Need some Jazz recommendations

[jcparks]

Looking to branch out in my listening...
I have access to most stuff through google music all access and I am looking for some Jazz music to listen to while relaxing or cleaning. I'm a big fan of saxophone and piano, but I'm not really sure where to start. Was hoping you guys could give me some recommendations...
Thanks
-Chris

 

[psbfan9]

Chris, here are a couple of my favorites;

Saxophone

Julian "Cannonball" Adderley, Stan Getz, Hank Mobley

Piano

Oscar Peterson, Brad Melhdau, Patricia Barber, Pinetop Perkins (blues)

Pinetop

 

[Irvrobinson]

This is one of my favorite jazz albums:

 

[slipperybidness]

For the Sax, you MUST hear Getz/Gilberto.
For piano, the all-time KING is Thelonius Monk! Nobody plays quite like him.
Also, find a copy of Miles Davis: Kind of Blue

 

[rojo]

If you dig big band stuff like Doc Severinsen, Maynard Ferguson, Buddy Rich and the like, I strongly recommend Bob Curnow's L.A. Big Band - The Music of Pat Metheny & Lyle Mays. You can (and should) get it used from Amazon for < $10 shipped.

And of course no jazz library is complete without some Capitol Records era Frank Sinatra, some Tony Bennett (the Ralph Sharon Trio stuff is great for piano jazz), Harry Connick Jr. (Blue Light Red Light is a must-own), and Michael Buble is always good for relaxing with a beer.

 

[Stanton]

You can start with the Dewa Budjana CD review posted on the home page of Audioholics a few days ago, and continue with some of the other jazz releases I've reviewed for the site over the years. I'm not going to post any pics as they make the thread too hard to load. With a couple of exceptions, I tend to focus on modern jazz/fusion.

 

[XEagleDriver]

A Start Up List

Looking to branch out in my listening...
I have access to most stuff through google music all access and I am looking for some Jazz music to listen to while relaxing or cleaning. I'm a big fan of saxophone and piano, but I'm not really sure where to start. Was hoping you guys could give me some recommendations...
Thanks
-Chris

If you are new to jazz, sometimes the contemporary/smooth variety is easier to start with and leads to appreciation of more mainstream jazz, at least that is what happened for me.
In addition to the excellent suggestions posted before me, some initial ideas are:

SAX:
* John Coltrane, Blue Train
* Paul Taylor, Pleasure Seeker
Grover Washington, Winelight
Boney James, Seduction

PIANO:
* Dave Brubeck, Time Out
* Bill Evans, Complete Village Vanguard Recordings
Marcus Roberts, Truth is Spoken Here

GUITAR:
Joyce Cooling, Keeping Cool
Earl Klught, Whispers & Promises
Peter White, Glow

TRUMPET:
* Miles Davis, Some Kind of Blue
* Chris Botti, Chris Botti in Boston

* = must haves IMHO

Cheers,
XEagleDriver

 

[rojo]

Oh, oh! I just thought of a great one for piano jazz. Even if you don't know jazz, you have to know this cat. Johnny Costa.

 

[c.coyle]

Lots of good recommendations, especially for sax.

Not to ignore the many, many good contemporary players, but you might want check out some of these old greats.

Alto Sax: Charlie Parker, Very Best of the Dial Years; Cannonball Adderley, Somethin' Else; Art Pepper, Meets The Rhythm Section; Sonny Criss (a very underrated alto), This Is Criss; Lou Donaldson, Blues Walk; Jackie McLean, Let Freedom Ring.

Tenor Sax: John Coltrane, A Love Supreme; Sonny Rollins, Saxophone Colossus; Hank Mobley, Soul Station; Stan Getz, The Very Best of the Verve Years; David Murray, Like A Kiss That Never Ends; Dexter Gordon, Our Man In Paris.

For piano, I have always liked Oscar Peterson, Lennie Tristano, and Bill Evans. Very different styles.

Just my two cents.

 

[jcparks]

looks like I'm going to have my work cut out for me this weekend... I appreciate it guys

 

[ImcLoud]

Patricia barber cafe blue, you wont be disappointed..

 

[jcparks]

Decided family dinner would be a great place to test out these Jazz tracks... So far you guys have hit the nail on the head. Stand up bass and a light drum track providing the melody for the strong lead instruments to just jam. Exactly what I was looking for.. I just didn't know it. It will be the perfect sound track for family dinners so I can indoctrinate my children with some decent music while they are still young and impressionable.

 

[rojo]

If anything you want to hear isn't available with Google Music All Access, try Grooveshark.

And as long as I'm posting anyway, Incognito is another great group for a jazz neophyte, as they lean toward a very accessible big band funk / disco-ish sound, unlike the more esoteric high art sort of small ensemble improv jazz. (That particular album I linked, I especially like tracks 1, 6, and 8. That's not to say I hit skip very often on the other tracks, though. "Tales From the Beach" is another great Incognito album, and might indeed be closer to the casual sort of sound you're looking for.)

If you're in the mood for some more big band sound, add this album to your playlist.

 

[jcparks]

As a former bass player for a Nirvana cover band in high school, I always appreciate bands that use a strong bassist... Incognito seems to have some awesome bass tracks, doesn't hurt that the rest of the band seems to play some quality stuff as well. 2 thumbs up on that recommendation so far.

 

[ImcLoud]

I try to get my kids to appreciate any type of music, during dinner is a good time, they have no problem with classic rock and the fun stuff like satchmo, but jazz and classical are way over their head...
If you want to also try a little classical - try Klassischer musik radio its on itunes, almost 40 tracks, tons of music for a small price... The good thing is its a lot of stuff they will recognize, my kids always used to say I heard this before, and I will say "ya thats Edvard Greigs in the hall of the mountain king" or mozarts "Eine Kleine Nachtmusic, translation "A little Light music" on of them pieces of music that for 60 seconds you know it and didn't even know you knew classical music...
Plus if you don't have much classical in your library its a good one stop shop, and the piano sounds awesome on a nice music system...

For jazz -patricia barber, Billie Holiday, and mary lou williams can change my mood pretty fast... for some reason, I have no idea what ZAZ is saying but I love to listen to it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg8K7ge9sKo . Jazz is pretty simple though, get the staples, coltrane, mingus, marsalis and you will know if they like it...

 

[psbfan9]

As a former bass player for a Nirvana cover band in high school, I always appreciate bands that use a strong bassist... Incognito seems to have some awesome bass tracks, doesn't hurt that the rest of the band seems to play some quality stuff as well. 2 thumbs up on that recommendation so far.

Changing things up on us now? Bass? You want some jazz bass? Jcparks, meet Esperanza Spalding;

Bassists; Charles Mingus - Charlie Haden (He recently passed) - Wayman Tisdale


Also, for piano, I regrettably forgot about the Kenny Baron Trio.

 

[jcparks]

Damn she is sexy... 2 thumbs up Psb.
The wife is probably going to have to fight me off tonight after watching that...
apologize for the pg-13 post

 

[rojo]

How scandalous.

 

[rnatalli]

Check out Mapleshade records too as they have some good jazz recordings.

 

[Paudio]

Saxophone and Piano= Stan Getz and Kenny Barron; People Time

[video=youtube;zV_gDRI-AiI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV_gDRI-AiI[/video]