw said

you'd want to refer to the sequence on this album too: http://www.amazon.com/Thelonious-Monk-John-Coltrane/dp/B0038M61B4/ref=pd_sim_m_59

hard to beat getting both plus alternative takes for $3.99

ilxor, you need this. now!:

http://www.amazon.com/Journey-In-Satchidananda/dp/B000W06V6A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1295733577&sr=8-1

I'm definitely keeping an eye out for Alice. Saw a used one the other day... not Journey, though; let me look up the name.

Ptah the El Daoud -- think it was on Impulse.

That one's great too-- as are Universal Consciousness & World Galaxy.

THat's a great one too plus awesome sleeve

ha xp

my recommendations:

in a silent way
get up with it
creator has a master plan
pangaea/agartha
let my children hear music

"he loved him madly" is an incredible piece of music

yeah so fucking good...crazily intense.

^^^yeah, "He Loved Him Madly" (from Get Up with It) is one of the saddest pieces of recorded music evah! and it slithers and morphs for more than 30 minutes, too. was a big influence on ambient Eno as well, apparently.

xps haw!

"Rated X" is pretty intense too. nearly blew the head off me when i first heard it.

xxxpost re: Ascension. like or loathe, it's the greatest example of a classic 1960's Free Jazz session if ever there was one. Don Cherry - complete communion being my #2 pick over Ornette - Free Jazz.

count me in the small group that doesn't really get the bitches brew and on the corner popularity (except on the corner has that killer cover; and i guess they were both well marketed in the day). Especially if you compare those to the godheadlikeness that are Jack Johnson and Agharta

that whole album is crazy eclectic, too; "inconsistent" in the best way possible.

xp

Might be interesting to set up a Listening Room where ILXors can play a bunch of these recommendations for ilxor so he can take a taste before he purchases.

i like big fun a lot as well though it is a bit inconsistent, listened to that on a bus through spain in roasting hot weather at night before, amazing.

count me in the small group that doesn't really get the bitches brew and on the corner popularity

yeah they still havent clicked with me either. maybe some day....

Might be interesting to set up a Listening Room where ILXors can play a bunch of these recommendations for ilxor so he can take a taste before he purchases.

Listening Room wasn't working for me when I tried it a week or so ago.

Anyway, I prefer the idea of diving headlong into albums I've never heard and committing myself to them. Jazz doesn't strike me as a "hear one song once, know if you'll enjoy the album long-term" type of genre.

my recommendations:

.....
let my children hear music

Good one.